Skills

Chapter 10 of 12

Firebase Remote Config Basics

Manages Firebase Remote Config templates, feature flags, loading strategies, and SDKs (Android, iOS).

3 minutes · 551 words · 10 sections

Remote Config

This skill provides a complete guide for getting started with Remote Config on Android or iOS. Remote Config allows you to change the behavior and appearance of your app without publishing an app update by maintaining a cloud-based configuration template.

Prerequisites

Provisioning Remote Config requires both a Firebase project and a Firebase app, either Android or iOS. To manage the Remote Config template and conditions via the command line, use the Firebase CLI. See the firebase-basics skill for references on project initialization.

Troubleshooting Execution

Handling npx 403 Forbidden Errors

If npx -y firebase-tools@latest fails due to registry permissions (403 error):

Inform the user: “I am unable to fetch the latest Firebase tools via npx due to a registry error.”
Fallback: Attempt to use the local firebase command directly if the user confirms it is installed globally (npm install -g firebase-tools).

Handling Project Context Issues

If a command fails because “no active project is selected”:

Check login: Run npx -y firebase-tools@latest login:list.
Prompt for ID: If logged in but no project is active, ask the user: “Please provide your Firebase Project ID to proceed.”
Use Flag: Append --project <PROJECT_ID> to every subsequent command.

SDK Setup

To learn how to set up Remote Config in your application code, choose your platform:

Android: android_setup.md (opens in a new tab)
iOS: ios_setup.md (opens in a new tab)

Best Practices and Template Management

Follow these guidelines and use the associated CLI tools to ensure efficient and safe use of Remote Config.

Fetching Strategies

To optimize app performance and user experience, follow these recommended patterns (see Loading Strategies (opens in a new tab)):

Load new values for next startup: The most effective pattern is to activate previously fetched values immediately on startup and fetch new values in the background to be used next time. This minimizes user wait time.
Real-time Updates: Use the SDK’s real-time listener to update the app instantly without a refresh when server-side configuration changes.

Template Management via CLI

Use the following commands to manage your Remote Config template and version history through the terminal:

Template Management via CLI

Use the following commands to manage your Remote Config template and version history through the terminal:

Get current template: Save the remote template to a local JSON file for auditing or modification.
```
npx -y firebase-tools@latest remoteconfig:get -o remote_config.json
```
Autonomous Editing & Discovery : Modify the local remote_config.json directly. Determine the correct signal (e.g., device.country or percent) and update the “conditions” array and “parameters” map accordingly.
MANDATORY: User Review and Verification : STOP and ask the user to verify your changes before proceeding to deployment.
- Action: Inform the user: “I have prepared the changes in remote_config.json. Please review the file for accuracy. Once you are satisfied, tell me to ‘deploy’ to make the changes live.”
Deployment Orchestration : To push changes, you must ensure the environment is configured for deployment.
- Config Mapping: If a firebase.json file is missing, create one to map the local JSON to the Remote Config service:
```
  { "remoteconfig": { "template": "remote_config.json" } }
```
- Deploy: Execute the partial deployment command
```
npx -y firebase-tools@latest deploy --only remoteconfig
```
Verification: After deployment, verify the update by listing the version history.
```
npx -y firebase-tools@latest remoteconfig:versions:list
```

The SDK provides a number of features to make your application dynamic and responsive to user segments.

Set In-App Defaults: Define baseline values to ensure the app functions offline or before the first fetch.
Fetch and Activate: Retrieve values from the Firebase backend and apply them to the local UI/Logic.
Template Management: Use the Firebase CLI to version-control, get, and deploy your config JSON files.

Install this repository

$ npx skills add firebase/agent-skills

» /plugin marketplace add firebase/agent-skills

Skills install per repository, not per chapter — the CLI has no documented per-skill form, so we do not print one.

About this skill

Trigger

Manages Firebase Remote Config templates, feature flags, loading strategies, and SDKs (Android, iOS). Use when downloading/deploying remoteconfig JSON templates, managing version history/feature flags, setting in-app defaults, fetchAndActivate(), real-time listeners, or SDK setup. Don't use for Firebase Hosting, Auth, Firestore, Data Connect, Crashlytics, or App Hosting.

The verbatim description from this skill’s front matter — the string an agent matches on to decide whether to load it.

Compatibility: This skill is best used with the Firebase CLI, but does not require it. Firebase CLI can be accessed through `npx -y firebase-tools@latest`.
Source: skills/firebase-remote-config-basics/SKILL.md

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How this issue was made

Source

github.com/firebase/agent-skills, branch main, last pushed 6 August 2026.

Licence

Apache-2.0 — the text of every chapter is reproduced unmodified, frontmatter included, under the upstream licence.

Discovery

12 chapters found by walking the repository tree for SKILL.md, not by matching a directory convention. One layout observed: skills/*/SKILL.md.

Issue colours

Resolved from a curated brand profile — hue 88°, chroma 0.168. Two accent tones are generated per issue and each is proven against its own ground before it ships: a single accent that passes AA on both light and dark paper is arithmetically impossible.

Heading repairs

1 repair applied to this chapter so the document has one h1 and no skipped levels:

Shifted “10 headings” from h1 to h2 so the chapter title is the only h1.

Spec compliance

1 editorial note across 1 of 12 chapters. They are printed in the margin of each chapter rather than as errors here.

Firebase Data Connect — 1 note

Images

Images inside a chapter come from the upstream repository. Where the author gave no alternative text we mark the image decorative rather than inventing a description — a plausible caption we made up is worse than none for the reader who depends on it.

Marketplace

A plugin manifest is published at .claude-plugin/marketplace.json by Firebase, declaring 1 plugin. It is read for editorial metadata only — never as the skill index, which is always the repository tree.

Signal

Install counts come from skills.sh. They measure downloads, not quality, and an unranked repository is not an unread one.

Agent surfaces

The whole issue is available as one markdown document at /firebase/agent-skills.md, and each chapter at its own .md URL.

Publication

Set by Skills Docs from the source repository. Body text is Literata at the reader’s chosen size and measure; code is Geist Mono. Nothing on this page was written by us except this paragraph.

Remote Config

If npx -y firebase-tools@latest fails due to registry permissions (403 error):

Inform the user: “I am unable to fetch the latest Firebase tools via npx due to a registry error.”

Fallback: Attempt to use the local firebase command directly if the user confirms it is installed globally (npm install -g firebase-tools).

If a command fails because “no active project is selected”:

Check login: Run npx -y firebase-tools@latest login:list.

Prompt for ID: If logged in but no project is active, ask the user: “Please provide your Firebase Project ID to proceed.”

Use Flag: Append --project <PROJECT_ID> to every subsequent command.

To learn how to set up Remote Config in your application code, choose your platform:

Follow these guidelines and use the associated CLI tools to ensure efficient and safe use of Remote Config.

To optimize app performance and user experience, follow these recommended patterns (see Loading Strategies):

Load new values for next startup: The most effective pattern is to activate previously fetched values immediately on startup and fetch new values in the background to be used next time. This minimizes user wait time.

Real-time Updates: Use the SDK’s real-time listener to update the app instantly without a refresh when server-side configuration changes.

Use the following commands to manage your Remote Config template and version history through the terminal:

Get current template: Save the remote template to a local JSON file for auditing or modification.

npx -y firebase-tools@latest remoteconfig:get -o remote_config.json

Autonomous Editing & Discovery : Modify the local remote_config.json directly. Determine the correct signal (e.g., device.country or percent) and update the “conditions” array and “parameters” map accordingly.

MANDATORY: User Review and Verification : STOP and ask the user to verify your changes before proceeding to deployment.

Action: Inform the user: “I have prepared the changes in remote_config.json. Please review the file for accuracy. Once you are satisfied, tell me to ‘deploy’ to make the changes live.”

Deployment Orchestration : To push changes, you must ensure the environment is configured for deployment.

Config Mapping: If a firebase.json file is missing, create one to map the local JSON to the Remote Config service:

  { "remoteconfig": { "template": "remote_config.json" } }

Deploy: Execute the partial deployment command

npx -y firebase-tools@latest deploy --only remoteconfig

Verification: After deployment, verify the update by listing the version history.

npx -y firebase-tools@latest remoteconfig:versions:list

The SDK provides a number of features to make your application dynamic and responsive to user segments.

Set In-App Defaults: Define baseline values to ensure the app functions offline or before the first fetch.

Fetch and Activate: Retrieve values from the Firebase backend and apply them to the local UI/Logic.

Template Management: Use the Firebase CLI to version-control, get, and deploy your config JSON files.

Firebase Remote Config Basics

Remote Config

Prerequisites

Troubleshooting Execution

Handling npx 403 Forbidden Errors

Handling Project Context Issues

SDK Setup

Best Practices and Template Management

Fetching Strategies

Template Management via CLI

Template Management via CLI

About this skill

Trigger

Colophon

Firebase Remote Config Basics

Remote Config

Prerequisites

Troubleshooting Execution

Handling npx 403 Forbidden Errors

Handling Project Context Issues

SDK Setup

Best Practices and Template Management

Fetching Strategies

Template Management via CLI

Template Management via CLI

Appendix 10.1–10.2

ReferencesMarkdown · 2 files

About this skill

Trigger

Colophon

Appendix 10.1–10.2

ReferencesMarkdown · 2 files