/firechat

Real-time Chat powered by Firebase

Primary LanguageJavaScriptMIT LicenseMIT

Firechat Version

Firechat is a simple, extensible chat widget powered by Firebase. It is intended to serve as a concise, documented foundation for chat products built on Firebase. It works out of the box, and is easily extended.

Live Demo

Visit firechat.firebaseapp.com to see a live demo of Firechat.

A screenshot of Jenny and Lexi the cat chatting on the Firechat demo

Setup

Firechat uses the Firebase Realtime Database as a backend, so it requires no server-side code. It can be added to any web app by including a few JavaScript files:

<!-- jQuery -->
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.1.0/jquery.min.js"></script>

<!-- Firebase -->
<script src="https://www.gstatic.com/firebasejs/3.3.0/firebase.js"></script>

<!-- Firechat -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.firebase.com/libs/firechat/3.0.1/firechat.min.css" />
<script src="https://cdn.firebase.com/libs/firechat/3.0.1/firechat.min.js"></script>

giving your users a way to authenticate:

<script>
  function login() {
    // Log the user in via Twitter
    var provider = new firebase.auth.TwitterAuthProvider();
    firebase.auth().signInWithPopup(provider).catch(function(error) {
      console.log("Error authenticating user:", error);
    });
  }

  firebase.auth().onAuthStateChanged(function(user) {
    // Once authenticated, instantiate Firechat with the logged in user
    if (user) {
      initChat(user);
    }
  });
</script>

<button onclick="login()">Login with Twitter</button>

and initializing the chat:

<script>
  function initChat(user) {
    // Get a Firebase Database ref
    var chatRef = firebase.database().ref("chat");

    // Create a Firechat instance
    var chat = new FirechatUI(chatRef, document.getElementById("firechat-wrapper"));

    // Set the Firechat user
    chat.setUser(user.uid, user.displayName);
  }
</script>

<div id="firechat-wrapper"></div>

For detailed integration instructions, see the Firechat documentation.

Getting Started with Firebase

Firechat requires Firebase in order to authenticate users and store data. You can sign up here for a free account.

Getting Help

If you have a question about Firechat, feel free to reach out through one of our official support channels.