DEV Community: Marian Claudiu Moldovan

FireCMS Flavours in the CLI

Marian Claudiu Moldovan — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 17:30:00 +0000

Kick a new project with FireCMS in a single command

When was the last time you started a new project using a new tool? Can you remember how easy was it?

We are eager to help you start a new project as soon as possible. We want you to fully focus on your project and not on the setup. Allow us to take care of that, all you need to do is:

firecms init

That's it! You are ready to go. You can now start building your project with FireCMS.

FireCMS Flavors

If you are familiar with FireCMS, you must already know the different flavors we offer. One from Community, Cloud or Pro. Or maybe we just confused you a little bit in the past. No worries, let's recap.

Community

The classic old-fashioned MIT licensed FireCMS. You can use it for free, forever. It's the perfect choice for small projects or personal use. You handle the hosting, we handle the CMS. Create collections, add authentication, set it up and after a working build, deploy it to Firebase Hosting. Or the hosting of your choice.

Batteries included for Firebase Firestore and MongoDB Atlas. Add more than 40 UI components, custom view and even our Notion-style Markdown editor. You can customize the CMS to your needs.

If you've been here for a while and you are 100% this is your choice, don't be shy and start a new project with:

firecms init --community

Cloud

The supercharged Saas version of FireCMS. The amazing editor. And on top of it add user management, roles, permissions. A UI based collection editor, search, autocomplete based on LLMs, customization, App Check, multiple database support, unlimited collections, users, extra customization with code... And the list could go for a while.

Most important, you don't need to worry about hosting, scaling, security, or maintenance. We take care of it. You just need to focus on your project. If you need to add more features or customize, send us the code via the CLI:

We expect this CLI to be less used than the Community one, but if you want to do some work from the code, is up to you. We truly hope that tools we've been building in app.firecms.co will be your main tool.

Pro

The ultimate version of FireCMS. The Cloud version with a custom domain, custom branding, and priority support.

Pro gives you both the blueprint and the fully-furnished building - complete control over the foundation like Community, plus all the premium features of Cloud. With full access to the source code, you can customize every aspect of your CMS while leveraging enterprise-grade capabilities.

What can you expect? A schema editor and data inference, advanced data import and export, Notion-style editor, local text search, user and role management, custom authentication and access control, access to all FireCMS plugins, full CMS components customization, priority support, and roadmap prioritization.

Flavors compared

Who doesn't like a good comparison table? Here is a quick overview of the features you get with each flavor:

Feature	Community	Cloud	Pro
Pricing	Free (€0/month)	€9.99/user/month	€49.99/project/month
License	MIT	Commercial	Commercial
Hosting Model	Self-hosted	Fully managed	Self-hosted
Base Features
Firebase/MongoDB Integration	✅	✅	✅
Component Library (40+ components)	✅	✅	✅
Custom Views and Form Fields	✅	✅	✅
Notion-style Markdown Editor	✅	✅	✅
Subcollection Support	✅	✅	✅
Advanced Features
Data Import/Export	❌	✅	✅
User & Role Management	❌	✅	✅
GPT-4 Content Generation	❌	✅	✅
Schema Editor & Data Inference	❌	✅	✅
Advanced Data Import/Export	❌	❌	✅
Custom Authentication & Access Control	❌	❌	✅
Access to All FireCMS Plugins	❌	❌	✅
Custom Domain	❌	❌	✅
Custom Login Screen	❌	❌	✅

Installation

In the unlikely event that this is your first time using FireCMS, you need to install it first. You have two choices, either you install the FireCMS CLI globally with your desired package manager:

npm install -g firecms
# yarn fan?
yarn global add firecms
# pnpm? Sure!
pnpm add -g firecms

Usage without installation via npx

Of course, if you rather not install it globally, you can use npx to run one-off command:

npx firecms init

Usage

Ok, let's get back to the CLI. You've already installed it, right? Now you can start a new project with FireCMS. Just run:

marian@m ~ % firecms init

 ___ _          ___ __  __ ___
| __(_)_ _ ___ / __|  \/  / __|
| _|| | '_/ -_) (__| |\/| \__ \
|_| |_|_| \___|\___|_|  |_|___/

Welcome to the FireCMS CLI 🔥

You are logged in as hello@getdeardoc.com
? Choose a template
  FireCMS Cloud (use this option if you access FireCMS from app.firecms.co)
❯ FireCMS PRO (self-hosted version with full functionality)
  FireCMS PRO with Next.js frontend(self-hosted version with frontend boilerplate CRUD app)
  FireCMS Community (MIT licensed version with the base functionality)

After carefully choosing the flavor you want to use, you will get a new project with FireCMS. Completely set up and ready to go.

One of the reasons we need to authenticate you is the creation of the firebase project configuration automatically. We want to make sure you have the best experience possible.

After the project is created, you can start the development server with:

cd my-latest-firecms-project
npm i
npm run dev

So we basically did the following for you:

Helped you choose the proper Firebase Project
Create the Firebase Hosting App Project
Create the Firebase Config file
Get the proper template for the project with the appropriate flavor
Set up the project

Troubleshooting

Problems with the Login/Logout?

If you have any problems with the login/logout, you can always run the following command to reset the authentication:

firecms logout

If the issue persists, you can try to delete all the config folders and files:

rm -rf ~/.firecms

Upgrading the CLI

If you want to upgrade the CLI to the latest version, you can run:

npm install -g firecms@latest

Other issues and feedback

Drop us an email at hello@getdeardoc.com or even better, join our Discord server and let us know about your issue. We are always happy to help.

Conclusion

We hope the new FireCMS CLI brings you joy and saves you time.

We are excited to see what you build next. We are eager to help you start a new project as soon as possible.

Do you need a No Code tool for Firebase?

Marian Claudiu Moldovan — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 11:10:07 +0000

This article was initially titled "No Code Tools for Firebase". We already knew some tools, but going into the research, we decided to drop the title. And the idea. You probably don't need a No Code tool for Firebase. So instead of a benchmark, welcome to the most opinionated article about Firebase and No Code tools.

Firebase and Firestore

Firebase is one of the greatest products built for developers. Based on Cloud Services, with the Serverless architecture, it allows you to focus on building your product, without worrying about the underlying infrastructure. So you have:

Firestore: a NoSQL database to store your data in the cloud.
Functions: a serverless function that allows you to run your code in response to events.
Authentication: a secure authentication system.
Storage: a secure file storage system.
Hosting: a web hosting service that allows you to deploy your static files.
Messaging: a messaging service that allows you to send push notifications to your users.
AB/Testing, Remote Config, and many more services.

It got a lot of popularity from Mobile Apps Developers, here is our easy to integrate Backend as a Service and Authentication and File Storage. Simple to use, and easy to integrate. Outstanding.

Is your value proposal building an Authentication system , Storage or Backend? Have a sit and build your product. That's the idea.

Firebase in your Tech Stack

So, you decided to use Firebase to build your product. That usually means you are a developer or you have an internal development team. The first decision is done. I am building a React App, so I am going to use Firebase for the Backend.

How you are going to integrate your client with Firebase? What strategy are you going to use to build your Core Product? The meaning of your company.

Code

This can be argued, but if you are not ready to build code, you probably shouldn't use Firebase. Don't complicate yourself. There are amazing tools that can help you with that. Do you really want to handle Security Rules, Indexes, and all the other things that you need to know about Firestore?

No Code Tools for Firebase

There are some No Code tools for Firebase. Some of them are fully integrated, some of them use some limited functions of Firebase through their API. If a tool allows you to integrate with a REST API, you probably can use it. Some of them are: FlutterFlow, JetAdmin, Retool, Bubble, etc.

What are you going to build with these tools?

Admin Panel?
Landing Page?
Mobile App?

For some low complexity products, these tools can be a great help. If you need to hack something quickly, these tools can be a great help. But for a developer, the best option is probably using custom code. Most of the founders I know, they rather build a React App for a landing page, than using tools like Webflow. It may be faster, but it's going to be more flexible. And let's be honest, developers struggle a lot with the feature and customization options of these tools.

Inside FireCMS

Is FireCMS a No Code tool? Yes, we built FireCMS Cloud for that, a fully managed SaaS.

But allow us to share a secret. We had the SaaS, full No Code tool ready to launch, but we stopped. Why? Because we are developers. We wanted our customers to have the freedom to build anything that they could with the previous code based version. We didn't wanted to limit them. It didn't made any sense for us to release a new product with less features. So we stoped and build that. Using module federatio, we allow FireCMS Cloud customers to upload custom code and change whatever you want. Give us the code and we will handle for you. From yarn deploy to app.firecms.co.

You could say that FireCMS is a No Code, Low Code or even Full Code tool. It depends on how you want to use it.

Firebase in our Tech Stacks

As many of you may know, FireCMS was born as an internal tool. We built it. Then we used it again, and again, and again. And ended up releasing it as a product.

What kind of projects? Startups. We helped building software based Startups. Among them:medicalmotion.de, theplanetapp.com, oikosbrain.com. Everything from simple landing pages to business intelligence dashboards and etl pipelines.

In most of these projects, we used Firebase as a Backend. And we always missed a good Admin Tool. A professional Dashboard to manage the data. A tool with a good UI/UX, permissions, and a good developer experience. Our best users are developers and ourselfs. A serious dashboard for Operations.

Ending thoughts

So, why do you won't find a lot of No Code tools for Firebase? Because you probably don't need it. Because maybe Firebase is not the best tool for your product.

If you need a UI on top of your Firebase data, go for a software that allows you to customize anything. We will be happy to help you if you decide to use FireCMS. If not, custom code it is.

What are you going to build?

We want to hear about it :) Find us
on Discord, LinkedIn,
or ping us at hello@firecms.co

Firebase: The Ultimate Backend for Your CMS

Marian Claudiu Moldovan — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 12:57:53 +0000

In the rapidly evolving landscape of content management systems (CMS), choosing the right backend is more critical than ever. Developers are faced with a plethora of options, from traditional setups like WordPress to modern headless CMSs like Strapi, Contentful, and Sanity. At FireCMS, we've embraced Firebase as the backbone of our CMS, and in this article, we'll delve into the benefits of using Firebase over other CMS backends. We'll also provide direct comparisons to alternative CMSs to help you make an informed decision.

The Firebase Advantage

Firebase, a platform developed by Google, offers a comprehensive suite of tools for app development. It provides:

Cloud Firestore: A flexible, scalable NoSQL cloud database for storing and syncing data in real time.
Authentication: Secure and easy-to-use authentication services supporting email and password, phone auth, and social logins.
Cloud Functions: Serverless framework to run backend code without managing servers.
Hosting: Fast and secure web hosting for your web app, static and dynamic content.
Realtime Database: A real-time, low-latency database for mobile, web, and server development. By leveraging Firebase, FireCMS offers a CMS that is not only powerful but aso scalable, secure, and cost-effective.

The sleek and intuitive FireCMS dashboard powered by Firebase.

Why Choose Firebase Over Alternative CMS Backends?

Scalability and Performance

Firebase is built on Google's infrastructure, ensuring high performance and reliability. It automatically scales to handle your app's growth without the need for manual intervention.

Compared to WordPress:

WordPress relies on traditional hosting and databases like MySQL. Scaling requires significant effort, often involving complex setups with load balancers and database replication.
Compared to Strapi and Ghost:
Strapi and Ghost require self-hosting, which means you're responsible for scaling your servers as your user base grows.
Firebase handles scaling seamlessly, allowing you to focus on developing features rather than infrastructure.

Real-time Data Synchronization

Firebase's real-time databases enable instant data updates across all clients, enhancing user experience in collaborative environments.

Compared to Contentful and Sanity:

Contentful and Sanity offer real-time editing but may require additional configurations or costs for real-time data syncing in your applications.
With Firebase, real-time capabilities are built-in and readily accessible.

Security and Authentication

Firebase Authentication provides a robust security layer without the need for additional backend code.

Compared to Strapi and KeystoneJS:

Strapi and KeystoneJS offer authentication but often require additional setup and maintenance.
Firebase provides a secure, out-of-the-box solution that integrates seamlessly with FireCMS.

Serverless Architecture

Firebase's serverless approach means you don't have to manage servers or worry about server maintenance.

Compared to Self-hosted CMSs:

Self-hosted solutions like Strapi, KeystoneJS, and Ghost put the onus on you to manage servers, updates, and security patches.
Firebase's serverless services reduce overhead and potential downtime.

Cost-effectiveness

Firebase offers a generous free tier and a pay-as-you-go model, making it suitable for projects of all sizes.

Compared to Contentful and Agility CMS:

Contentful and Agility CMS can become costly as you scale, with pricing based on usage, users, and features.
Firebase's pricing model is straightforward and often more affordable in the long run.

Direct Comparisons with Other CMSs

To better understand Firebase's advantages, let's compare it directly with other popular CMS backends.

Firebase vs. WordPress

WordPress is a long-standing CMS known for powering blogs and websites.

Architecture: WordPress is monolithic, coupling the frontend and backend. Firebase, used with FireCMS, promotes a headless architecture, offering more flexibility.
Scalability: Scaling WordPress can be complex and costly. Firebase scales automatically.
Security: WordPress sites can be vulnerable if not properly maintained. Firebase provides robust security out of the box.

Firebase vs. Strapi

Strapi is an open-source headless CMS that allows you to create APIs quickly.

Hosting: Strapi requires self-hosting, adding to maintenance efforts.
Flexibility: While Strapi is customizable, Firebase offers greater flexibility with serverless functions and integrations.
Real-time Data: Firebase excels in real-time data handling, whereas Strapi would require additional setup.

Firebase vs. Contentful

Contentful is a headless CMS that offers content infrastructure for digital teams.

Cost: Contentful's pricing can be prohibitive for larger teams or projects. Firebase's pay-as-you-go model can be more economical.
Customization: Firebase allows for extensive customization with Cloud Functions. Contentful may have limitations due to its SaaS nature.
Vendor Lock-in: With Firebase, you're building on a platform with widespread adoption and support. Contentful's proprietary setup may limit flexibility.

Firebase vs. Sanity

Sanity is a headless CMS with real-time capabilities.

Data Management: Sanity uses GROQ for queries, which is less common than Firebase's querying methods.
Ecosystem: Firebase integrates seamlessly with other Google Cloud services, offering more tools and services.
Scalability: Both offer scalability, but Firebase's infrastructure is arguably more robust given Google's backing.

FireCMS: Harnessing Firebase's Potential

With FireCMS, you get a CMS explicitly designed to leverage Firebase's strengths.

Easy Setup: Configure your CMS with minimal code using FireCMS's intuitive schema definitions.
Real-time Admin Panel: Experience instant updates in your admin panel, streamlining content management.
Customizable UI: Tailor the admin interface to your brand and workflow needs.
Extensibility: Use Firebase Cloud Functions to extend functionality without managing additional servers.

Easily configure your FireCMS with straightforward schemas.

Addressing Common Concerns

Learning Curve

Adopting new technology can be daunting. However, Firebase and FireCMS offer extensive documentation and community support.

Resources: Access tutorials, guides, and a vibrant community on Discord.
Support: FireCMS provides commercial support to assist with your project's needs.

Data Modeling with NoSQL

Firebase uses NoSQL, which differs from traditional relational databases.

Flexibility: NoSQL allows for more flexible data models.
Guidance: FireCMS's schema system helps structure your data effectively.

Vendor Lock-in

Relying on a platform can raise concerns about dependency.

Open Source: FireCMS is open-source, giving you control over the CMS codebase.
Data Control: With Firebase, your data is stored in standard formats, and exporting is straightforward.

Get Started with FireCMS and Firebase

Transitioning to Firebase with FireCMS empowers you to build scalable, secure, and high-performance applications.

Explore FireCMS: Visit firecms.co to learn more about features and capabilities.
Try the Demo: Experience FireCMS firsthand with our live demo.
Join the Community: Connect with other developers on our Discord server.

Final Thoughts

Choosing the right backend for your CMS is a pivotal decision that impacts scalability, security, and development speed. Firebase, paired with FireCMS, offers a compelling solution that outshines traditional CMS backends like WordPress, Strapi, Contentful, and Sanity.

What's Next for Your Project?

We'd love to hear about what you're building. Whether you're updating an existing project or starting something new, FireCMS and Firebase can help you achieve your goals faster and more efficiently.

Get in Touch:

Discord: Join our community on Discord.
LinkedIn: Connect with us on LinkedIn.
Email: Reach out at hello@firecms.co.

Let's build something amazing together!

PS: The header image was created with Neat, our OSS library for creating fancy gradients.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Open Source

Marian Claudiu Moldovan — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 13:55:26 +0000

Open source is a hot topic right now. Often making headlines due to high-profile conflicts like the recent WordPress vs. WP Engine dispute over plugin licensing disagreements, or Elastic's licensing battle with AWS, which led to a shift to a source-available license. These incidents underscore the complex landscape of open-source development, a journey we've been navigating since our initial commit on GitHub in April 2020.

Since its inception, FireCMS has evolved from an internal tool to a widely-used open-source content management system (CMS) that helps developers build and prototype products efficiently. We want to share our experiences; the good, the bad, and the ugly of building FireCMS in public with an open-source license.

The Good

Our journey with FireCMS began as an in-house solution to streamline our development process. Seeing it grow beyond our organization and being utilized by other projects and companies has been profoundly fulfilling. It not only helped us in building and prototyping products faster but also empowered others to do the same.

Our obsession is building the best CMS out there, focusing on creating a functional and beautiful software experience. The feedback we receive from the community is incredibly helpful. Bugs, feature requests, and sometimes even pull requeststhese contributions drive us forward.

Our stakeholders are developers in the sprints, and our QA team is the community. We prioritize features requested by even a single user because we believe in building something that genuinely helps people. While other companies have private messaging apps, we have an open Discord server for everyone. This transparent and collaborative approach has fostered strong, organic community growth; a huge push for us.

Watching FireCMS grow organically has been incredibly rewarding. We've always felt that we're doing something right as the community and usage expand naturally. Seeing developers embrace our project fills us with pride and motivates us immensely.

The intuitive interface of FireCMS that our users love.

The Bad

Monetizing an open-source project is not easy. While we started receiving sponsorships on GitHub, it quickly became clear that it wasn't enough to sustain the project's growing demands. As we invested more time into the codebase, turning it into a full-time job, we needed to find a way to make it sustainable, because we truly love working on FireCMS.

Transitioning from a passion project to a sustainable business was tougher than we expected. We decided to build a SaaS product: a completely managed service where you bring your Firestore (or MongoDB) project, and we take care of the rest. With more features, plugins, and extensions, it offered a commercial product with a different business model. However, it's not just about having a good product; it's about selling it.

We faced resistance as users were accustomed to free access, and the number of people willing to pay for a product is tiny. We experimented with premium features and consulting services, but these options didn't fully address the sustainability challenge.

Usually, it's at this crossroads; having a lot of people using your product but few willing to pay, where open-source projects change their licenses. Companies like ElasticSearch, MongoDB, Redis, and HashiCorp have transitioned to source-available licenses after facing similar challenges.

The Ugly

Encountering companies that clone not just our code but our entire brand identity was disheartening. Copycats, not competitors or alternative builds, but entities that copied even our landing page and branding. Not cool.

We would love to have more working hands on the project, but looking back over the past year, we've received more feature requests than pull requests. We never aspired to hold the title of Benevolent Dictator for Life, so popular these days. Open source thrives on community contributions, and we hope more developers will join us in enhancing FireCMS.

What's next?

More FireCMS, for sure. Struggles and everything, we are still obsessed in making functional and beautiful software. So check the releases, get in our Discord, start a project in FireCMS Cloud or give us a star in Github.

What are you going to build?

We want to hear about it :) Find us
on Discord, LinkedIn,
or ping us at hello@firecms.co