Firestore data in emulator not showing up in emulator UI

[REQUIRED] Environment info

firebase-tools:

$ firebase --version
8.4.2

$ node -v
v10.16.3

Platform: macOS

[REQUIRED] Test case

index.js

const admin = require('firebase-admin');

process.env.FIRESTORE_EMULATOR_HOST = 'localhost:8080';

admin.initializeApp();

let db = admin.firestore();

async function test() {
    let docRef = db.collection('users').doc('alovelace2');

    let setAda = docRef.set({
        first: 'Ada',
        last: 'Lovelace',
        born: 1815
    });
}

test()

package.json

{
    "name": "firebase-emulator-ui-test",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "main": "index.js",
    "author": "Chris Hager <[e-mail]>",
    "license": "MIT",
    "dependencies": {
    "firebase-admin": "^8.12.1"
    }
}

I simply created a new directory, initialise firebase with firebase init and the node project with yarn init, and added firebase-admin (yarn add firebase-admin).

[REQUIRED] Steps to reproduce

• Run the code above. Adding multiple entries to the firestore works, and I can retrieve them in code.

[REQUIRED] Expected behavior

Firebase UI at http://localhost:4000/firestore should show the data.

[REQUIRED] Actual behavior

Firebase UI at http://localhost:4000/firestore shows only an empty root.

[metachris]

Found the answer – when calling admin.initializeApp() you need to set the correct projectId, then the data will show up.

[samtstern]

@charles-allen you’ve got it exactly right. A fake project ID will allow database writes but not much else. If you want to start the Emulator Suite with a fake project ID just do this:

firebase --project="foobar123" emulators:start