It annoyed me, so I will put the solution with a straight forward explanation to those who are looking for it.
1st, install GCD Storage using the firebase command line:
npm install --save @google-cloud/storage
Cloud function code:
const gcs = require('@google-cloud/storage')({keyFilename: 'service-account.json'});
const bucket = gcs.bucket('name-of-bucket.appspot.com');
const file = bucket.file('users/user1/avatar.jpg');
return file.getSignedUrl({
action: 'read',
expires: '03-09-2491'
}).then(signedUrls => {
console.log('signed URL', signedUrls[0]); // this will contain the picture's url
});
The name of your bucket can be found in the Firebase console under the Storage section.
The 'service-account.json' file can be created and downloaded from here:
https://console.firebase.google.com/project/_/settings/serviceaccounts/adminsdk
And should be stored locally in your Firebase folder under the functions folder. (or other as long as change the path in the code above)
That's it.