docs

Documentation

Kara's Coffee is a demo application built using a collection of technologies - most importantly Firebase!

These docs explain how the main aspects of the application integrate with Firebase, including Firebase Extensions.

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Building the application

Building the application

Although the application as a whole demonstrates an e-commerce website, there are also individual aspects of it described in more detail throughout these docs:

• Running payments with Stripe
• Creating an instant search experience with Algolia
• Enabling fast product listings using Firestore bundles
• Detecting toxic user reviews using the Perspective API
• Validating user addresses in Firestore

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Technologies

️‍🔥  Firebase

• 🔑  Firebase Authentication
• 📄  Cloud Firestore
• 🌍  Firebase Hosting

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☁️  Firebase Cloud Functions

• onAuthCreate

  • This function adds a new document to the mail collection on new user creation - this collection is listened to by the Firestore Send Email extension and sends a welcome email to the new user.
    • These emails are not actually processed on the hosted live demo website.

• onPaymentCreated

  • This function triggers when a new customer payment has been created and sends an initial order update SMS to the user (if they've set up a phone number on their account - entering a user phone number is disabled on the hosted live demo website) via the Twilio Send Message extension by writing to the messages collection on Cloud Firestore.

    ⚠️ Twilio integration is currently disabled for purposes of the demo. To see information on how Twilio works, you can visit their docs.

• deleteUserData

  • This scheduled function deletes all user data every 24 hours - it is useful only for the purpose of this demo.

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🧩  Firebase Extensions

• Delete User Data
  • Automatically delete user data when a Firebase user is deleted.
• Firestore Bundle Builder
  • See enabling fast product listings using Data Bundles to learn more.
• Manage Marketing with Mailchimp
  • Saves user account and email in Mailchimp upon account creation for email marketing campaigns.
• Stream Firestore to BigQuery
  • Streams payment data to BigQuery for effective querying and analysis.
• Trigger Email from Firestore
  • Sends a welcome email upon signup.
• Analyze Comment Toxicity with Perspective API
  • Validates review comments provided by customers to ensure that they are non-toxic, e.g. insults & profanity detection.
• Algolia - Firestore Algolia Search
  • See creating an instant search experience with Algolia to learn more.
• Run Payments with Stripe
  • See the following pages to learn more:
    • Syncing products using the Stripe Extension.
    • Integrating with Stripe Checkout
• Validate Address in Firestore
  • Validates user-selected addresses using the Google Maps API to ensure delivery confidence.
• Build Chatbot with the Gemini API
  • Integrates a sophisticated chatbot into the application, utilizing the Gemini API for dynamic user interactions and support.
• Vector Search with Firestore
  • Enhances search capabilities within Firestore using advanced vector search technology, allowing for more accurate and efficient search results.

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Other

• 💳  Stripe Checkout
  • Client library for handling checkout payments.
• 📦  ShipEngine
  • ShipEngine’s APIs help brands, ecommerce platforms, 3PLs and others save time and money on shipping.
• 🔍  Algolia Search
  • Enables developers to build next generation apps with composable APIs.
• ⚛️  React
  • A JavaScript library for building user interfaces.
• ⚡️  Vite
  • Vite is a build tool that aims to provide a faster and leaner development experience for modern web projects.