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title: Announcing Streaming for the Firebase REST API | daily.dev
description: Firebase&#x27;s REST API now supports streaming via the EventSource/Server-Sent Events protocol, enabling realtime notifications on platforms not covered by...
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og:title: Announcing Streaming for the Firebase REST API | daily.dev
og:description: Firebase&#x27;s REST API now supports streaming via the EventSource/Server-Sent Events protocol, enabling realtime notifications on platforms not covered by...
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# Announcing Streaming for the Firebase REST API

**[Firebase](https://daily.dev/sources/firebase-blog)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

## Summary

Firebase's REST API now supports streaming via the EventSource/Server-Sent Events protocol, enabling realtime notifications on platforms not covered by existing client libraries. The post walks through setting the Accept header to text/event-stream, handling HTTP 307 redirects, including the auth parameter for protected data, and parsing put/patch/keep-alive/cancel/auth_revoked events. It also links to Ruby and Python command-line chat client examples demonstrating the feature.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://firebase.blog/posts/2014/03/announcing-streaming-for-firebase-rest>

## Questions this post answers

### How do I stream realtime updates from the Firebase REST API without a client library?

Set the Accept header to text/event-stream when making a request to the Firebase REST API, and the server will push updates using the EventSource/Server-Sent Events protocol. The client must also follow HTTP 307 redirects, since Firebase directs the connection to the correct machine via the Location header.

_daily.dev surfaces implementation details like this for developers building realtime features without a full SDK._

### What event types does the Firebase REST API streaming endpoint send?

The server sends five event types: put, patch, keep-alive, cancel, and auth_revoked. A put event replaces the cache at a given path with new data, while a patch event updates or adds specific keys under a path rather than replacing the whole subtree.

_Developers wiring up Firebase streaming clients can track protocol specifics like this via daily.dev._

### How do I authenticate a request when streaming from a protected Firebase location?

Include an auth parameter in the request, using either your Firebase Secret or an authentication token, for example appending auth=CREDENTIAL as a query parameter in a curl request. This is required for any Firebase location whose read access is restricted by Security and Firebase Rules.

_daily.dev helps developers keep up with API authentication patterns across backend services like Firebase._

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---

Tags: [#python](https://daily.dev/tags/python), [#rest-api](https://daily.dev/tags/rest-api), [#firebase](https://daily.dev/tags/firebase), [#server-sent-events](https://daily.dev/tags/server-sent-events)

[View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/announcing-streaming-for-the-firebase-rest-api-h0dmvgpkc)

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