Run firebase emulators + vitest at once

Question

I'm trying to run two jobs at the same time. First I need to run firebase emulators and when the ports are open, I need to run vitest.

This is what I'm doing at the moment:

name: Run Tests

on:
  pull_request:
    branches: [develop]
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  job1:
    name: Run Emulator
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Use Node.js 18.14.0
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: 18.14.0
          cache: 'npm'
      - name: Execute Emulator
        env:
          VITE_RELEASE_STAGE: testing
        run: |
          npm ci
          npm install --save firebase-tools
          npm run emulators
  job2:
    name: Run Unit Tests
    needs: job1
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Use Node.js 18.14.0
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: 18.14.0
          cache: 'npm'
      - name: Execute Unit Tests
        env:
          VITE_RELEASE_STAGE: testing
        run: |
          npm ci
          npm run test

The doors open perfectly, but the second job never runs.

Here lies my doubt. Because if I don't use needs the two will run at the same time and I will get an error in job2 because the ports will not be open in job 1.

I would like to run job 2 as soon as the emulator ports are open and finish job 1 only after job 2 finishes.

Does anyone know how I can resolve this?

---

EDIT

These are the two executed scripts that are in my package.json:

"test": "vitest",
"emulators": "firebase emulators:start --project celebrityfanalizer --import emulatorData"

Answer 1

In your workflow, the job1 never finishes because the emulators are running in it and that's why the job2 never runs when you add its dependency on job1 i.e. needs: job1.

You need to combine both jobs in one:

1. set up the environment
2. start the emulators in the background
3. wait for the emulators to start
   • add some delay (along with a dump of its STDOUT/STDERR to a file and keep checking its contents for success logs e.g. "Emulator hub running")
4. and, finally, run tests

Here's an example with a delay of 1 minute after starting the emulators in the background:

name: Run Tests in the Emulators

on:
  pull_request:
    branches: [develop]
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  ci:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v3

    - name: Set up NodeJS 18.14.0
      uses: actions/setup-node@v3
      with:
        node-version: 18.14.0
        cache: 'npm'

    - name: Start the emulators and run tests
      env:
        VITE_RELEASE_STAGE: testing
      run: |
        npm ci
        npm install --save firebase-tools
        nohup npm run emulators &> emulators.log &
        sleep 1m
        npm run test

Relevant:

• executing shell command in background from script

---

Apart from that, you can use jobs.<job_id>.services and run the emulators in a container if it's available.

---

UPDATE

As pointed out by sceee in the comments below, alternatively you may use firebase emulators:exec by configuring it under scripts in your package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "test:emulators": "firebase emulators:exec \"npm test\""
  }
}

and then invoke it as needed:

npm run test:emulators

This will automate the process of starting the emulators, running tests, and then stopping the emulators after the tests are complete.