emulators:start fails with "No emulators to start" on a new project

[JFUCSB]

Despite a correct configuration and extensive troubleshooting, firebase emulators:start consistently fails with Error: No emulators to start.... We have confirmed the firebase.json is correct for the selected emulators. We have also tried clearing the npm cache, performing a clean reinstall of firebase-tools, deleting any local cache folders, and restarting the machine. The error persists, and the debug log is unusually short.

[REQUIRED] Environment info

firebase-tools: 14.11.2
Platform: Windows
Node: v22.18.0
npm: 10.9.3

[REQUIRED] Test case

{
"hosting": {
"public": "public",
"ignore": [
"firebase.json",
"/.*",
"/node_modules/"
],
"rewrites": [
{
"source": "",
"destination": "/index.html"
}
]
},
"functions": [
{
"source": "functions",
"codebase": "default",
"ignore": [
"node_modules",
".git",
"firebase-debug.log",
"firebase-debug..log",
".local"
]
}
],
"emulators": {
"functions": {
"port": 5001
},
"hosting": {
"port": 5000
},
"firestore": {
"port": 8080
},
"ui": {
"enabled": true
},
"singleProjectMode": true
}
}

[REQUIRED] Steps to reproduce

1. Run firebase init emulators and select Firestore, Functions, and Hosting emulators.
2. Use the firebase.json file from the test case above.
3. Run firebase emulators:start --only firestore,functions,hosting.

[REQUIRED] Expected behavior

The emulators should start successfully.

[REQUIRED] Actual behavior

[2025-08-01T08:03:58.982Z] > command requires scopes: ["email","openid","https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloudplatformprojects.readonly","https://www.googleapis.com/auth/firebase","https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform"]
[2025-08-01T08:03:58.983Z] > authorizing via signed-in user (jforterra@ucsb.edu)
[2025-08-01T08:03:58.993Z] Could not find VSCode notification endpoint: FetchError: request to http://localhost:40001/vscode/notify failed, reason: . If you are not running the Firebase Data Connect VSCode extension, this is expected and not an issue.
i emulators: Shutting down emulators. {"metadata":{"emulator":{"name":"hub"},"message":"Shutting down emulators."}}
[2025-08-01T08:03:58.996Z] Could not find VSCode notification endpoint: FetchError: request to http://localhost:40001/vscode/notify failed, reason: . If you are not running the Firebase Data Connect VSCode extension, this is expected and not an issue.

Error: No emulators to start, run firebase init emulators to get started.

[aalej]

Hey @JFUCSB, thanks for the detailed report! I noticed you were using Windows, by any chance are you running the command in PowerShell? We've seen similar reports where PowerShell was stripping commas(,) from command arguments #7506.

Could you try wrapping the command in quotes to see if this would resolve the issue:

firebase emulators:start --only "firestore,functions,hosting"

[google-oss-bot]

Hey @JFUCSB. We need more information to resolve this issue but there hasn't been an update in 7 weekdays. I'm marking the issue as stale and if there are no new updates in the next 3 days I will close it automatically.

If you have more information that will help us get to the bottom of this, just add a comment!

[JFUCSB]

Thanks for following up. The feedback that you provided before helped resolve the issue. Thanks so much for the help!

…

On Mon, Aug 11, 2025 at 11:00 AM Google Open Source Bot < ***@***.***> wrote: *google-oss-bot* left a comment (firebase/firebase-tools#8921) <#8921 (comment)> Hey @JFUCSB <https://github.com/JFUCSB>. We need more information to resolve this issue but there hasn't been an update in 7 weekdays. I'm marking the issue as stale and if there are no new updates in the next 3 days I will close it automatically. If you have more information that will help us get to the bottom of this, just add a comment! — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#8921 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BPYEPXHYTHFWJJW3QGZN3KL3NDK4TAVCNFSM6AAAAACC4COPKKVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTCNZWGE4TENZUHA> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

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[aalej]

I'm happy to hear that this is now resolved! I'll go ahead and close this. Feel free to contact us again if you run into any issues.