Update utility.py

utility.py

@@ -23,14 +23,52 @@ import firebase_admin
 from firebase_admin import credentials
 from firebase_admin import firestore
 
-# Initialize the SDK
-credentials_json_string = os.environ.get("FIREBASE")
-credentials_json = json.loads(credentials_json_string)
-cred = credentials.Certificate(credentials_json)
-firebase_admin.initialize_app(cred)
-# Get a Firestore client
-db = firestore.client()
+import os
+import json
+import logging
+import firebase_admin
+from firebase_admin import credentials, firestore
+
+def init_firestore_from_env(env_var: str = "FIREBASE"):
+    """
+    Initialise firebase-admin with the service-account JSON that is stored
+    in the given environment variable and return a Firestore client.
+
+    Raises:
+        KeyError – env var not set
+        json.JSONDecodeError – env var value is not valid JSON
+        ValueError – JSON missing required fields or other SDK errors
+        Exception – any other unexpected error
+    """
+    try:
+        # 1️⃣  Pull and parse the service-account JSON from the environment
+        sa_json = os.environ[env_var]                              # may raise KeyError
+        sa_info = json.loads(sa_json)                              # may raise JSONDecodeError
+
+        # 2️⃣  Build a Credential object from the dict
+        cred = credentials.Certificate(sa_info)                    # accepts dict ✔︎
+
+        # 3️⃣  Initialise the Admin SDK once; reuse if already initialised
+        try:
+            firebase_admin.get_app()                               # already initialised?
+        except ValueError:
+            firebase_admin.initialize_app(cred)                    # first time only  [oai_citation:2‡firebase.google.com](https://firebase.google.com/docs/admin/setup?utm_source=chatgpt.com)
+
+        # 4️⃣  Return a ready-to-use Firestore client
+        return firestore.client()                                  # thin wrapper over gcloud client  [oai_citation:3‡firebase.google.com](https://firebase.google.com/docs/reference/admin/python/firebase_admin.firestore?utm_source=chatgpt.com) [oai_citation:4‡stackoverflow.com](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/72105838/how-do-i-query-a-firestore-document-using-firebase-admin-with-get?utm_source=chatgpt.com)
+
+    except KeyError as e:
+        logging.error("%s environment variable is not set", env_var)
+        raise
+    except (json.JSONDecodeError, ValueError) as e:
+        logging.error("Invalid service-account JSON in %s: %s", env_var, e)
+        raise
+    except Exception as e:
+        # Catch-all for anything unexpected: network issues, IAM perms, etc.
+        logging.exception("Failed to initialise Firestore: %s", e)
+        raise
 
+db = init_firestore_from_env()      # returns firebase_admin.firestore.Client
 
 guid = uuid.uuid4()
 new_filename = f"{guid}"