`firebase init` error when used in directory of name `project`

[CorieW]

[REQUIRED] Environment info

firebase-tools: 14.26.0

Platform: macOS

[REQUIRED] Steps to reproduce

1. Create a directory named project
2. Inside said directory, run firebase init
3. Select Extensions and press enter

[REQUIRED] Expected behavior

Behaviour should be consistent with using any other directory.

[REQUIRED] Actual behavior

✔ Which Firebase features do you want to set 
up for this directory? Press Space to select 
features, then Enter to confirm your choices.
Extensions: Set up an empty Extensions 
manifest

=== Project Setup

First, let's associate this project directory with a Firebase project.
You can create multiple project aliases by running firebase use --add, 


Error: Failed to get Firebase project testing-65ab9. Please make sure the project exists and your account has permission to access it.
coriewatson@Mac project2 % firebase init

     ######## #### ########  ######## ########     ###     ######  ########
     ##        ##  ##     ## ##       ##     ##  ##   ##  ##       ##
     ######    ##  ########  ######   ########  #########  ######  ######
     ##        ##  ##    ##  ##       ##     ## ##     ##       ## ##
     ##       #### ##     ## ######## ########  ##     ##  ######  ########

You're about to initialize a Firebase project in this directory:

  /Users/coriewatson/Documents/Invertase/PROJECTS/firebase-extensions/project

✔ Which Firebase features do you want to set 
up for this directory? Press Space to select 
features, then Enter to confirm your choices.
Data Connect: Set up a Firebase Data Connect 
service

=== Project Setup

First, let's associate this project directory with a Firebase project.
You can create multiple project aliases by running firebase use --add, 


Error: Failed to get Firebase project testing-65ab9. Please make sure the project exists and your account has permission to access it.

Having trouble? Try again or contact support with contents of firebase-debug.log

--debug

✔ Which Firebase features do you want to set 
up for this directory? Press Space to select 
features, then Enter to confirm your choices.
Extensions: Set up an empty Extensions 
manifest

=== Project Setup

First, let's associate this project directory with a Firebase project.
You can create multiple project aliases by running firebase use --add, 


Error: Failed to get Firebase project testing-65ab9. Please make sure the project exists and your account has permission to access it.

Having trouble? Try again or contact support with contents of firebase-debug.log
coriewatson@Mac project2 % firebase init --deb
ug

     ######## #### ########  ######## ########     ###     ######  ########
     ##        ##  ##     ## ##       ##     ##  ##   ##  ##       ##
     ######    ##  ########  ######   ########  #########  ######  ######
     ##        ##  ##    ##  ##       ##     ## ##     ##       ## ##
     ##       #### ##     ## ######## ########  ##     ##  ######  ########

You're about to initialize a Firebase project in this directory:

  /Users/coriewatson/Documents/Invertase/PROJECTS/firebase-extensions/project

✔ Which Firebase features do you want to set 
up for this directory? Press Space to select 
features, then Enter to confirm your choices.
Extensions: Set up an empty Extensions 
manifest

=== Project Setup

First, let's associate this project directory with a Firebase project.
You can create multiple project aliases by running firebase use --add, 

[2025-11-23T00:48:03.356Z] > 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"]
[2025-11-23T00:48:03.357Z] > authorizing via signed-in user (corie.watson@invertase.io)
[2025-11-23T00:48:03.359Z] Checked if tokens are valid: true, expires at: 1763861266465
[2025-11-23T00:48:03.359Z] Checked if tokens are valid: true, expires at: 1763861266465
[2025-11-23T00:48:03.361Z] >>> [apiv2][query] GET https://firebase.googleapis.com/v1beta1/projects/testing-65ab9 [none]
[2025-11-23T00:48:03.710Z] <<< [apiv2][status] GET https://firebase.googleapis.com/v1beta1/projects/testing-65ab9 403
[2025-11-23T00:48:03.710Z] <<< [apiv2][body] GET https://firebase.googleapis.com/v1beta1/projects/testing-65ab9 {"error":{"code":403,"message":"The caller does not have permission","status":"PERMISSION_DENIED"}}
[2025-11-23T00:48:03.711Z] Request to https://firebase.googleapis.com/v1beta1/projects/testing-65ab9 had HTTP Error: 403, The caller does not have permission
[2025-11-23T00:48:03.798Z] FirebaseError: Request to https://firebase.googleapis.com/v1beta1/projects/testing-65ab9 had HTTP Error: 403, The caller does not have permission
    at responseToError (/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/firebase-tools/lib/responseToError.js:53:12)
    at RetryOperation._fn (/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/firebase-tools/lib/apiv2.js:322:77)
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:105:5)

Error: Failed to get Firebase project testing-65ab9. Please make sure the project exists and your account has permission to access it.

Having trouble? Try again or contact support with contents of firebase-debug.log

[aalej]

Hey @CorieW, thanks for the detailed report, I appreciate this! Looking at the debug logs, it’s odd that the CLI doesn’t do a project setup selection prompt similar to below and goes straight setting up the configs

=== Project Setup

First, let's associate this project directory with a Firebase project.
You can create multiple project aliases by running firebase use --add, 

? Please select an option: (Use arrow keys)
❯ Use an existing project
  Create a new project
  Add Firebase to an existing Google Cloud Platform project
  Don't set up a default project

So it looks like the project directory may already have a project ID associated to it. Could you try running the below command in the project directory

touch firebase.json
firebase use

If it outputs something like

Active Project: PROJECT_ID

Run firebase use --add to define a new project alias.

Run firebase use --clear to clear the currently associated active project, then try running firebase init again.

[CorieW]

Hi @aalej. Thank you, I've cleared the project and now things seem to work as expected. This definitely confused me a lot when I hit it. I suspected a project was selected, but it wasn't clear to me on how to unselect that project.

[aalej]

Further taking a look into this, it seems like the Firebase CLI could potentially leave a project directory in a somewhat broken state.

When it associates a directory path with a project ID or alias, even though that path/directory is deleted, the path:projectID key value pair is stored in cache. So when recreating that directory then running firebase init, it checks the cache for that path and uses the projectID associated.

I’ll mark this as reproducible, sharing detailed steps on how to reproduce this