How to delete outdated Firebase Cloud function containers from GC Storage?

I found the only robust solution to this ongoing issue (for now) is to periodically remove all of the artifact files (following Doug's instructions). As noted by others, removing some of the files can cause subsequent deploy errors (I experienced these).

IMPORTANT: Only delete the artifact files, NOT the folders as this can also cause issues.

You can do partial or full deploys as normal without any issues (it seems that the artifact files are only referenced during the build/deploy process).

Not ideal by a long shot, but at least reduces the storage usage to the minimum (until it starts accumulating again).

Edit: I have experimented with Lifecycle rules in the artifacts bucket to try and automate the clearing out of the container, but the parameters provided cannot guarantee that ALL will be cleared in one hit (which you need it to).

For convenience, you can see the artifacts bucket from within the Firebase Storage UI by selecting the "Add Bucket" option and importing the buckets from GCP.


  1. Go to the Cloud console
  2. Select "Cloud Storage -> Browser" from the products in the hamburger menu.
  3. You will see multiple storage buckets there. Simply dig in to the buckets that start with "artifacts" or end with "cloudbuild" and delete the old files (by date) that you don't want.