Why is my pipeline failing? error: option '--token <token>' argument missing - firebase

Question

Im trying to setup a CI/CD pipeline but it keeps failing for my react app.
here is the script:
image: node:latest
.deploy: &deploy
- npm install -g firebase-tools
- firebase use $FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID --token $FIREBASE_TOKEN
- yarn
- yarn build
stages:
- deploy
deploy_preview:
stage: deploy
before_script:
- *deploy
script:
- firebase hosting:channel:deploy $FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID --token $FIREBASE_TOKEN
- echo "ENVIRONMENT_URL=$(firebase hosting:channel:open live --non-interactive | tail -1 | awk '{ print $3 }')"
rules:
- if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event"
staging:
stage: deploy
before_script:
- *deploy
only:
- staging
script:
- firebase deploy -m "Pipe $CI_PIPELINE_ID Build $CI_BUILD_ID" --only hosting:staging --non-interactive --token $FIREBASE_TOKEN
production:
stage: deploy
before_script:
- *deploy
only:
- main
when: manual
allow_failure: false
script:
- firebase deploy -m "Pipe $CI_PIPELINE_ID Build $CI_BUILD_ID" --only hosting:prod --non-interactive --token $FIREBASE_TOKEN
but I keep getting the error:
added 612 packages in 22s
34 packages are looking for funding
run `npm fund` for details
$ firebase use $FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID --token $FIREBASE_TOKEN
error: option '--token <token>' argument missing
Cleaning up project directory and file based variables
ERROR: Job failed: exit code
from gitlab about why the pipeline is failing
Im not sure why its complaining about the token. I do have the gitlab variables also set up correctly.

Answer 1

Found out that its because the var was PROTECTED, which means only the branches that were PROTECTED would work with it