Fix workflow to handle pull requests from forks gracefully

Co-authored-by: nchalla3 <45720973+nchalla3@users.noreply.github.com>

Author: Copilot

.github/workflows/firebase-preview-deploy.yml

@@ -68,8 +68,11 @@ jobs:
           echo "Generated channel name: $CHANNEL"
 
       # Install Firebase CLI and deploy to preview channel
+      # Only run if secrets are available (not on forks)
       - name: Deploy to Firebase preview channel
         id: firebase-deploy
+        # Skip deployment for pull requests from forks (secrets are not available)
+        if: ${{ secrets.FIREBASE_TOKEN != '' && secrets.FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID != '' }}
         env:
           FIREBASE_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.FIREBASE_TOKEN }}
           FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID: ${{ secrets.FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID }}
@@ -93,6 +96,30 @@ jobs:
             echo "$DEPLOY_OUTPUT"
             exit 1
           fi
+      
+      # Add note when deployment is skipped
+      - name: Deployment skipped notice
+        if: ${{ secrets.FIREBASE_TOKEN == '' || secrets.FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID == '' }}
+        run: |
+          cat >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY << 'EOF'
+          ## ℹ️ Firebase Deployment Skipped
+          
+          Firebase deployment was skipped because the required secrets are not available.
+          This typically happens for pull requests from forked repositories.
+          
+          **Build Status:** ✅ Build completed successfully
+          
+          ### What was tested:
+          - ✅ Dependencies installed
+          - ✅ Application built successfully
+          - ✅ Tests passed
+          
+          ### Note for maintainers:
+          To deploy a preview for this PR, a maintainer needs to either:
+          1. Close and reopen the PR from the main repository, or
+          2. Manually trigger a deployment after merging
+          EOF
+          echo "⚠️ Firebase deployment skipped - secrets not available (likely a fork PR)"
 
       # Add preview URL to job summary
       - name: Add deployment summary

FIREBASE_DEPLOY_README.md

@@ -41,4 +41,26 @@ firebase login:ci
 
 - **Push to any branch**: Creates preview deploy
 - **Pull requests**: Creates preview deploy for PR branch
-- **Concurrency**: Cancels previous deployments for same branch to avoid conflicts
+- **Concurrency**: Cancels previous deployments for same branch to avoid conflicts
+
+## Important: Pull Requests from Forks
+
+**GitHub Actions does not provide access to repository secrets for pull requests from forked repositories** for security reasons.
+
+### What this means:
+- PRs from forks will **build successfully** but **skip Firebase deployment**
+- The workflow will show a notice explaining why deployment was skipped
+- All other checks (build, tests) will still run to verify code quality
+
+### For maintainers:
+If you need to preview changes from a forked PR:
+1. Review the code changes first for security
+2. Create a branch in the main repository with the changes
+3. Push to that branch to trigger a preview deployment
+4. Alternatively, merge the PR and the deployment will run on the main branch
+
+### For contributors:
+If you're submitting a PR from a fork:
+- Your build will be verified automatically
+- Deployment preview will be created after a maintainer reviews your PR
+- This is a security feature to protect repository secrets