I want to collaborate on a project with a colleague of mine, so I shared my private GitHub repository with them.

The problem is that my API keys are in an .env file and this .env file is included in the .gitignore file. Because of this, they are not able to access the database and backend (in Google Firebase), which we need them to, so we both can work in the same Firebase project.

Is there any way they can access my Firebase project without the need of me explicitly sharing my API key to them? Or does he have to copy all the API keys and Firebase project information in his own .env file?