diff --git a/.changeset/blue-rocks-install.md b/.changeset/blue-rocks-install.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2f30cf6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/blue-rocks-install.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"create-eigen-game": patch
+---
+
+The `firebase` CLI is now suggested as `curl -sL https://firebase.tools | bash` rather than `npm install -g firebase-tools`, both in the missing-tooling report and in the scaffolded project's README. That installer is Google's own, it picks a standalone binary or npm to suit the machine, and it is the one the Firebase documentation leads with. The npm install still works; it just needs a global prefix the reader may not have write access to.
diff --git a/packages/create-eigen-game/src/index.ts b/packages/create-eigen-game/src/index.ts
index d00cb41..72cc4f6 100644
--- a/packages/create-eigen-game/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/create-eigen-game/src/index.ts
@@ -588,7 +588,11 @@ export function firebaseReadiness(probe: Probe = probeCommand): FirebaseReadines
   } else {
     // Nothing to say about the sign-in: the CLI that would answer is the one
     // that is missing, and `firebase login` is what installing leads to anyway.
-    problems.push({ reason: "the `firebase` CLI is not installed", fix: "npm install -g firebase-tools" });
+    // Google's own installer, which picks a standalone binary or npm to suit
+    // the machine. `npm install -g firebase-tools` also works and is what this
+    // used to print, but it needs a global npm prefix the reader may not have
+    // write access to, and it is not the install the Firebase docs lead with.
+    problems.push({ reason: "the `firebase` CLI is not installed", fix: "curl -sL https://firebase.tools | bash" });
   }
 
   if (!probe("flutterfire", ["--version"]).ok) {
diff --git a/packages/create-eigen-game/templates/project/README.md b/packages/create-eigen-game/templates/project/README.md
index 74a5a55..8904827 100644
--- a/packages/create-eigen-game/templates/project/README.md
+++ b/packages/create-eigen-game/templates/project/README.md
@@ -96,12 +96,16 @@ It drives two CLIs, which are separate global installs and neither of which
 comes with Flutter or Node:
 
 ```sh
-npm install -g firebase-tools                # the `firebase` CLI
+curl -sL https://firebase.tools | bash       # the `firebase` CLI
 dart pub global activate flutterfire_cli     # the `flutterfire` CLI
 export PATH="$PATH":"$HOME/.pub-cache/bin"   # `activate` does not do this
 firebase login                               # both CLIs share this
 ```
 
+The first line is Google's own installer; [the Firebase CLI
+reference](https://firebase.google.com/docs/cli) has the other ways, including
+Windows.
+
 A run with no project chosen yet asks which to use, and can create one. Name it
 up front to skip the prompts, which is also how CI runs this:
 
diff --git a/packages/create-eigen-game/test/scaffold.spec.ts b/packages/create-eigen-game/test/scaffold.spec.ts
index 38e2b6c..92f3073 100644
--- a/packages/create-eigen-game/test/scaffold.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/create-eigen-game/test/scaffold.spec.ts
@@ -420,7 +420,7 @@ describe("firebaseReadiness", () => {
     // Asked here rather than left to `configure_firebase`, which runs at the
     // far end of two minutes of Flutter and pub.
     expect(firebaseReadiness(machine("flutterfire"))).toEqual({ ready: false, problems: [{ reason: "the `flutterfire` CLI is not installed", fix: "dart pub global activate flutterfire_cli" }] });
-    expect(firebaseReadiness(machine("firebase"))).toEqual({ ready: false, problems: [{ reason: "the `firebase` CLI is not installed", fix: "npm install -g firebase-tools" }] });
+    expect(firebaseReadiness(machine("firebase"))).toEqual({ ready: false, problems: [{ reason: "the `firebase` CLI is not installed", fix: "curl -sL https://firebase.tools | bash" }] });
   });
 
   it("catches a machine that has the tools but is signed out", () => {