Storage `bucket.exists()` always returns false for firebase emulator

Start by reproducing the issue with firebase emulators:start --only storage,functions using the reported firebase-admin@12.0.0 and firebase-tools@13.1.0 setup. Trace getStorage().bucket() and bucket.exists() with the default bucket name, then compare the emulator request and response with the expected bucket state. Done means bucket.exists() returns true for the matching default emulator bucket.

[READ] Step 1: Are you in the right place?

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  template.
• For general technical questions, post a question on StackOverflow
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  google group.
• For help troubleshooting your application that does not fall under one
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  Firebase support channel.

[REQUIRED] Step 2: Describe your environment

• Operating System version: Ubuntu
• Firebase SDK version: firebase-admin@12.0.0 firebase-tools@13.1.0
• Firebase Product: storage
• Node.js version: 18.16.1
• NPM version: 9.5.1

[REQUIRED] Step 3: Describe the problem

Steps to reproduce:

Create basic project with storage and functions setup for emulation: (functions only used to call storage bucket methods)

// firebase.json
"emulators": {
    "functions": {
      "port": 5001
    },
    "storage": {
      "port": 9199
    },
    // ...rest of config

Run emulator with firebase emulators:start --only storage,functions
Verify storage bucket exists in emulator and the name is matched in firebase config showing storage_bucket as the default
Hit the firebase function to run the storage bucket code
Calling bucket.exists() from firebase function always returns false.

Expected outcome:
Calling bucket.exists() from firebase function return true when accessing the default bucket.

Relevant Code:

import { onRequest } from 'firebase-functions/v2/https';
import { getStorage } from 'firebase-admin/storage';

export const foo = onRequest(async (req, res) => {
  const storage = getStorage();
  console.log('APP STORAGE BUCKET:', storage.app.options.storageBucket);

  const bucket = storage.bucket();
  console.log('DEFAULT STORAGE BUCKET:', `name=${bucket.name}`, `id=${bucket.id}`);

  const exists = await bucket.exists();
  console.log('BUCKET EXISTS?:', exists);

  res.send(`BUCKET EXISTS?: ${exists}`);
});

Images

Console output:

Emulator Storage: (name of bucket matches id in code)