How to Build a User Activity Log in FlutterFlow

Create an activity_log collection with fields: userId (String), userEmail (String, denormalized for admin display), action (String: 'login', 'page_view', 'create', 'update', 'delete'), resourceType (String: 'post', 'order', 'profile', 'comment', 'settings'), resourceId (String, the document ID of the affected resource), description (String, human-readable summary), metadata (Map, optional extra context), timestamp (Timestamp). Add Firestore indexes for: action + timestamp descending, userId + timestamp descending, and resourceType + timestamp descending to support all filter combinations.

Create a Custom Action logActivity that accepts parameters: action (String), resourceType (String), resourceId (String), description (String), metadata (Map, optional). Inside, it creates a new activity_log document with: userId from currentUser.uid, userEmail from currentUser.email, the passed parameters, and timestamp as FieldValue.serverTimestamp(). This single Custom Action is called at the end of every significant Action Flow throughout the app. For example, after creating a post: call logActivity(action: 'create', resourceType: 'post', resourceId: newPostId, description: 'Created post: [title]').

1// Custom Action: logActivity
2import 'package:cloud_firestore/cloud_firestore.dart';
3import 'package:firebase_auth/firebase_auth.dart';
4
5Future<void> logActivity({
6  required String action,
7  required String resourceType,
8  required String resourceId,
9  required String description,
10  Map<String, dynamic>? metadata,
11}) async {
12  final user = FirebaseAuth.instance.currentUser;
13  if (user == null) return;
14
15  await FirebaseFirestore.instance.collection('activity_log').add({
16    'userId': user.uid,
17    'userEmail': user.email,
18    'action': action,
19    'resourceType': resourceType,
20    'resourceId': resourceId,
21    'description': description,
22    'metadata': metadata ?? {},
23    'timestamp': FieldValue.serverTimestamp(),
24  });
25}

Add the logActivity Custom Action at the end of every significant Action Flow in your app. After login success: logActivity(action: 'login', resourceType: 'session', resourceId: currentUser.uid, description: 'User logged in'). After creating a document: logActivity(action: 'create', resourceType: 'post', resourceId: newDoc.id, description: 'Created post: title'). After updating: logActivity(action: 'update', ...). After deleting: logActivity(action: 'delete', ...). For sensitive actions (settings changes, password reset), include additional context in the metadata Map (e.g., which field changed). Do NOT log page_view events to Firestore as they generate too many writes; log only create, update, delete, and login actions.

Create an AdminActivityLogPage (Conditional Visibility: user role == 'admin'). Add a filter Row at the top with: DateTimePicker for start date, DateTimePicker for end date, DropDown for action type (All, Login, Create, Update, Delete), DropDown for resource type (All, Post, Order, Profile), and a TextField for user search. Below, add a ListView with Backend Query on activity_log filtered by the selected criteria, ordered by timestamp descending, with pagination (20 items per page). Each row shows: action type Icon (colored: green for create, blue for update, red for delete, grey for login), userEmail Text, description Text, resourceType Badge, and timestamp. Tap a row to show full details including metadata in a Bottom Sheet.

On the user profile or account page, add a 'Your Recent Activity' section. Use a ListView with Backend Query on activity_log where userId == currentUser.uid, ordered by timestamp descending, limited to 20. Each row shows a timeline-style layout: a vertical line Container on the left with a colored dot Icon per action type, the description Text, resource type Text (small, grey), and relative timestamp Text ('2 hours ago', 'Yesterday'). Use a Custom Function to convert timestamps to relative time strings. Add a 'View All' button that navigates to a full activity history page with the same filters as the admin view but pre-filtered to the current user.

Create a scheduled Cloud Function cleanupActivityLog that runs daily. It queries activity_log documents where timestamp < 90 days ago, batches them into groups of 500, and deletes each batch. This keeps the collection at a manageable size, reduces Firestore costs, and complies with data retention policies. Log the cleanup results (number of deleted documents) to a separate system_logs collection for monitoring. Adjust the 90-day retention period based on your compliance requirements.

1// Cloud Function: cleanupActivityLog (scheduled daily)
2const admin = require('firebase-admin');
3const db = admin.firestore();
4
5exports.cleanupActivityLog = async () => {
6  const cutoff = new Date();
7  cutoff.setDate(cutoff.getDate() - 90);
8
9  let totalDeleted = 0;
10  let query = db.collection('activity_log')
11    .where('timestamp', '<', cutoff)
12    .limit(500);
13
14  while (true) {
15    const snap = await query.get();
16    if (snap.empty) break;
17
18    const batch = db.batch();
19    snap.docs.forEach(doc => batch.delete(doc.ref));
20    await batch.commit();
21    totalDeleted += snap.size;
22  }
23
24  console.log(`Cleaned up ${totalDeleted} activity log entries`);
25};