How to Set Up Automatic Data Backups in FlutterFlow

Create a Cloud Function named scheduledBackup triggered by Cloud Scheduler to run daily at 2 AM UTC. The function uses the Firestore Admin API to export all collections to a Cloud Storage bucket path organized by date: gs://your-project-backups/YYYY-MM-DD/. Use the google-cloud/firestore module's exportDocuments method with the project ID and output URI. After the export completes, create a document in a `backup_log` collection with fields: timestamp, status ('success' or 'failed'), bucketPath, and duration in seconds. Wrap the export call in a try-catch to log failures.

1// Cloud Function: scheduledBackup
2const functions = require('firebase-functions');
3const admin = require('firebase-admin');
4const firestore = require('@google-cloud/firestore');
5admin.initializeApp();
6
7const client = new firestore.v1.FirestoreAdminClient();
8const bucket = 'gs://your-project-backups';
9
10exports.scheduledBackup = functions.pubsub
11  .schedule('every day 02:00')
12  .timeZone('UTC')
13  .onRun(async () => {
14    const projectId = process.env.GCLOUD_PROJECT;
15    const db = `projects/${projectId}/databases/(default)`;
16    const date = new Date().toISOString().split('T')[0];
17    const outputUri = `${bucket}/${date}`;
18    const startTime = Date.now();
19
20    try {
21      const [response] = await client.exportDocuments({
22        name: db,
23        outputUriPrefix: outputUri,
24        collectionIds: [], // empty = all collections
25      });
26
27      await response.promise();
28      const duration = Math.round(
29        (Date.now() - startTime) / 1000
30      );
31
32      await admin.firestore()
33        .collection('backup_log').add({
34          timestamp: admin.firestore.FieldValue
35            .serverTimestamp(),
36          status: 'success',
37          bucketPath: outputUri,
38          durationSeconds: duration,
39        });
40    } catch (err) {
41      await admin.firestore()
42        .collection('backup_log').add({
43          timestamp: admin.firestore.FieldValue
44            .serverTimestamp(),
45          status: 'failed',
46          error: err.message,
47          bucketPath: outputUri,
48        });
49    }
50  });

Create a second scheduled Cloud Function named cleanupOldBackups that runs weekly. The function lists objects in the backup bucket, groups them by date folder, and deletes folders older than 30 days. Use the Google Cloud Storage SDK to list and delete objects. Also clean up corresponding backup_log documents older than 90 days to keep the log manageable. This ensures storage costs stay controlled while maintaining a rolling 30-day recovery window.

1// Cloud Function: cleanupOldBackups
2const { Storage } = require('@google-cloud/storage');
3const storage = new Storage();
4
5exports.cleanupOldBackups = functions.pubsub
6  .schedule('every monday 03:00')
7  .timeZone('UTC')
8  .onRun(async () => {
9    const bucketName = 'your-project-backups';
10    const bucket = storage.bucket(bucketName);
11    const cutoff = new Date();
12    cutoff.setDate(cutoff.getDate() - 30);
13
14    const [files] = await bucket.getFiles();
15    const toDelete = files.filter((f) => {
16      const dateStr = f.name.split('/')[0];
17      return new Date(dateStr) < cutoff;
18    });
19
20    for (const file of toDelete) {
21      await file.delete();
22    }
23
24    console.log(`Deleted ${toDelete.length} old files`);
25  });

Extend the scheduledBackup function to send an alert when a backup fails. In the catch block, after logging the failure to backup_log, use a Cloud Function HTTP call to a notification service (SendGrid, Mailgun, or Firebase Extensions for email). Alternatively, create a simple Cloud Function triggered by Firestore onCreate on backup_log that checks if the new document has status 'failed' and sends an email to the admin address. Include the error message, timestamp, and a link to the Google Cloud Console for debugging.

Create a BackupAdmin page gated by role check (Conditional Visibility: currentUser.role == 'admin'). At the top, show the last backup status in a prominent Container: green with checkmark for success, red with warning icon for failure, including the timestamp and bucket path. Below, add a ListView bound to a Backend Query on backup_log ordered by timestamp descending. Each item shows the date, status badge (green/red), duration, and bucket path. Add a 'Trigger Manual Backup' Button that calls an HTTP-triggered Cloud Function (a variant of scheduledBackup without the scheduler). Add a Switch to enable/disable automatic backups by updating a config document that the scheduled function checks before running.

Restoring from a backup uses the Firestore Admin import API. Create a Cloud Function named restoreBackup that accepts a bucketPath parameter and calls client.importDocuments with the input URI set to the backup path. Gate this function behind an admin auth check. IMPORTANT: test the restore process by importing to a separate Firestore project (not production) to verify backup integrity without overwriting live data. On the admin page, add a 'Restore' Button on each backup log item that opens a confirmation dialog explaining that restoring will overwrite current data. Only enable this for backup entries with status 'success'.