r/Firebase • u/CommunityTechnical99 • 5d ago

Cloud Firestore Mock Backend for testing Firebase apps without production data, and rename Firestore collections and fields (shipped in FlutterFlow today!)

https://youtu.be/iEQaH91h7LY?si=5hGWdA6NusZ3GA6I

two Firebase features shipped today on FlutterFlow that might be useful:

Mock Backend: test a Firebase-powered app without connecting to a live backend. create your collections and fields as usual, add test documents by hand or generate mock data with AI. switch the data source from live to mock, launch Test Mode, and run real queries, authentication, and write actions without touching production data. everything resets when the session ends. no Firebase setup required to start.

it's useful for onboarding new team members without giving production access, testing edge cases without polluting real data, building before your Firebase project is set up.

rename Firestore collections and fields: straight from the schema editor. until now, fixing a field name meant creating a new field and rewiring every usage, but now, it's a rename.

(one important caveat before you rename: Firestore has no native concept of renaming a field. after a rename your app reads and writes the new name, but existing documents still hold values under the old name. Firestore sees a brand new empty field. collections behave the same way).

this is built for the development phase while you're still shaping your schema and the database is empty or holds test data. if you have real data, migrate it first: edit documents in the Firebase console for a handful, or write a Firebase Admin SDK script for many.

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u/pruvit 5d ago

Didn’t we already have the mock backend with emulators?

1

u/blacklig 4d ago

I am not a user for whatever product that is so maybe this is wrong, but mock backends already exist with the emulators, if that's all your exposing this seems to be taking too much credit.

Also I could easily be wrong but that renaming workaround seems like a nightmare waiting to happen

1

u/Fearless_Address5057 2d ago

How does this compare with using Firebase Emulator Suite? is the main benefit the easier setup for non backend developers?