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The Rollout plugin automates the process of applying schema changes to existing, live workbooks. When a new version of a Flatfile Agent is deployed (triggering agent:created or agent:updated events), this plugin identifies relevant workbooks and initiates an update process. Its primary use case is to ensure that all workbooks associated with a particular configuration stay up-to-date with the latest schema definitions without manual intervention. It works by creating a job to apply the new schema via a user-defined updater function. After the schema is updated, it cleverly re-triggers all data hooks on all records in the updated sheets, ensuring data validity and transformations are re-evaluated against the new schema. This plugin should be deployed in a server-side listener.

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Installation

npm install @flatfile/plugin-rollout

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Configuration & Parameters

The rollout plugin accepts a configuration object with the following parameters:

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namespace (required)

  • Type: string
  • Description: A string used to filter which spaces the plugin should operate on. The plugin will only consider spaces matching this namespace. The expected format is typically workbook:your-namespace.

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dev (required)

  • Type: boolean
  • Description: When set to true, the plugin will also trigger an update check when the agent starts up in a local development environment (i.e., not running on AWS Lambda). This is useful for testing changes locally without needing to deploy a new agent version.
  • Default: Effectively false - updates in local development are suppressed unless this is explicitly set to true.

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updater (required)

  • Type: (space: Flatfile.Space, workbooks: Flatfile.Workbook[]) => Promise<undefined | Flatfile.Workbook[]>
  • Description: An asynchronous callback function you provide to perform the actual schema updates. It receives the space being processed and a list of its workbooks. You are responsible for using the Flatfile API within this function to apply your new schema to the workbooks. The function should return an array of the workbooks that were successfully updated.

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Usage Examples

import { FlatfileListener } from '@flatfile/listener'
import { rollout } from '@flatfile/plugin-rollout'
import { FlatfileClient } from '@flatfile/api'

const listener = new FlatfileListener()
const api = new FlatfileClient()

const rolloutPlugin = rollout({
  namespace: 'workbook:my-app',
  dev: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development',
  updater: async (space, workbooks) => {
    // In a real scenario, you would update the workbook's sheets
    // with a new schema configuration here.
    console.log(`Updating workbooks in space ${space.id}`)
    // For example:
    // const newSchema = require('./schemas/my-new-schema')
    // await api.sheets.update(workbooks[0].sheets[0].id, { config: newSchema.config })
    
    // Return the workbooks you updated to re-trigger hooks.
    return workbooks
  },
})

// Register the job handler on a filtered listener
listener.namespace(['workbook:my-app'], (filteredListener) => {
  filteredListener.use(rolloutPlugin)
})

// Register the root event handler on the main listener
// This is required to catch the agent deployment events.
listener.use(rolloutPlugin.root)

import { FlatfileListener } from '@flatfile/listener'
import { rollout } from '@flatfile/plugin-rollout'
import { FlatfileClient } from '@flatfile/api'
import { myNewSheetConfig } from './new-sheet.config'

const listener = new FlatfileListener()
const api = new FlatfileClient()

const rolloutPluginWithConfig = rollout({
  // Only act on spaces with this namespace
  namespace: 'workbook:customer-onboarding',
  
  // Enable local dev updates
  dev: true,
  
  // Provide the logic to update the workbook schemas
  updater: async (space, workbooks) => {
    const updatedWorkbooks = []
    for (const workbook of workbooks) {
      // Assuming we want to update the first sheet of each workbook
      if (workbook.sheets && workbook.sheets.length > 0) {
        const sheetId = workbook.sheets[0].id
        try {
          await api.sheets.update(sheetId, {
            config: myNewSheetConfig,
          })
          console.log(`Successfully updated schema for sheet ${sheetId}`)
          updatedWorkbooks.push(workbook)
        } catch (e) {
          console.error(`Failed to update sheet ${sheetId}:`, e)
        }
      }
    }
    // Return only the workbooks that were successfully updated
    return updatedWorkbooks
  },
})

// The plugin returns two parts that must both be registered.
listener.namespace(['workbook:customer-onboarding'], (filteredListener) => {
  filteredListener.use(rolloutPluginWithConfig)
})
listener.use(rolloutPluginWithConfig.root)

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API Reference

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rollout(config)

Initializes the rollout plugin. It sets up listeners for agent deployment events and a job handler to perform the updates. It relies on a user-provided updater function to apply the specific schema changes. Parameters:
  • config (object): Configuration object with the following properties:
    • namespace (string, required): The namespace to filter spaces for updates
    • dev (boolean, required): Set to true to enable updates on local agent reloads
    • updater (function, required): Async function that performs the schema update
Return Value: A listener callback function with a .root property (also a listener callback). The main callback handles the space:auto-update job, while the .root callback handles agent:created and agent:updated events. 
const rolloutWithErrorHandling = rollout({
  namespace: 'workbook:my-app',
  dev: true,
  updater: async (space, workbooks) => {
    const updated = []
    for (const wb of workbooks) {
      try {
        // Attempt to update a sheet
        const sheetId = wb.sheets[0].id
        // ... your api call to update the sheet ...
        console.log(`Updated sheet ${sheetId}`)
        updated.push(wb)
      } catch (error) {
        console.error(`Could not update workbook ${wb.id}. Reason:`, error)
        // Continue to the next workbook without stopping the whole process
      }
    }
    return updated
  },
})

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Troubleshooting

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Updates not triggering

  • Ensure the agent:created or agent:updated events are firing upon deployment
  • Check that the target space has the correct namespace and the required secret (FF_AUTO_UPDATE or FF_AUTO_UPDATE_DEV) is set to 'true'

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Local updates not working

  • Make sure you have set dev: true in the plugin configuration

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Hooks not re-running

  • Verify that your updater function is returning an array containing the workbooks that you successfully updated
  • If an empty or undefined value is returned, the hook re-triggering step will be skipped

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Notes

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Default Behavior

By default, the plugin will only trigger updates for production spaces that have a secret named FF_AUTO_UPDATE with a value of 'true'. If the dev: true option is used, it will trigger updates for development spaces that have a secret named FF_AUTO_UPDATE_DEV with a value of 'true'. This secret-based mechanism acts as an explicit opt-in for each space, preventing accidental updates.

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Special Considerations

  • Dual Listener Registration: The plugin returns a function with a .root property. You MUST register both. The main function handles the job execution and should be on a namespaced listener. The .root function handles the global events that trigger the job and must be on the root listener.
  • Server-Side Only: This plugin is designed to run in a server-side listener environment, not in the browser.
  • Opt-In via Secrets: The plugin will not update a space unless it contains a specific secret. For production environments, a secret named FF_AUTO_UPDATE must exist with the value 'true'. For local development (with dev: true), the secret must be FF_AUTO_UPDATE_DEV with the value 'true'.
  • Hook Re-triggering: To re-run data hooks after a schema change, the plugin updates the metadata of every record in the updated sheets by adding a _autoUpdateKey with a random UUID. This modification forces Flatfile to re-evaluate each record.

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API Permissions

The agent using this plugin requires API permissions for the following actions:
  • space:read (for spaces.list, spaces.get)
  • secret:read (for secrets.list)
  • workbook:read (for workbooks.list)
  • job:write (for jobs.create)
  • Your updater function will likely require additional permissions, such as sheet:write to update sheet configurations.