Maintenance
Part of No-code costs and vendor risk
Planning an exit from a no-code platform
Define what must work after a move, inventory data and app logic, inspect export limits, and rehearse a controlled cutover.
Plan the exit around the service that must work after the move. Exported rows are only one part of it: files, relationships, pages, permissions, rules and integrations may also need to move or be rebuilt.
Define the replacement and cutover
Name the essential task the destination must support. For a customer service app, that might mean finding an open case, changing its status and showing the customer the permitted result.
Decide which system will accept new cases after cutover, who can correct a migrated record and how unfinished work will be handled.
Set a condition for stopping writes to the old app. Required records and files should be available in the destination, essential tasks should work under the intended roles, and connected actions should have owners. Decide separately whether staff need temporary read-only access to older history.
Inventory what must leave
Item / What to capture
- Records
- Tables, IDs, relationships, field meanings and status
- Files
- Attachment files and their record links
- Logic
- Form rules, formulas, workflows and exception paths
- Access
- Roles, record boundaries and administrator grants
- Connections
- Systems, account owners and credentials to replace
- History
- Changes or decisions the business must still explain
Mark each item retrievable, documented for rebuilding or unresolved under the current plan. An exported calculated value does not preserve the rule that produced it.
Exit inventory: what must leave
- RecordsTables, IDs, relationships, field meanings and status
- FilesAttachment files and their record links
- LogicForm rules, formulas, workflows and exception paths
- AccessRoles, record boundaries and administrator grants
- ConnectionsSystems, account owners and credentials to replace
- HistoryChanges or decisions the business must still explain
Check the source's export limits
Export behaviour varies by platform and route. Confirm which records and fields are included, and what context is not carried across.
Files may need a separate retrieval route from the data export. Check how to obtain the files and document meanings and rules that are not included in exported data.
Bubble provides tools for exporting user-created data, including CSV routes. It says an app cannot be exported as code that runs independently of Bubble, so its logic must be rebuilt elsewhere. Bubble also says it can help export the design.
Other builders and data sources have different routes. Check the configured app, plan and permission needed to run each export.
Bubble export limits: what moves and what must be rebuilt
- User-created data
- Bubble provides tools for exporting user-created data, including CSV routes
- Application code
- An app cannot be exported as code that runs independently of Bubble
- App logic
- Logic must be rebuilt elsewhere
- Design
- Bubble says it can help export the design
- Export configuration
- Check the configured app, plan and permission needed to run each export
Rehearse the move
Use fictional or approved sample records with a parent, related records, an attachment and a changed status. Retrieve the sample through the supported route. Ask someone who did not build the old app to interpret the IDs, relationships and values. Confirm that the attachment file itself was obtained rather than only a short-lived address.
In a separate destination setting, recreate one complete task with an ordinary account. Check the saved result and a record that account must not access. Record missing data, rules and permissions as migration work.
Rehearsal checks before cutover
- Sample recordsUse fictional or approved sample records with a parent, related records, an attachment and a changed status
- Supported routeRetrieve the sample through the supported route
- InterpretationAsk someone who did not build the old app to interpret the IDs, relationships and values
- Attachment fileConfirm the attachment file itself was obtained rather than only a short-lived address
- Destination taskRecreate one complete task with an ordinary account in a separate destination setting
- Permission checkCheck the saved result and a record that account must not access
- Migration workRecord missing data, rules and permissions as migration work
Keep one source of new work
Choose when the old app stops accepting new records and when the final retrieval occurs. Decide how changes made during the interval will be reconciled. Keep an old-to-new ID mapping so earlier messages and documents can still identify a case.
Before retiring the old app, have the business owner accept the replacement task using real roles and safe records. Keep only the historical access needed under the organisation's retention decision, then remove obsolete grants and paid extensions through its normal process. Record anything that could not be moved and how future questions about it will be answered.
Controlled cutover sequence
- Name the replacement taskDefine the essential task the destination must support
- Stop old writesChoose when the old app stops accepting new records
- Final retrievalRun the final retrieval of required records and files
- Reconcile interval changesDecide how changes made during the interval will be reconciled
- Keep ID mappingMaintain an old-to-new ID mapping so earlier messages and documents can still identify a case
- Business owner acceptanceHave the business owner accept the replacement task using real roles and safe records
- Retain historical accessKeep only the historical access needed under the organisation's retention decision
- Remove obsolete grantsRemove obsolete grants and paid extensions through its normal process
- Record unresolved itemsRecord anything that could not be moved and how future questions about it will be answered
