How can I enforce database schema in Firestore?

Question

I'd like to enforce a database schema in Firestore, a noSQL style database that does not require scheme by default.

So far, I've looked into using the Firebase Rules system as a possible avenue for schema enforcement: https://firebase.google.com/docs/firestore/security/rules-structure

I would like to:

1. Ensure that certain fields have the proper data type (String, Number, bool)
2. Ensure that certain fields exist (ex: firstName and lastName on a User class)
3. Ensure that fields are set to 'undefined' if not needed. (This one I'm not sure about - do I need to do this?)

Has anyone found a good way to enforce schema from the server side?

Answer 1

Firestore is not a relational database so the concept of a schema is not applicable [source Cloud Firestore Data model]. Data types in Firestore are enforced by firestore.rules security rules.

In a relational database, the schema defines the tables, fields, relationships, views, indexes, packages, procedures, functions, queues, triggers, types, sequences, materialized views, synonyms, database links, directories, XML schemas, and other elements.

[Wikipedia]