CSV Upload Validation Without Backend Workflows (Free Plan) – Need Guidance

Need help
1

Hi everyone,

I’m currently working on a project in Bubble (Free Plan) where we are building a small MRP-like system. At the moment, we are stuck on implementing a CSV import with proper validation (Day 7 of our project plan).

The problem:
We are using the CSV Uploader plugin, but it only reads the file and converts rows into text. It does not validate the data. Because of this, invalid data is being treated as valid.

What we need to validate:

  • Required fields (e.g., empty values should trigger errors)

  • Allowed values (e.g., tipo_item must be one of: SKU, MATERIAL, COMPONENTE, RETORNABLE)

  • Values that must exist in the database (e.g., related records like company or items)

Example issue:
If the CSV contains:

nombre,tipo_item
Producto1,SKU
Producto2,TIPORARO

“TIPORARO” should be flagged as an error, but currently it is not.

Constraint:
We are on the Free Plan, so we cannot use backend workflows to process each row.

What we’ve considered so far:

  • Frontend validation using Repeating Groups (but may not scale well)

  • Using Javascript via Toolbox plugin + Papa Parse

  • Using Airtable as an external validation layer

  • Someone suggested Algolia, but we are unsure if it applies to this use case

Our questions:

  1. What is the best approach to validate CSV data in Bubble without backend workflows?

  2. Is using Javascript (Toolbox + Papa Parse) the most reliable solution?

  3. Has anyone successfully implemented a validation system like this on the Free Plan?

  4. Would you recommend using an external tool like Airtable, or keeping everything inside Bubble?

Any guidance, examples, or best practices would be greatly appreciated :folded_hands:

Thanks in advance!

evidence 1
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2

Hey @022000396 :waving_hand:

Welcome to the Bubble Community! :tada:

Are you using this plugin by chance? This one has a really good user experience. Much better than the native one.

4

Thanks for your reply!

Yes, we are actually already using that plugin.

The upload experience works well, but our main issue is still data validation after reading the CSV.

Right now, the plugin correctly parses the file, but:

  • It does not validate required fields

  • It does not restrict values (e.g. tipo_item should only be: SKU, MATERIAL, COMPONENTE, RETORNABLE)

  • It does not check if values exist in the database

So invalid data like “TIPORARO” is still being accepted without any error.

Since we are on the Free plan and can’t use backend workflows, we’re trying to figure out the best way to handle validation.

Would you recommend:

  • Handling validation in the frontend (e.g. Repeating Groups)?

  • Using Javascript (Toolbox + Papa Parse)?

  • Or is there a better approach with this plugin that we might be missing?

Thanks again for your help

5

If you are comfortable with JavaScript, it might be a faster experience. For the most no-code friendly way, the RepeatingGroup would be easier. You can loop through things on the front end using this plugin too. You just need to build out your own loop. Simple looper (workflow repeater) Plugin | Bubble

Hope that helps. :blush: