I kept going so here's a reminder for next time I've been away from the project for 2 years

🦄 Project Log: Upgrading My Unicorn Text Project (April 2025)

🚀 Overview

This project connects a Pimoroni Galactic Unicorn Pico W to a Google Cloud Platform (GCP) serverless API that controls the scrolling text remotely.

• Backend: Node.js, Express.js, Firestore (GCP)
• Frontend: Simple HTML/JS (eventually!)
• Deployment: Cloud Run with Cloud Build
• Security: Bearer Token Authorization + Secret Manager
• Storage: Firestore Database

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🛠️ Main Changes and Improvements

1. Local Pico W Development Setup

• Installed mpremote for flashing and file management.
• Created a deploy.sh script to easily push code to the Pico.
• Setup .env secrets for WiFi credentials and server URLs.
• Used Micropython firmware.
• Created a pretty console output when deploying.
• MicroPython Docs

2. Backend (Cloud Run API) Improvements

• Split project into app.js (Express app) and server.js (listener).
• Why split app.js and server.js?
• Proper CORS setup to allow frontend to talk to backend.
• Centralized Firebase Admin SDK initialization (utils/firebase.js).

3. Firestore Data Improvements

• Structured Firestore documents to include:
  • text (display text)
  • updatedAt (server-side timestamp)
  • updatedBy (who set the text)
• Logged every update into a Firestore subcollection history.

4. Secrets Management (Security)

• Switched from environment variables to GCP Secret Manager.
• Fixed service account permissions for secrets access.
• GCP Secret Manager Docs

5. Frontend Changes (WIP)

• Created a basic frontend for text updates.
• Handled CORS properly.
• Added Bearer Token headers to secure API requests.

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📋 Final Tech Stack Overview

• Hardware: Pico W (Galactic Unicorn)
• Firmware: MicroPython
• Local Dev Tools: mpremote, VS Code
• Backend: Node.js, Express, Firestore
• Authentication: Bearer Tokens
• Secrets: GCP Secret Manager
• Hosting: Cloud Run (serverless)
• Database: Firestore (NoSQL)
• Frontend: Basic HTML/JS

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📚 Key Links for Future Reference

• Micropython Docs
• Express Middleware Basics
• Understanding CORS
• Google Cloud Run Docs
• Google Secret Manager Docs
• Firestore Subcollections Guide

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🧠 Lessons Learned

• CORS must be handled before mounting routes.
• Always explicitly initialize Firebase Admin SDK.
• Structured Firestore data makes future features easier.
• Logging to console and audit trails are essential for debugging.

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🚀 Future Ideas

• Add /history API endpoint to view full update logs.
• Prettify the frontend to show timestamps and usernames.
• Setup OAuth login instead of bearer token for future users.
• Deploy frontend separately (Netlify, Firebase Hosting).
• GitHub Actions for auto-deploy on commit.

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🦄 Final Thoughts

This is no longer just a toy project — it's a scalable, secure, audit-logged cloud-connected Unicorn 🦄 system! With a real API, real secret management, history tracking, and easy extensibility — Ready for next steps whenever I pick it back up again!