Any way to recover files removed via fileDelete mutation? (app-side bug)

GraphQL Admin API Troubleshooting
1

Hi all,

We run a Shopify app that had a bug in a scheduled backend job. It was meant to clean up genuinely orphaned video files (uploads that failed partway through and never got linked on our side), but a matching-logic error caused it to also misidentify some real, actively-used video files as orphaned, and it called the fileDelete mutation on them. This ran nightly for about a week before we caught and disabled it.

I understand fileDelete is documented as permanent with no built-in recovery. Wanted to check directly:

  • Is there any backend recovery process Shopify can run for files removed via fileDelete, outside the public API (e.g. from platform-side backups), for a case like this where deletion was caused by an unintended bug rather than a deliberate action?
  • Is there a recommended way to formally report an incident like this to Shopify, even if recovery isn’t possible, so it’s on record?

Happy to share exact mutation calls, timestamps, and affected file IDs with anyone on the Shopify side looking into it.

Thanks!

2

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3

Hey @Shreyash_Matele - thanks for reaching out. I empathize with you here and I can see how having active videos removed across several nightly runs could have a significant impact.

I checked the available recovery options. Videos deleted through fileDelete can’t be restored by Shopify Support. If you still have the original videos, the recovery path is to upload them again using fileCreate, making sure to rebuild any removed product or theme references.

You can still contact Shopify Support if you’re looking to document the incident and review the affected activity. Include the shop, app ID, UTC deletion window, affected file IDs, request IDs and/or mutation responses - this information should help our Support team answer any questions you may have.

Hope this helps!