fireflies-data-handling

Overview

Manage meeting transcript data: export in multiple formats (JSON, text, SRT), redact PII from transcripts and summaries, implement retention policies with automated cleanup, and handle GDPR/CCPA data subject requests.

Examples

Use a fictional transcript to test redaction and retention logic. Confirm that the export is restricted to an approved test destination, logs contain only aggregate counts, and deleting the record removes both the raw and derived test artifacts according to the configured policy.

Prerequisites

• FIREFLIES_API_KEY configured
• Understanding of transcript data structure (sentences, summary, analytics)
• Storage for processed transcripts

Instructions

Step 1: Fetch Transcript Data

const FIREFLIES_API = "https://api.fireflies.ai/graphql";

async function getFullTranscript(id: string) {
  const res = await fetch(FIREFLIES_API, {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
      Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.FIREFLIES_API_KEY}`,
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      query: `
        query($id: String!) {
          transcript(id: $id) {
            id title date duration
            organizer_email
            speakers { id name }
            sentences { speaker_name text start_time end_time }
            summary { overview action_items keywords short_summary }
            meeting_attendees { displayName email }
          }
        }
      `,
      variables: { id },
    }),
  });
  const json = await res.json();
  if (json.errors) throw new Error(json.errors[0].message);
  return json.data.transcript;
}

Step 2: Export in Multiple Formats

type ExportFormat = "json" | "text" | "srt" | "csv";

function exportTranscript(transcript: any, format: ExportFormat): string {
  switch (format) {
    case "json":
      return JSON.stringify(transcript, null, 2);

    case "text":
      const lines = [
        `# ${transcript.title}`,
        `Date: ${transcript.date} | Duration: ${transcript.duration}min`,
        `Speakers: ${transcript.speakers.map((s: any) => s.name).join(", ")}`,
        "",
        "## Summary",
        transcript.summary?.overview || "(none)",
        "",
        "## Action Items",
        ...(transcript.summary?.action_items || []).map((a: string) => `- ${a}`),
        "",
        "## Transcript",
        ...transcript.sentences.map((s: any) =>
          `[${fmtTime(s.start_time)}] ${s.speaker_name}: ${s.text}`
        ),
      ];
      return lines.join("\n");

    case "srt":
      return transcript.sentences.map((s: any, i: number) =>
        [
          i + 1,
          `${fmtSrt(s.start_time)} --> ${fmtSrt(s.end_time)}`,
          `${s.speaker_name}: ${s.text}`,
          "",
        ].join("\n")
      ).join("\n");

    case "csv":
      const header = "start_time,end_time,speaker,text";
      const rows = transcript.sentences.map((s: any) =>
        `${s.start_time},${s.end_time},"${s.speaker_name}","${s.text.replace(/"/g, '""')}"`
      );
      return [header, ...rows].join("\n");
  }
}

function fmtTime(sec: number): string {
  const m = Math.floor(sec / 60);
  const s = Math.floor(sec % 60);
  return `${String(m).padStart(2, "0")}:${String(s).padStart(2, "0")}`;
}

function fmtSrt(sec: number): string {
  const h = Math.floor(sec / 3600);
  const m = Math.floor((sec % 3600) / 60);
  const s = Math.floor(sec % 60);
  const ms = Math.floor((sec % 1) * 1000);
  return `${String(h).padStart(2, "0")}:${String(m).padStart(2, "0")}:${String(s).padStart(2, "0")},${String(ms).padStart(3, "0")}`;
}

Step 3: PII Redaction

const PII_PATTERNS = [
  { regex: /\b[A-Za-z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Za-z0-9.-]+\.[A-Za-z]{2,}\b/g, tag: "[EMAIL]" },
  { regex: /\b\d{3}[-.]?\d{3}[-.]?\d{4}\b/g, tag: "[PHONE]" },
  { regex: /\b\d{3}-\d{2}-\d{4}\b/g, tag: "[SSN]" },
  { regex: /\b\d{4}[\s-]?\d{4}[\s-]?\d{4}[\s-]?\d{4}\b/g, tag: "[CARD]" },
  { regex: /\b\d{1,5}\s+\w+\s+(Street|St|Avenue|Ave|Road|Rd|Drive|Dr|Lane|Ln)\b/gi, tag: "[ADDRESS]" },
];

function redactText(text: string): string {
  let result = text;
  for (const { regex, tag } of PII_PATTERNS) {
    result = result.replace(regex, tag);
  }
  return result;
}

function redactTranscript(transcript: any): any {
  return {
    ...transcript,
    // Redact organizer email
    organizer_email: redactText(transcript.organizer_email || ""),
    // Redact sentences
    sentences: transcript.sentences?.map((s: any) => ({
      ...s,
      text: redactText(s.text),
      speaker_name: s.speaker_name, // Keep speaker names for context
    })),
    // Redact summary fields too
    summary: transcript.summary ? {
      ...transcript.summary,
      overview: redactText(transcript.summary.overview || ""),
      action_items: transcript.summary.action_items?.map(redactText),
      short_summary: redactText(transcript.summary.short_summary || ""),
    } : null,
    // Redact attendee info
    meeting_attendees: transcript.meeting_attendees?.map((a: any) => ({
      displayName: a.displayName,
      email: redactText(a.email || ""),
    })),
  };
}

Step 4: Retention Policy with Automated Cleanup

interface RetentionPolicy {
  fullTranscriptDays: number;   // Keep full sentences
  summaryDays: number;          // Keep summary after transcript deleted
  deleteAfterDays: number;      // Delete everything
}

const DEFAULT_POLICY: RetentionPolicy = {
  fullTranscriptDays: 90,
  summaryDays: 365,
  deleteAfterDays: 730,
};

async function applyRetentionPolicy(policy = DEFAULT_POLICY) {
  const data = await getTranscriptList(200);
  const now = Date.now();
  const results = { kept: 0, archived: 0, deleted: 0 };

  for (const t of data.transcripts) {
    const ageDays = (now - new Date(t.date).getTime()) / 86400000;

    if (ageDays > policy.deleteAfterDays) {
      // Delete from Fireflies
      await deleteTranscript(t.id);
      results.deleted++;
    } else if (ageDays > policy.fullTranscriptDays) {
      // Archive: keep summary only in your DB
      await archiveToSummaryOnly(t.id);
      results.archived++;
    } else {
      results.kept++;
    }
  }

  console.log(`Retention applied: ${results.kept} kept, ${results.archived} archived, ${results.deleted} deleted`);
  return results;
}

async function deleteTranscript(id: string) {
  // Rate limit: 10 deletes per minute
  await fetch(FIREFLIES_API, {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
      Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.FIREFLIES_API_KEY}`,
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      query: `mutation($id: String!) { deleteTranscript(transcript_id: $id) }`,
      variables: { id },
    }),
  });
  // Respect rate limit
  await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 6500));
}

Step 5: GDPR Data Subject Request

// Handle "right to be forgotten" requests
async function handleDataSubjectDeletion(email: string) {
  // Find all transcripts where this person participated
  const data = await fetch(FIREFLIES_API, {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
      Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.FIREFLIES_API_KEY}`,
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      query: `query($participants: [String]) {
        transcripts(participants: $participants, limit: 100) {
          id title date participants
        }
      }`,
      variables: { participants: [email] },
    }),
  }).then(r => r.json());

  const affected = data.data.transcripts;
  console.log(`Found ${affected.length} transcripts with ${email}`);

  // Option 1: Delete transcripts entirely
  // Option 2: Redact the person's contributions
  // Choose based on your legal requirements

  return {
    email,
    affectedTranscripts: affected.length,
    transcriptIds: affected.map((t: any) => t.id),
  };
}

Error Handling

| Issue | Cause | Solution | |-------|-------|----------| | Missing sentences | Transcript still processing | Check before export | | PII in action items | Redaction only on sentences | Redact summary fields too (Step 3 does this) | | Delete rate limit | 10 deletes/min | Add 6.5s delay between deletes | | Large transcript OOM | 2+ hour meeting | Stream or paginate sentences |

Output

• Multi-format transcript export (JSON, text, SRT, CSV)
• PII redaction covering sentences, summaries, and attendee info
• Automated retention policy with configurable thresholds
• GDPR/CCPA data subject request handler

Resources

• Fireflies Privacy Policy
• Fireflies API Docs
• Transcript Query

Next Steps

For enterprise access control, see fireflies-enterprise-rbac.