Why can’t I delete large nodes in Firebase Realtime Database? (TRIGGER_PAYLOAD_TOO_LARGE) Firebase Realtime Database has a hard limit: if a write/delete operation would trigger a payload larger than 1MB (because triggers/events send the full data), it fails with TRIGGER_PAYLOAD_TOO_LARGE. This limit affects deletes via:

• Client SDKs
• Admin SDK (Cloud Functions)
• Firebase Console
• REST API

Changing settings like .settings/strictTriggerValidation or using service accounts does not bypass this.

What can you do?

1. Delete children in small batches If the problem node has many children, delete them in small groups (e.g., 100 at a time). Example (Admin SDK):

async function deleteInBatches(path) {
const ref = admin.database().ref(path);
let snap = await ref.limitToFirst(100).once('value');
while (snap.exists()) {
const updates = {};
snap.forEach(child =\> updates\[child.key\] = null);
await ref.update(updates);
snap = await ref.limitToFirst(100).once('value');
}
await ref.remove(); // Optionally remove empty parent
}

If any individual child exceeds 1MB, this method will also fail.

2. No reliable way to force-delete huge single nodes If even a single child (or the node itself) is >1MB, there is no public method to delete it. No setting or permission will bypass this. This is a platform limitation by Firebase to protect against massive accidental deletes.

3. Contact Firebase support If you absolutely must delete such data (especially in production), open a support ticket with your project and path. In some cases, Firebase support can perform backend deletes not possible via public APIs.

Prevention tips Avoid storing large blobs in Realtime Database; use Cloud Storage. Keep your data shallow and well-partitioned.

Summary:

Chunked/batched deletes work if children are small enough. No workaround exists for single nodes/children >1MB—contact support.

References:

Firebase Functions limits (https://firebase.google.com/docs/functions/limits)