Describe the Bug

In our current project we have the situation that we must use GCP buckets with a prefix when deploying to the cloud but at the same time we cannot use (or access) them when developing locally - due to company security restrictions.

Because of this the enabled property of the GCP storage adapter set to enabled = false locally and enabled = true when running in GCP.

The problem, now, is that generate:types will generate different output depending on the enabled state, since we have to use a prefix. When the GCP plugin is disabled the generated media type will not contain the prefix attribute. And if the plugin is enabled the generated media type then will have the additional prefix attribute.

This also has an effect on migrations. Because when enabled the system will add a migration for adding the prefix column. And if disabled the system might add a migration for removing the column.

This makes it really, really difficult to maintain, because if the developer is not careful generate:types & migrations might break our GCP setup.

Link to the code that reproduces this issue

https://github.com/woeye/storage-adapter-issue

Reproduction Steps

Configure the GCP storage adapter plugin for a collection, like so:

let enableBucket = false
if (process.env.GCP_BUCKET_NAME) {
  enableBucket = true
}

export default buildConfig({
  admin: {
    user: Users.slug,
    importMap: {
      baseDir: path.resolve(dirname),
    },
  },
  ...
  plugins: [
    payloadCloudPlugin(),
    gcsStorage({
      enabled: enableBucket,
      collections: {
        media: {
          prefix: 'media',
        },
      },
      bucket: process.env.GCP_BUCKET_NAME || '', // '' is ok if the plugin is disabled
      options: {},
    }),
  ],
})

Make sure ENV variable GCP_VIDEO_BUCKET_NAME is not set. Then run generate:types. The media interface will not contain the prefix variable.

Then make sure GCP_VIDEO_BUCKET_NAME is set, for example by adding it to .env:

GCP_BUCKET_NAME=gcp-sample-bucket

Run generate:types again. Now the media interface does have a prefix attribute.

This will also impact migrate:create.

Which area(s) are affected? (Select all that apply)

db-postgres, plugin: cloud-storage

Environment Info

Binaries:
  Node: 24.6.0
  npm: 11.5.1
  Yarn: N/A
  pnpm: 10.13.1
Relevant Packages:
  payload: 3.49.1
  next: 15.4.6
  @payloadcms/db-mongodb: 3.49.1
  @payloadcms/db-postgres: 3.49.1
  @payloadcms/email-nodemailer: 3.49.1
  @payloadcms/graphql: 3.49.1
  @payloadcms/live-preview: 3.49.1
  @payloadcms/live-preview-react: 3.49.1
  @payloadcms/next/utilities: 3.49.1
  @payloadcms/payload-cloud: 3.49.1
  @payloadcms/plugin-cloud-storage: 3.49.1
  @payloadcms/plugin-nested-docs: 3.49.1
  @payloadcms/plugin-seo: 3.49.1
  @payloadcms/richtext-lexical: 3.49.1
  @payloadcms/storage-gcs: 3.49.1
  @payloadcms/translations: 3.49.1
  @payloadcms/ui/shared: 3.49.1
  react: 19.1.1
  react-dom: 19.1.1
Operating System:
  Platform: darwin
  Arch: arm64
  Version: Darwin Kernel Version 24.6.0: Mon Jul 14 11:30:40 PDT 2025;