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Storage ⇄ Database

Box to Google Cloud Spanner integration — real-time, two-way sync

Keep Box and Google Cloud Spanner in sync without custom scripts. Cut weeks of integration work, eliminate silent data drift, and give your team a single, reliable source of truth.

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Adopted by fast-scaling companies moving mission-critical data in real time

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Why teams connect Box and Google Cloud Spanner

Keep Google Cloud Spanner and Box in step: a row in Google Cloud Spanner for every file in Box, with names, paths, metadata, and status staying consistent in real time, in both directions.

A database holds structured records; a storage system holds the files those records depend on, such as contracts, images, exports, uploads, and documents. The two describe the same things from opposite sides: a row in Google Cloud Spanner says a file exists and carries its name, location, and status, while Box holds the bytes. Linked only by a hand-kept path or a one-off script, the two drift the moment a file is renamed, moved, or deleted and the record still points at where it used to be.

Stacksync syncs Views, Databases, Tables, Rows in Google Cloud Spanner with Users, Groups, Tasks, Events in Box bi-directionally and in real time. File attributes, including name, path or object key, size, type, modified time, owner, and tags or custom properties, map field by field to columns on the matching row, and a change on either side shows up on the other within seconds. New files appear as rows, metadata edits travel in the direction you choose, and deletes stay consistent, with conflict rules you set in place of nightly reconciliation scripts.

Common use cases

  • 01 Use change streams to feed near-real-time copies of operational tables into an analytics warehouse.
  • 02 Run a two-way sync between Spanner and a SaaS tool so edits made by ops teams land back in the application database.
  • 03 Provision and deprovision Users, Groups, and Collaborations from an HR system or IdP so Box access follows onboarding and offboarding.
  • 04 Push generated documents from an ERP or contract system into Box Folders with the right Collaborations applied for the deal team.

Common sync patterns

A landing zone for incoming files

Files that arrive in a folder or bucket in Box become rows in Google Cloud Spanner as they land, so a database-driven process can pick them up without polling the storage system's API.

Continuous archival to file storage

Rows from Google Cloud Spanner are written out to Box as files on a schedule or as they change, giving a durable, low-cost copy for backup, compliance, or a data lake, without a custom export job to maintain.

A queryable index of the file store

Every file or object in Box shows up as a row in Google Cloud Spanner, with its name, folder or key, size, type, and modified date as columns, so the contents of the store can be listed, filtered, and joined like any other table.

What you can sync between Box and Google Cloud Spanner

Representative objects on each side — any object or custom field can map to any target. Schemas are auto-detected; types are converted between the two systems.

Box objects Google Cloud Spanner objects How this pairing syncs
Groups Named user collections used for bulk collaboration; membership synced from a directory or IdP. Rows The unit of read and write in each sync cycle, keyed by primary key. Groups is specific to Box and Rows to Google Cloud Spanner — each maps to any object or custom field on the other side.
Tasks Review or approval assignments on a file with due dates and states; read for workflow reporting or written to start approvals. Interleaved tables Child rows physically co-located with parents; synced as related records. Tasks is specific to Box and Interleaved tables to Google Cloud Spanner — each maps to any object or custom field on the other side.
Events Enterprise admin event stream, an audit log of uploads, deletes, logins, and shares across the account; read-only, consumed for reporting or change feeds. Secondary indexes Used to make incremental read queries efficient on non-key columns. Events is specific to Box and Secondary indexes to Google Cloud Spanner — each maps to any object or custom field on the other side.
Files Core content object with versions, name, size, and metadata; synced two-way so files and their attributes move between Box and a database or another store. Change streams Capture inserts, updates, and deletes for log-style change data capture. Files is specific to Box and Change streams to Google Cloud Spanner — each maps to any object or custom field on the other side.
Folders Hierarchical containers whose tree, names, and parent moves are mirrored so a target system reflects Box's structure; the account root is always folder ID 0. Views Read-only projections useful for shaping data before it leaves Spanner. Folders is specific to Box and Views to Google Cloud Spanner — each maps to any object or custom field on the other side.
Metadata Structured key-value instances attached to files and folders via metadata templates; synced two-way with database columns for classification and search. Databases Top-level containers that scope schema and sync configuration. Metadata is specific to Box and Databases to Google Cloud Spanner — each maps to any object or custom field on the other side.

How changes propagate between Box and Google Cloud Spanner

Each direction of the sync is driven by what the source system can signal and what the destination accepts — detection, delivery, and expected latency below.

Box Google Cloud Spanner Sub-second propagation

DetectionBox notifies Stacksync of record changes through webhook events. V2 webhooks fire on triggers such as FILE.UPLOADED, FILE.TRASHED, and METADATA_INSTANCE.UPDATED.

DeliveryEach detected change is applied to Google Cloud Spanner as a row-level write, with types converted between the two schemas.

Google Cloud Spanner Box Sub-second propagation

DetectionChanges in Google Cloud Spanner are captured at the source via change data capture — no polling loop against its API. Change streams (log-style CDC), or timestamp-based polling queries.

DeliveryEach detected change is written to Box through its API, with automatic retries and rate-limit backoff.

Rate-limit considerations

  • Box: Per user: 1,000 API calls per minute and 240 file uploads per minute; exceeding limits returns HTTP 429 with a Retry-After header. Box Business plans also carry a licensed monthly API-call allotment per enterprise.
  • Google Cloud Spanner: Throughput is bounded by the instance's provisioned compute capacity rather than a fixed API quota.
What ships with Box ⇄ Google Cloud Spanner

Connect Box and Google Cloud Spanner for flexible, real-time data sync.

Real-time sync, workflow automation, event queues, EDI, and monitoring, for every Box–Google Cloud Spanner connection.

Real-time

Two-way sync

Changes in Box or Google Cloud Spanner instantly reflect in both systems. No stale data, no manual imports.

No-code + pro-code

Workflow automation

Trigger automated workflows whenever Box or Google Cloud Spanner data changes, update records, fire webhooks, or kick off sequences without brittle API scripts.

At scale

Event queues

Handle millions of events per minute without losing a single Box or Google Cloud Spanner record.

Observability

Monitoring

Track your Box ⇄ Google Cloud Spanner sync health, view errors, and replay failed events in one click.

Trading partners

EDI

Transform legacy EDI complexity into simple database interactions between Box and Google Cloud Spanner.

How the Box and Google Cloud Spanner connectors work

Box

Integration surface
REST API (api.box.com/2.0), plus the Events API and V2 Webhooks
Authentication
OAuth 2.0 for user-delegated access, or server-to-server auth via JWT (RSA keypair) or Client Credentials Grant (CCG) using a Box app; short-lived developer tokens for testing
Change detection
V2 webhooks fire on triggers such as FILE.UPLOADED, FILE.TRASHED, and METADATA_INSTANCE.UPDATED; the Events API (user stream via long-poll by stream_position, or enterprise/admin events) provides a near-real-time change feed
Capabilities
read · write · webhooks
Rate limits
Per user: 1,000 API calls per minute and 240 file uploads per minute; exceeding limits returns HTTP 429 with a Retry-After header. Box Business plans also carry a licensed monthly API-call allotment per enterprise.

Google Cloud Spanner

Integration surface
gRPC/REST client API with SQL query surface (GoogleSQL and PostgreSQL-interface dialects)
Authentication
Google Cloud IAM (service accounts)
Change detection
Change streams (log-style CDC), or timestamp-based polling queries
Capabilities
read · write · CDC
Rate limits
Throughput is bounded by the instance's provisioned compute capacity rather than a fixed API quota.
How it works

How to connect Box to Google Cloud Spanner — three steps, no code

Configure and sync within minutes, no code. Whether you sync 50k or 100M+ records, Stacksync handles the queues, infra, and plumbing. Integrations are non-invasive and need zero setup on your systems.

  1. 01

    Connect your apps

    Authenticate Box and Google Cloud Spanner with each platform's native method — OAuth, API keys, or service accounts — plus secure options like SSH tunneling, IP whitelisting, and VPC peering.

    • OAuth 2.0
    • SSH tunnel
    • VPC peering
    Box connected
    Google Cloud Spanner connected
    OAuth 2.0
    SSH tunnel
    SSL certificate
    VPC peering
  2. 02

    Choose tables

    Pick the Box and Google Cloud Spanner objects to sync — Stacksync auto-detects both schemas, including custom fields where the platform exposes them. Sync to existing tables, or let Stacksync create new ones with ideal data types.

    • Standard objects
    • Custom objects
    • Auto-schema
    objects · Box ⇄ Google Cloud Spanner
    Customers 12,480
    Sales Orders 8,213
    Invoices 5,902
    Items 1,344
  3. 03

    Map fields

    Fields map automatically even when names and types differ. Stacksync handles transformation and type casting for you, zero configuration required.

    • Auto-map
    • Type casting
    • Transforms
    Box Google Cloud Spanner
    Company company_name text
    Email email text
    Amount amount numeric
    Created created_at timestamp
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FAQ

Box and Google Cloud Spanner integration FAQ

SECURITY

Security teams trust Stacksync

As a data company, we understand the importance of keeping your data secure. Stacksync is built with security best practices to keep your data safe at every layer, and is DPF-certified for US, EU, UK and CH data transfers.

Learn more about security
SOC 2 Type II
ISO 27001
HIPAA BAA
GDPR
CCPA
DPF US-EU-UK-CH
→ SECURITY WITH BENEFITS

SSO & SCIM

Let your users access Stacksync from your centralized user management systems. Works with Okta, Azure, Google SSO and more.

Alerts

Immediately get alerted about record syncing issues over email, Slack, PagerDuty and WhatsApp. Resolve issues from a centralized dashboard with retry and revert options.

Secure connection options

Securely connects to your systems with:

OAuth 2 SSH Tunnelling SSL certificates IP Whitelisting VPN gateway VPC peering and more

Related integrations

Every pair below is a real-time, two-way sync. Search all 418 integrations available for Box and Google Cloud Spanner.

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