Tracking external data on google cloud storage

Hi,

I have data and model already existing on my google storage bucket which i want to be able to track along with the other project files in the git repo. i’ve come across the “add --external” option but when i try to add a whole directory, it outputs “ERROR: unexpected error” without any further elaboration. when I try to add a single file instead of a whole directory, it outputs “ERROR: checkout failed for the following targets: … is your cache up to data?” and as a result that single file is lost on my google bucket (is this normal?) and cache sub directory remains empty!
an image of both errors and my config file is attached. the blue bar is my local path while the red is my remote path.

thanks in advance!