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Backup and restore

Take a safety copy of an app's /data folder, list copies, and restore one. Needs storage.stateful: true.

Some apps keep files in a /data folder. cohostly backup takes a copy of that folder, backups lists the copies, and restore puts a copy back. Think of a photocopy of your notebook, kept in a drawer. If you ruin the notebook, you take the copy out.

Good to know A backup is a safety copy, not a promise that a disk lasts forever. Information that matters belongs in the managed database.

When it works

  • The project must say storage.stateful: true in its settings. Otherwise the platform answers Project <p> does not keep data (storage.stateful is not true), so there is nothing to back up.
  • The app must have started at least once. Otherwise: There is nothing to back up or restore yet: this project has not started. Open the app once, then try again.
  • The /data folder must be 256 MiB or less. A larger folder is refused with a plain message.
  • The platform needs backup storage. If not: Backups are not set up on this platform yet ....

All three commands need an editor. None of them asks you to confirm.

backup

Terminal
cohostly backup <project> [--stop | --dump] [--slot <name>]
<project>text
The project (or --project <name>).
--stopon or off
Stop the app for a few seconds while the files are copied. Gives a fully consistent copy. Default off.
--dumpon or off
Run the project's storage.backup_command first, then copy. Default off.
--slot <name>text
A name for the copy.

With neither --stop nor --dump, the platform picks: it uses the project's storage.backup_command if it has one, otherwise a plain copy of the live files. Using both stops with Error: choose one of --stop and --dump. The old --freeze flag stops with Error: --freeze is gone. Use --stop ... or --dump ....

$ cohostly backup notes --stop
Backup bkp-1a2b3c4d5e created (stopped-consistent, 20480 bytes) at 2026-10-27T10:00:00.000Z
This backup is fully consistent: the app was stopped for a few seconds while its files were copied.

A plain copy prints: This backup is crash-consistent: it is a copy of the live files, so a file being written at that moment may be half-written. Add a backup command (storage.backup_command) or use --stop for a consistent one.

backups

Terminal
cohostly backups <project>
BACKUPS for project 'notes':
- bkp-1a2b3c4d5e  2026-10-27T10:00:00.000Z  manual  stopped-consistent  slot=before-upgrade

The kind is manual, daily or weekly. With none: (none yet; take one with: platform backup notes).

restore

Terminal
cohostly restore <project> <backup-id>

Careful restore does not ask. It replaces the app's /data folder with the copy and restarts the app. Read the id twice.

In order, the platform:

  1. Takes a safety backup of your current data and keeps it as a manual backup. If that fails, nothing is changed: Nothing was changed. The restore needs to save the current data first, and that failed: <why>.
  2. Checks the stored copy's checksum.
  3. Replaces /data in place.
  4. Restarts the app.
Restored notes to backup bkp-1a2b3c4d5e (taken 2026-10-27T10:00:00.000Z).
Your data from just before the restore was saved as backup bkp-9f8e7d6c5b. Restore that one to undo this.
The app was restarted on the restored data.

To undo a restore, restore the id it printed.

Files read and written

None in your folder. Uses the saved key (or PLATFORM_API_KEY) and API_URL.

Exit codes

0 on success, 1 on any failure.

Examples

A consistent copy before a risky change:

Terminal
cohostly backup notes --stop --slot before-upgrade

See the copies, then put one back:

Terminal
cohostly backups notes
cohostly restore notes bkp-1a2b3c4d5e

Undo that restore:

Terminal
cohostly restore notes bkp-9f8e7d6c5b
Versions and rollbacka promote of a project that keeps data takes a backup first.The settings filewhere storage.stateful and storage.backup_command are set.