Backups and restore

What is backed up

One ZIP holds everything: the SQLite database, taken with SQLite’s own online backup so it is consistent even while people are using the app, and every uploaded file, in the same folder structure the app keeps. A small backup.json inside records when it was taken, by what, and how many files it holds.

When

Once a night at 02:00 in the server’s own time zone. The newest 30 archives are kept and older ones are removed, so a file deleted from a request pack has left every backup within 30 days.

Under Settings, then Backups, an admin sees whether the nightly run is on and how many it keeps, then every archive listed with its date, its size, how many files it holds beside the database, and whether it was taken nightly or by hand. Each row has a Download link. The Back up now button takes one straight away.

Where the copies go

Backups are written to a folder beside the database. If you run Docsroom yourself, choose it with these settings:

Backup settingsIf you run Docsroom yourself

# Where backups are written (default: backups/ next to data/)
BACKUP_DIR=/srv/docsroom/backups

# When to take it and how many to keep
BACKUP_TIME=02:00
BACKUP_KEEP=30

# Set this to turn the nightly run off altogether
BACKUP_SCHEDULE=off

Settings · as an admin sees them

Two-factor sign-in6 of 6 staffOn
Request linkswithdraw any time90 days
Where you are signed inMac, iPhone2 devices
Backupslast night, 02:0030 kept

Sign out the others, or back up now

Taking one now

Before an upgrade, or before anything you would rather be able to undo, take a backup by hand, either with the Back up now button on the Settings page or on the server. It is recorded like any other.

On the serverA backup now

npm run backup

Restoring

Stop the app first; a restore refuses to run while the app holds the database. Then point the restore at the archive you want. It replaces the database and the uploads folder with the contents of that archive, and nothing else.

On the serverWith the app stopped

npm run restore -- backups/docsroom-20260905-020000Z.zip

Start the app again and sign in. Everything is as it was at the moment the backup was taken, so anything added since is gone and everyone signs in again. Reminders scheduled after that moment will not be sent twice; the schedule looks forward from when the app comes back. The steps are written out in docs/DEPLOY.md.

Keep one somewhere else. Now and then, download last night’s archive from the list and keep it away from the server, so there is a copy that does not depend on it.

Exporting a business or person

A backup is for us to put the whole service back. If you want your own copy of the files for a business or person, or you are leaving, use Download all files under Actions on its page: every file, organised by pack and request, as one ZIP. You can do that at any time on any plan, and it is recorded in the download history.