Backup & Restore

Back up Docklift's control database, source projects, configurations, certificates, and secrets. Docker named-volume contents (including managed database data files) and external databases require their own backups.

What's included

Included	Contents
Database	Projects, users, settings, environment variables, storage definitions
Project files	Sources under deployments/
Nginx configs	Custom domain vhosts
Certificates	Let's Encrypt material managed with nginx-proxy
GitHub App key	github-app.pem when configured
Secrets	Control-plane secrets needed to restore the panel

Not a full substitute for pg_dump / volume snapshots of app databases.

Create a backup

1. Go to Settings → Backup
2. Click Create Backup
3. Wait for the progress stream to finish
4. Download the .zip to your local machine (or off-server storage)

Backups also land on the server under /opt/docklift/data/backups/ (path may appear as /data/backups/ inside the backend container).

Restore (existing install)

WARNING

Restoring replaces all current control-plane data. Running app containers may be stopped. Take a fresh backup of the current state first if you might need it.

1. Go to Settings → Restore
2. Upload a backup .zip or pick a previously uploaded file
3. Confirm with your account password (step-up auth)
4. Wait for the restore stream (API is locked while maintenance runs)
5. Backend restarts; projects are reconciled automatically when possible

Restore on a fresh installation

Useful for migrating to a new VPS before creating users:

1. Install Docklift on the new server (note the Setup code)
2. Open http://SERVER_IP:8080
3. Enter the Setup code, then choose Restore from Backup
4. Upload your backup file (setup token authorizes this once — no admin password yet)
5. Setup code is consumed only after a full successful restore (admin present + reconcile OK)
6. If restore fails or is incomplete, the DB rolls back and the setup code stays valid for retry
7. If DB rollback itself fails, Docklift seals recovery with data/.restore-critical — do not keep retrying until repaired and cleared by an admin

Best practices

• Create backups before major upgrades or risky changes
• Download and store backups off-server
• Test restore on a staging server before production migration
• Delete old on-server backups to free disk
• Separately back up managed database volumes / external DBs

Related commands

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SSujitX/docklift/master/upgrade.sh | sudo bash

Upgrade takes its own snapshot path; UI backups remain the portable archive for server migration.