Restoring a backup

A backup is only worth something once it can be restored. The way below has been run through: server installed, family created, backed up, server deleted with all its data, installed again and restored — everything came back, and the devices stayed signed in. Try it once while nothing is broken: on a second machine or in a virtual machine.

At home

The wuselwall tool restores a backup made by wuselwall backup onto a freshly installed server. Typical cases: the old server is broken, or WuselWall moves to a new machine.

You need:

• a backup, a db-….dump file from the backup directory,
• the old server's .env from the password manager. With it every device stays signed in, because keys, passwords and addresses are the same.

On the new server:

1. Point the names api. and web. at the new server (DNS, or port forwarding in the router).

2. Unpack the same or a newer WuselWall version as when installing, and install with the old .env:

   ./wuselwall install --env /path/to/old.env

   The addresses and --caddy are in the old file; the tool doesn't ask for them.

3. Restore the backup:

   ./wuselwall restore /path/to/db-2026-10-14-0330-nightly.dump

   The tool stops every service but the database, replaces the database with the backup, starts everything again, applies the changes of newer versions and schedules the nightly jobs again. Finally it counts families, members, devices and accounts.

4. Open the app on a phone: it should carry on without signing in again.

Onto a server with data

On a server that already has a family, restore refuses. If you really want an earlier state back, put WW_RESTORE_OVER_DATA=yes in front; the tool then backs up the current state first.

Without the old .env it works too: install normally with --api and --web and restore the backup. Your data is back, but every device has to sign in or be connected again.

At Supabase

• On Pro: in the dashboard under Database → Backups, pick one of the last 7 days and restore it. The project is unreachable for a few minutes.
• A copy of your own: with the Supabase CLI, pull a copy to your computer about once a month. Supabase explains how, and how to restore it, in Backup and Restore using the CLI. Store the files encrypted: they contain everything.

Moving between Supabase and a server at home is possible with these copies, but not yet written up step by step.