> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.featherframework.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Backups

> Nightly pg_dump with retention, and the step that turns a dump into an actual backup.

`deploy/backup.sh` dumps Postgres in `pg_dump` custom format — compressed and restorable
table by table — and keeps 14 days. Run it from cron on the host:

```bash theme={null}
0 3 * * * /opt/myapp/deploy/backup.sh >> /var/log/myapp-backup.log 2>&1
```

Tune it with `BACKUP_DIR` and `BACKUP_KEEP_DAYS`.

## Restoring

```bash theme={null}
docker compose exec -T db pg_restore -U myapp -d myapp --clean < backups/myapp-<stamp>.dump
```

## Get the dump off the machine

<Warning>
  A backup on the same disk as the database is not a backup.
</Warning>

Add a step that copies the dump elsewhere — object storage, another host, anywhere — and
consider encrypting it on the way out:

```bash theme={null}
openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -pbkdf2 -pass file:/root/.backup.key \
    -in "$dump" -out "$dump.enc" && rm "$dump"
```

<Note>
  Everything that matters lives in Postgres and your object storage. The containers and
  Redis are disposable. The dumps are not.
</Note>

<Tip>
  Test one restore before you need it. A backup you have never restored is a hypothesis,
  not a backup.
</Tip>