Backups

A backup holds the company’s chats, cards, settings, memory and folder. Without a backup folder, nothing is backed up.

Set it up

The backup folder should be an external drive or a network disk. It must not be a folder inside the company folder or the state folder.

• During setup. zyx setup asks for the folder before the long build. Press Enter to skip it. zyx setup --backup /path/to/folder does the same without the question.
• Later. zyx backup /path/to/folder sets it. zyx backup alone shows the current one. Settings has the same field.

A folder that does not exist, or that lies inside the company or state folder, is refused with the reason.

Within a minute of the folder being set, the server adds the nightly Nightly backup routine, once. It runs every day at 02:00. If you delete the routine, it stays deleted. If you already have one, it is kept. A new setup that skips the folder works, and zyx doctor warns until one is set.

Prove it

Run the routine once with Run now and wait for its chat to say that the backup was verified by restore. Settings then shows the last checked backup, and zyx doctor shows a tick for it.

Each run loads the database export into a scratch database and restores the files into a scratch folder before it marks the backup as done. A folder without its final manifest file is not a backup.

What is in it, and what is not

In each dated folder: the state folder, the company folder and every Zyx table.

Not in it, on purpose:

• the secrets key, which is kept apart so a stolen backup does not open the stored passwords. Copy it to a safe place when you set up;
• the runtime’s run history and the search cache, which are rebuilt;
• the install itself.

A backup holds every folder and every private chat, and Zyx does not encrypt the backup folder. Keep the drive as safe as the server (Security).