Local and cloud backups

What it is

Backups are your protection against a database that gets corrupted or a change you want to undo. Omniscio takes them for you: on startup, on a timer while the app is running, when you close it, and whenever you ask. Each backup holds the whole SQLite database plus your configuration, is encrypted and tied to this computer — so a backup file that is copied, synced, or stolen cannot be read anywhere else — and is kept in a ring that quietly retires the oldest copies to save space.

This local ring is on by default. It is not an off-machine copy: it lives on the same disk as the database, so it protects against corruption and mistakes but not against losing the computer. The encrypted Backup Mirror adds that, and Setup Backup and Portable Backup cover other cases; they are linked below.

Where to find it

Open Settings → Backup & Restore and look at the Automatic Backups card:

• Enable automatic backups — on by default.
• Backup interval — how often a backup is taken while the app runs (1 to 24 hours; default 6).
• Keep last — how many backups to keep before the oldest are removed (3 to 50).
• Snapshot Now — take a backup immediately.
• Available Backups — the saved backups, each with its project / session / message counts and a Restore from this backup (and delete) action.

Below that card sits the encrypted Backup Mirror, and further restore options, for copies kept off this machine.

How it behaves

When a backup happens. A full backup is triggered by: app startup (a short pause after boot); a timer while the app runs (the interval above, default 6 hours — the first tick after a launch is measured from the newest backup already on disk, not from the moment you started the app); app shutdown when you close it; an idle window (when nothing is running and the machine is quiet); a manual "Snapshot Now"; and automatically around a schema migration or an app update, so you have a point to roll back to before a risky change.

Retention and the bit-rot floor. The ring keeps the newest backups and retires older ones, but it never lets the surviving set rest on a single physical copy: every archive file is kept in at least two physical copies. That is a deliberate floor, so a single damaged disk spot cannot wipe every restore point at once.

Corruption detection and restore. At launch, Omniscio runs an integrity check on the database. If it finds it corrupt, it offers to restore from one of your backups and warns you how old that backup is before it overwrites newer data; a migration that fails offers to restore the automatic snapshot taken just before it. Every restore is made safe the same way the rest of Omniscio's restores are.

Watching that it keeps working. A staleness watcher raises a card if the ring stops producing backups, repeated failures raise a failure alert, and a weekly check confirms the newest backup actually restores — so "it says it backed up" never stands in for "the backup is good".

What it covers. These backups cover your database, settings, and archived chat. They do not include your attachments, screenshots, or recordings — the Backup Mirror is the one that also bundles those.

For agents

• The periodic engine (interval ring, weekly restorability verify, staleness dead-man, failure/staleness alerts) is src/main/services/backup/backup-periodic-scheduler.ts; createBackup() and the archive ring (compression, crypto, the ARCHIVE_MIN_INDEPENDENT_COPIES = 2 floor) are src/main/services/backup/backup-create.ts.
• The settings/restore UI is src/renderer/src/features/settings/sections/data-transfer/AutomaticBackupsSection.tsx; the IPC surface is src/main/ipc/backup-handlers.ts (BACKUP_CREATE, BACKUP_LIST, BACKUP_RESTORE, BACKUP_DELETE).
• Corruption detection and the pre-migration restore path are src/main/app/db-corruption-recovery.ts.

Related

• backup-mirror.md — the encrypted off-machine snapshot that survives losing the computer
• setup-backup.md — a weekly encrypted configuration backup emailed to your own Gmail
• portable-backup.md — one encrypted file you carry to another machine yourself
• data-folder-recovery.md — what to do when your data looks gone after an update