> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.nxcframework.net/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.nxcframework.net/running-your-server/backups.md).

# Backups and recovery

> **Status: Planned, and incomplete.** No backup schedule, retention policy, or tested restore exists, because no server environment has been identified.

## What must be backed up

| Data                              | Why                                                                                             |
| --------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| The database                      | Every authoritative record — accounts, characters, money, items, vehicles, properties, evidence |
| Configuration publication history | Rollback targets and the audit trail                                                            |
| Audit records                     | Long-retention accountability data                                                              |
| `server.cfg`                      | Holds operator-supplied secrets and is outside every repository                                 |

Code does not need backing up — it is in version control. **`server.cfg` does**, because it holds secrets that exist nowhere else by design.

## The rule that matters

**A backup nobody has restored from is not a backup.**

A restore is performed on staging as part of establishing the backup process, and again whenever the process changes. This catches the ordinary failures: an export omitting a table, a format nothing can read any more, a compression step whose parameters nobody recorded.

## Before a destructive migration

A documented backup and rollback plan is required **before it runs**. The plan names what is backed up, where, how the restore is performed, and that the restore has been tested.

## Recovery scenarios

| Scenario                      | Response                                                                 |
| ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Bad configuration publication | Configuration rollback — no code release, no restore                     |
| Bad code release              | Reinstall the previous compatibility set                                 |
| Bad data migration            | Restore from backup taken before it, or roll back during the soak period |
| Corrupted individual records  | Restore from backup to a staging copy and repair selectively             |
| A committed secret            | **Rotate.** Restoring does not un-publish a secret                       |

The last one is worth stating: a credential that has been pushed to a repository is compromised regardless of whether the commit is removed. Rotation is the only remedy.

## What is outstanding

Backup schedule · retention policy · a tested restore · a staging environment to test it on. All four await a server environment.


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