--- icon: tested title: Restore it, and prove it description: Restore a backup as a copy beside your running app, check that it holds the same data, and learn how to put a backup back in place if you ever need to. prev: back-up-an-app --- # Restore it, and prove it *Chapter 2 of [Looking after it](../looking-after-it/). *New: the tools are tested on our own machines, and the prompts are still being run end to end, so [tell us how it goes](mailto:stefano@edgible.com?subject=Playbook%20feedback).** A backup you've never restored is a hope. This chapter turns it into a fact: you restore it beside your running app, without touching the app, and check that it holds the same data. > **What you need** > > - [Chapter 1](../back-up-an-app/) done: a backup of your app. > - Your AI assistant on the machine, as before. ## 1. Restore a copy, beside the real thing If your backup lives somewhere else, bring the whole folder back to this machine first. > Restore my team wiki's latest backup as a copy beside it, and tell me if it matches. Your assistant: - **Checks every file** of the backup against its check code first. A damaged file stops everything. - **Starts a copy** of the app under its own name and a free port, so your real app is never touched. - **Checks the copy:** it's running, it answers, and its data has the same fingerprint as the backup. It reports something like "4 pages, same as the backup: pass". Open the copy's address if you like and have a look. This is a restore you can trust. ## 2. See it catch a difference Change something in your real app, such as adding a page, and ask your assistant: > Check my team wiki against that backup. It says the data differs: the backup has 4 pages, the app now has 5. That's the fingerprint doing its job: it tells you whether the data in front of you is the data you saved. ## 3. Put a backup back, if you ever need to If you lose something, this is the one that matters: > I deleted pages from my team wiki by mistake. Put it back the way it was in last night's backup. Because this **replaces what's there now,** your assistant asks first. Before it does anything it also makes a fresh backup of the app as it is, so you can undo the undo. Then it restores, starts the app, and checks the fingerprint, the same way as before. ## 4. Clean up the copy When you've looked at the copy, ask your assistant to remove it: > Remove the restored copy of my team wiki. ## What you've just done - **You know your backup works,** because you restored it and checked it, not because it seemed to finish. - **You can get back from a mistake,** with a safety backup taken first. - **You've seen how to compare** an app with a backup at any time. Restoring onto a different machine is what a move does. That's [the next chapter](../move-an-app/).
Prefer to do it by hand? card-kit's `restore-card` and `verify-card`, from the Edgible skill. With the backup folder from chapter 1: ```bash # a copy beside the app, under its own name and a free port python3 ~/.card-kit/restore-card.py ~/otter-wiki-backups/ ~/otter-copy --as otter-copy --dry-run python3 ~/.card-kit/restore-card.py ~/otter-wiki-backups/ ~/otter-copy --as otter-copy # does the running app hold the same data as the backup? python3 ~/.card-kit/verify-card.py ~/otter-wiki --against ~/otter-wiki-backups/ # put the backup back over the app (asks first, backs the app up first) python3 ~/.card-kit/restore-card.py ~/otter-wiki-backups/ ~/otter-wiki ``` Add `--dry-run` to any of them to see what it would do and change nothing. Remove a copy with `docker compose --env-file ~/otter-copy/card.env -f ~/otter-copy/docker-compose.yml down -v`.