---
title: "Backups"
description: "Where the primary Mac stores canonical data and how daily SQLite backups are retained."
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://trails.manzanita.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Backups

The Mac that runs the canonical service—called the hub—owns the trails database and daily backups. A one-Mac installation already includes this complete backup path. Optional spokes keep collection state, but they are not database replicas.

## Paths on the hub

| Data | Path |
| --- | --- |
| Canonical database | `~/.manzanita/trails/trails.sqlite` |
| Daily backups | `~/.manzanita/trails/backups/` |

The installer configures a backup job for 03:00 local time. Trails uses SQLite's backup API so the snapshot remains consistent even when the live database is using write-ahead logging.

The latest 14 committed backups are retained by default.

## Create an additional backup

The installed CLI can write a one-off, consistent backup:

```sh
trails backup --output "$HOME/Desktop/trails-backup.sqlite"
```

To write into a directory and let trails choose the timestamped file name:

```sh
trails backup --output-dir "$HOME/Desktop/trails-backups" --retain 14
```

> **Restoring during the alpha**
>
> Trails does not yet provide a restore command. Preserve the live database and the backup you want to use, then ask the person who invited you for the current recovery procedure before replacing files.

## What a backup contains

A hub backup contains canonical trails state: normalized session observations, summaries, project and engagement organization, settings, and thread state. It does not contain the raw coding-agent transcript files that remain on each originating Mac.

Source: https://trails.manzanita.dev/operate/backups/index.mdx