Back up and restore
What a workbench backup holds and never holds, when backups are made and where they go, checking one can be restored, getting everything back on this computer or a new one, and the Emergency Kit.
A workbench backup keeps what you would otherwise set up again by hand on a new computer: your settings, your projects and each repository's conversations and runs. One is made every day while the app is open, and you can make one, check one or restore from one at any time.
Everything about backups is on one page: Settings → Back up & restore (under Workbench). It opens with How backing up and restoring works, the same guidance as this page in short parts. Close it and Settings → Help brings it back.
Where your backups stand
The top of the page says in one line how things are, for example Backed up 2 hours ago, and under it when the next one is due, how many are kept on this computer and how much room they take, and whether encrypted copies are kept with your organisation.
When something needs you, a line says what and offers the one thing to do about it:
- The last backup did not finish, with what went wrong in words (no room on the disk, a folder that is not there any more, a lapsed sign-in) and Try again.
- Last backed up 12 days ago, when too long has passed: three days on a daily schedule, ten on a weekly one, a month with automatic backups off.
- This workbench has never been backed up, once you have a project.
- Encrypted backups are waiting for you to keep your Emergency Kit, or This computer cannot open your encrypted backups yet.
- A check found that the newest backup cannot be restored.
The same line shows on Home, and only then: while backups are fine, Home says nothing about them. Not now hides it until something new happens; Back up & restore then says the reminder is hidden, with Show it there again. The tray menu says how backups stand too, with Back up now and Back up & restore….
Back up now
Choose Back up now. A bar shows how far it is and which repository it is reading, with Cancel; cancelled, nothing is written and your other backups are as they were. When it finishes, the page says what went in, for example Backed up your settings, 2 projects, 4 repositories and 48 conversations (216 MB), with Show it to find the file.
If a backup cannot be made, the page says what happened and what to do about it, with Try again. The computer's own message is under Details.
What a backup holds
| In a backup | Never in a backup |
|---|---|
| Your settings, yours and each machine's | Secrets, keys, tokens and sign-ins |
| Your projects and the repositories in each | The repositories' own files: they are in git |
| Each repository's conversations, work timeline and audit trail | A repository's memory, which stays in that repository's folder |
| Agents' full transcripts, if you turn that on (up to 64 MB of the newest per repository) | Data kept on an SSH host or a node, which stays where it is |
Secrets never go in, so a backup that goes astray gives nothing away. The ones kept with your organisation or your team come back when you sign in on the new computer; sign your accounts and agent tools in again. Push your work to keep your code: a new computer clones it back.
When backups are made and where they go
Under Where backups go:
- Backups folder: where they are written. By default it is in the app's own data on this computer, so losing the computer loses them too. Change… to a synced folder (OneDrive, Dropbox) or another drive keeps them off this computer as well; Show it opens the folder.
- Automatic backups: Every day, Every week or Off. They are made while the app is open, within the hour after one is due.
- Keep: the last 3, 7, 14 or 30 automatic backups. Backups you make yourself, and any you keep forever, are never removed.
- Keep a copy with your organisation, when you are signed in to one that keeps backups and encrypted backups are not on: your settings, projects and recent chat history, at most 16 MB, never keys or tokens.
Before every restore the workbench also keeps a safety copy of what is on this computer; the three newest are kept.
Your backups
Your backups lists every backup on this computer and every encrypted one, newest first: when it was made, where it is, why (automatic, made by you, or a safety copy before a restore), how big it is and which projects it holds. A pin shows one you keep forever; a tick shows one that was checked and can be restored.
Each has one menu:
- See what it holds and restore… opens the restore steps below.
- Check it can be restored reads it back whole and restores nothing (see below).
- Keep it forever: the schedule never removes it.
- Show it in its folder.
- Delete…, after you confirm. Nothing else is touched.
Check a backup can be restored
Check it can be restored reads a backup back from start to finish and checks every piece against what was recorded when it was written; an encrypted backup is downloaded and every piece opened with your key. Nothing is restored. The result shows beside the backup, and a damaged one says which part.
The newest backup on this computer is checked once a week by itself.
Ready to recover
Ready to recover is a short checklist of what you would need if this computer were lost or replaced, each with the one thing to do when it is not done yet:
- A recent backup, from the last week.
- A copy off this computer: encrypted backups, your organisation's copy, or a backups folder outside the app's own data.
- Your Emergency Kit kept, with encrypted backups.
- Your organisation's recovery key, with encrypted backups: whether an owner could help you back in.
- This computer can open your backups, on a computer that cannot unlock them yet.
- The newest backup checked.
Restore
Choose what to bring back
Open a backup from Your backups, choose Restore from a file…, or on a new computer accept the offer to restore. The first step says what the backup holds and asks what to bring back: Everything in it, Only one project, Only the conversations of one repository, or Settings only. With settings, choose Add the ones this computer does not have, Replace this computer's settings or Leave settings as they are.
Say where each repository is now
For each repository in your choice, the workbench proposes a folder on this computer: the same git remote on any machine, the same project, or a folder with the same name. A certain match is used unless you change it; anything less is a question, with Use this folder, Choose another folder and Skip.
See what will change
Before anything changes, the dialog lists what will: first the safety copy of what is here, then the settings, each project (back into the one here, or made again) and what each repository gets back. Conversations come back beside what is there; nothing there is overwritten.
Restore
Choose Restore (the button says how many repositories). The summary says what came back and where the safety copy is: to undo, restore it from Your backups.
If the safety copy cannot be made, nothing is restored. The dialog says why, and offers Restore without a safety copy; without one, what the restore changes cannot be undone.
Encrypted backups and the Emergency Kit
Signed in to an organisation that keeps encrypted backups, turn them on under Encrypted backups. Everything is encrypted on this computer before it leaves it, and your organisation keeps it without being able to read it. One is made every hour while the app is open, when something changed, and they include agents' transcripts and this computer's hub records.
Turning them on shows your Emergency Kit once: print it or save it, and keep it somewhere safe. Nothing is sent until you say you have kept it. Your computers and your kit unlock your backups. If you lose every computer and the kit, an owner of your organisation can help you back in only when its recovery key is on your backups, which Ready to recover says.
On a new computer, Unlock… with your Emergency Kit, and that computer can open your encrypted backups from then on.
When a repository moves on the same computer
You do not need a backup for that. If a repository's folder moves, use Locate… in Projects; if its WSL distro was replaced, use Find it again. The repository keeps its history. See Projects.