Backup and Restore

Backup & Restore

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Your data (trips, charging history, logbook, settings) lives in SQLite databases on your server. Regular backups protect against hardware failure, accidental deletion, or migration to a new server.

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What needs backing up?

Data	Location	Size (typical)
Master database	/app/data/master.db	~1 MB
Tenant databases	/app/data/tenants/*.db	~50 MB per tenant (3 years)
Environment config	/opt/tesla-carview/backend/.env	Tiny
SSL certificate	/etc/letsencrypt/	Tiny

The Docker images and app code don't need backing up — they can be re-downloaded from GitHub at any time.

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Option 1: In-app backup (recommended for most users)

Tesla Carview has a built-in backup feature:

1. Go to Admin → Data → Backup
2. Click Download Backup
3. A JSON file is downloaded containing all 25 database tables
4. Save it somewhere safe (external drive, cloud storage, different device)

Restore from backup:

1. Go to Admin → Data → Restore
2. Upload the backup JSON file
3. Type the confirmation phrase RESTORE
4. The restore completes in seconds
5. A safety backup of the current data is made automatically before restoring

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Option 2: Automated backup script

For hands-off backups, create a cron job that saves a copy daily:

# Create backup directory
mkdir -p /opt/backups/tesla-carview

# Create backup script
cat > /opt/backups/backup-tesla.sh << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M)
BACKUP_DIR="/opt/backups/tesla-carview"
DATA_DIR="/var/lib/docker/volumes/tesla_data/_data"

# Copy databases
cp "$DATA_DIR/master.db" "$BACKUP_DIR/master-$DATE.db"
cp -r "$DATA_DIR/tenants" "$BACKUP_DIR/tenants-$DATE/"
cp "/opt/tesla-carview/backend/.env" "$BACKUP_DIR/env-$DATE.bak"

# Keep only last 14 days
find "$BACKUP_DIR" -name "*.db" -mtime +14 -delete
find "$BACKUP_DIR" -name "*.bak" -mtime +14 -delete
find "$BACKUP_DIR" -type d -name "tenants-*" -mtime +14 -exec rm -rf {} +

echo "Backup done: $DATE"
EOF

chmod +x /opt/backups/backup-tesla.sh

# Add to cron (runs daily at 2 AM)
echo "0 2 * * * root /opt/backups/backup-tesla.sh >> /var/log/tesla-backup.log 2>&1" > /etc/cron.d/tesla-backup

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Option 3: Offsite backup (recommended for important data)

A backup on the same server doesn't protect against server failure. Copy backups offsite:

To a remote SSH server / NAS

# Add to your backup script:
rsync -az /opt/backups/tesla-carview/ user@nas-ip:/backups/tesla-carview/

To Hetzner Storage Box (cheap, ~1€/month for 100 GB)

# Add to your backup script:
rsync -az /opt/backups/tesla-carview/ your-storagebox.your-storagebox.de:/backups/

To a cloud provider (Backblaze B2, AWS S3)

# Install rclone (supports most cloud providers):
curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash
rclone config  # Interactive setup for your cloud provider

# Add to backup script:
rclone sync /opt/backups/tesla-carview/ backblaze:my-bucket/tesla-carview/

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Migrating to a new server

When moving to a new server (hardware upgrade, VPS change):

1. On the old server: Download a full backup via Admin → Data → Backup
2. On the new server: Run the setup script: curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/KnevS/Tesla-Carview/main/deploy/setup.sh | bash
3. Log in to the new installation
4. Go to Admin → Data → Restore → upload the backup
5. Update your DNS record to point to the new server IP
6. Update the Tesla Developer Portal's Redirect URI if your domain changed

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Nightly maintenance (automatic)

Tesla Carview runs an automatic maintenance task every night at 03:30 (Berlin timezone):

• Removes expired tokens and orphaned records
• WAL checkpoint (SQLite optimization)
• VACUUM — reclaims disk space if a database is over 50 MB
• If AUTO_UPDATE_ENABLED=true: pulls latest code and restarts

You can trigger it manually:

• Admin → System → Run Maintenance Now

Or view the maintenance log:

• Admin → System → Maintenance Log

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Backup best practices

• 3-2-1 rule: 3 copies, 2 different storage types, 1 offsite
• Test your backups by actually restoring one (use the Admin → Restore test feature)
• Store your .env file backup separately and securely (it contains credentials)
• Back up before any major update or configuration change