Administration

Administration

Users

Admin → Users: add people, make someone an admin, disable or delete an account. Admins manage accounts but cannot see other people's locations.

Locked out? Reset a password from the command line (see Command line).

Backups and restore

What is backed up: the whole database (all users' points, places, devices and settings) as a verified, compressed snapshot in data/backups/. Snapshots are taken while the app is running and checked with an integrity check.

Backup	When	Kept
geotracker-*.db.gz	Daily at the configured hour (Admin → Settings)	Newest N (default 7)
manual-*.db.gz	"Back up now" or geotracker backup	Until you delete them
pre-upgrade-*.db.gz	Automatically before any database migration	Newest 3
pre-restore-*.db.gz	Automatically before a restore replaces data	Newest 3

Keep a copy off the machine

Backups on the same disk don't survive a dead disk. For example, nightly with restic:

restic -r sftp:nas:/backups/geotracker backup /srv/geotracker/data/backups

or rclone sync data/backups remote:geotracker-backups.

Treat backups as secrets. Besides location history they contain the SMTP password and each person's Gotify token and Immich API key. Keep off-site copies encrypted (restic encrypts by default; with rclone use a crypt remote).

Restore

From the UI: Admin → System → Backups → Restore (or Restore from file for a downloaded backup). GeoTracker verifies the file, saves a safety copy of the current database and restarts to swap it in. The process must be supervised (Docker restart policy, systemd, NSSM) so it comes back by itself.

From the shell:

# Docker
docker exec geotracker /geotracker restore /data/backups/geotracker-20260101-030000.db.gz
docker restart geotracker

# systemd
sudo -u geotracker geotracker restore /var/lib/geotracker/backups/geotracker-20260101-030000.db.gz
sudo systemctl restart geotracker

Per-person export: Settings → Import & export → GeoTracker archive is a lossless copy of one person's data that can be imported on any instance.

Upgrading

Install	Command
Docker Compose	docker compose pull && docker compose up -d
Docker run	pull the new tag, then recreate the container with the same -v mount
Linux install script	run the install command again (it keeps your data and settings)
Manual / macOS / Windows	stop it, replace the binary with the new release, start it

On start, if the new version needs database changes, GeoTracker first writes pre-upgrade-*.db.gz, then migrates in a transaction. If anything fails it stops without touching your data and logs the backup to restore.

Rolling back: run the previous version and restore the pre-upgrade backup. Migrations are forward-only on purpose, because restoring a backup is the reliable way back. Pin versions (:0.5 rather than :latest) and read the release notes before upgrading across versions.

Moving to a new server

1. Stop GeoTracker on the old server.
2. Copy the whole data/ folder to the new server.
3. Start GeoTracker there and point your DNS at it.

Phones keep working if the URL stays the same. Alternatively, download a backup in the UI and Restore from file on a fresh instance.

Coming from Dawarich or elsewhere? Export GPX or GeoJSON there, import it here, then point your phone apps at the new server.

Command line

The same binary has admin commands (Docker: docker exec geotracker /geotracker <command>):

Command	Does
geotracker serve	Run the server (the default).
geotracker backup [file]	Write a backup now.
geotracker restore <file>	Verify and stage a backup; it is applied on the next start.
GT_NEW_PASSWORD=… geotracker reset-password <email>	Set a new password (10+ characters) and sign out all sessions.
geotracker healthcheck	Exit 0 if the server answers (used by Docker).
geotracker version	Print the version.

Monitoring

• GET /healthz returns ok (HTTP 200) when the server and database are healthy, and 503 otherwise: use it for uptime monitors.
• Admin → System shows version, database size, counts and the last backup.
• Admin → Audit log lists sign-ins, failed logins and sensitive changes.
• Set GT_LOG_FORMAT=json to feed logs to a collector.

Security checklist

• Serve over HTTPS and set GT_BASE_URL and GT_TRUSTED_PROXIES.
• Keep backups off-site and encrypted.
• Use long passwords (10 characters minimum is enforced) or single sign-on.
• Pin an image version and update regularly.
• Don't expose the data folder; the container and systemd unit already run as an unprivileged user.