Backup and Restore

Backup and Restore

A backup is a download of your vault exactly as the server stores it — every item's name, data, and file attachments stay ciphertext the whole time, plus the wrapped vault key needed to unwrap them. Nothing is decrypted to build the file, and nothing in it is usable without your master password: restoring re-derives your key from a password typed into the browser and either the unwrap succeeds or it doesn't, the same way logging in does. Treat a downloaded backup file like the master password itself — anyone with both can read your vault.

• Download a backup — Settings → Backup. Re-enter your master password first (this doesn't change what a live session could already read via the API, it's just friction against an idle unlocked tab producing a portable file). Downloads a single JSON file containing your account's key material, every waypoint, category/tag names, item-to-item links, and every file attachment (base64-encoded, still ciphertext).
• Restore into the same account — Settings → Backup → "Restore into this account". Only works against a backup made from this account (checked via a vault-key fingerprint before anything is written) — useful for undoing an accidental bulk delete. Existing categories/tags are matched by name and reused; missing ones are created.
• Restore onto a rebuilt server — /auth/restore (linked from the login page). For when the account doesn't exist at all anymore (e.g. the database was lost). Creates a brand new account from the backup's key material, logs in, then replays every waypoint/link/upload back in through the normal per-item API. A Recovery Kit isn't carried over by this path — generate a new one from Settings afterward if you want one.