Requesting information about the Music Assistant library.db.backup

[Schlumperdix]

Hi. I previously had an issue where my Home Assistant (HA) backups were growing by about 8–10 MB (compressed size) every day. The Music Assistant (MA) app was included in the HA backup.
I was quickly able to identify MA as the culprit. The library.db was growing significantly each day, which increased the backup size. Eventually, the database reached a size of around 590 MB.
I reset the database, and it is now 17 MB in size (uncompressed). So far, so good...

Unfortunately, the library.db.backup file from August 28, 2026 (the last state with the old database)—which is over 500 MB in size—is still there. I back up HA daily, and MA is always included in that process. Every backup I create still contains that library.db.backup file from August 28, 2026.
How can I remove this library.db.backup file? Or, to put it another way: do I even need to remove it? Will it disappear eventually? Might it get overwritten automatically at some point?
What causes it to be created in the first place? Can I force the creation of a new backup database?

Many thanks for your help!

[el-bakkali]

library.db.backup is created automatically when Music Assistant performs a database schema migration.

Before migrating library.db, MA copies the existing database to library.db.backup so it can be recovered if the migration fails.

It is not temporary and it will not be removed automatically. It is replaced only when another database migration occurs.
Therefore, the 500+ MB file from August 28, 2026 can safely be deleted now, provided Music Assistant is currently working normally.
Make a backup before you**

To remove it:

1. Stop or reload Music Assistant.
2. Open the Music Assistant data/storage directory—the directory containing library.db.
3. Delete only library.db.backup.
4. Start Music Assistant again.
5. Run a new Home Assistant backup.
6. Do not delete library.db; that is the active database.

The relevant code confirms this behavior:

during a schema-version change, MA copies library.db to library.db.backup before starting the migration. The backup is not subsequently cleaned up.

[Schlumperdix]

Hello,
Thanks for your reply.
Unfortunately, I can't find a way to access the Music Assistant directory.

1. I'm not sure of the exact path where it's located.
2. I'm not sure if it's even possible to access it from Home Assistant. I have the Advanced File Editor and Advanced SSH & Web Terminal apps available. Is it actually possible to access the files using these?
   I'm running Home Assistant bare-metal on a Raspberry Pi—meaning without a virtualization layer.

[Schlumperdix]

Thank you so much for the absolutely brilliant and detailed technical assistance.
I really think it makes the most sense to include this in the config.yaml so that the database backup—which eventually becomes unnecessary—isn't constantly carried along in every backup.
I’ve created a feature request (or rather, an idea) for this and linked to this discussion thread:

https://github.com/orgs/music-assistant/discussions/6337

Thanks again for your great help!

[el-bakkali]

my pleasure friend

[OzGav]

To others reading this the Music Assistant team does not recommend or endorse the manual manipulation of any system files as mistakes can render your system inoperable.