Create

Take a backup of a target’s database and uploaded files, then bring it down to this machine.

Syntax

$ vela backup create [name]

The name is generated when omitted, from the instance and the time: vela_myapp_20260901134501.zip. A name you pass has to be one PocketBase accepts — lowercase letters, digits, - and _, ending in .zip.

Why it downloads

PocketBase writes the archive into pb_data/backups, inside the directory it is a backup of. Left there it survives nothing that matters, so create saves a copy to backups/ in your project by default.

$ vela backup create
$ vela backup create -o ~/backups
$ vela backup create --no-download     # leave it on the server

Options

  • -o, --output <dir> - Where to save the archive, defaults to backups
  • --no-download - Leave the archive on the server
  • -t, --target <target> - Which copy of the app to act on, defaults to production
  • --server <ssh> - Server this target runs on, recorded on first use

Long backups

A large instance can take longer to archive than the client will wait for a reply. That is not a failure: the name is chosen up front, so vela goes on watching for the archive to appear rather than reporting a backup that succeeded as a backup that failed.