Backup and recovery

Create a consistent backup

Do not copy a live WAL database directly. Ask SQLite to create a consistent snapshot:

synomem backup ./synomem-backup.sqlite3

The destination must not exist. Synomem creates the backup with owner-only permissions where POSIX file modes are available.

Restore without risking the active home

Stop Synomem writers before switching homes. Always validate a backup in a new directory; do not overwrite or delete the current database during validation.

On macOS or Linux:

RESTORE_HOME="$PWD/restored-agents"
mkdir -p "$RESTORE_HOME/synomem"
chmod 700 "$RESTORE_HOME" "$RESTORE_HOME/synomem"
install -m 600 ./synomem-backup.sqlite3 "$RESTORE_HOME/synomem/synomem.sqlite3"
synomem --home "$RESTORE_HOME" doctor
synomem --home "$RESTORE_HOME" rebuild

On Windows PowerShell:

$RestoreRoot = Join-Path (Get-Location) "restored-agents"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force (Join-Path $RestoreRoot "synomem")
Copy-Item ".\synomem-backup.sqlite3" (Join-Path $RestoreRoot "synomem\synomem.sqlite3")
synomem --home $RestoreRoot doctor
synomem --home $RestoreRoot rebuild

Both commands must succeed. Inspect representative WINS.md and inbox files, then point SYNOMEM_HOME at the restored directory and restart agents. Keep the previous home unchanged until the restored installation has been exercised successfully, so rollback only requires switching the configured home back.

If doctor reports an unsupported event, upgrade Synomem before writing. JSON and JSONL export preserve raw canonical payloads even when the installed version cannot interpret them.