Backup & Restore¶

LayerNexus stores everything in two places. Back up both and you can restore your entire setup at any time.

What	Container Path	Contains
Database	`/app/data/db.sqlite3`	All your projects, parts, users, settings, print jobs
Uploaded Files	`/app/media/`	STL files, G-code, images, documents

Backup¶

Quick Backup¶

The simplest approach — stop the container, copy the data, start it again:

# Stop LayerNexus
docker compose stop web

# Copy the database
docker cp $(docker compose ps -q web):/app/data/db.sqlite3 ./backup-db.sqlite3

# Copy uploaded files
docker cp $(docker compose ps -q web):/app/media/ ./backup-media/

# Start LayerNexus again
docker compose start web

Backup from Named Volumes¶

If you use named volumes (like in the Quick Start):

# Create a backup folder with today's date
BACKUP_DIR="backup-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)"
mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"

# Back up database
docker run --rm \
  -v layernexus_layernexus_data:/data:ro \
  -v "$(pwd)/$BACKUP_DIR":/backup \
  alpine cp /data/db.sqlite3 /backup/db.sqlite3

# Back up uploaded files
docker run --rm \
  -v layernexus_layernexus_media:/data:ro \
  -v "$(pwd)/$BACKUP_DIR":/backup \
  alpine cp -r /data/ /backup/media/

Finding Volume Names

The actual volume names depend on your folder name. Run docker volume ls to see them. They typically look like foldername_layernexus_data and foldername_layernexus_media.

Restore¶

Restore Database¶

docker compose stop web
docker cp ./backup-db.sqlite3 $(docker compose ps -q web):/app/data/db.sqlite3
docker compose start web

The database schema will be updated automatically on restart if needed.

Restore Uploaded Files¶

docker compose stop web
docker cp ./backup-media/ $(docker compose ps -q web):/app/media/
docker compose start web

Tips¶

Automated Backups

For automated daily backups, you can create a small script that runs the backup commands above and schedule it with cron. Add a find command to clean up backups older than 30 days:

find /path/to/backups -maxdepth 1 -type d -mtime +30 -exec rm -rf {} \;

SQLite and Live Copies

If you copy the database file while LayerNexus is running, the copy might be incomplete. For a safe backup without stopping the container, use SQLite's built-in backup command:

docker compose exec -T web sqlite3 /app/data/db.sqlite3 ".backup '/app/data/backup.sqlite3'"
docker cp $(docker compose ps -q web):/app/data/backup.sqlite3 ./backup-db.sqlite3
docker compose exec -T web rm /app/data/backup.sqlite3