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Backups

Everything I keep lives in Postgres, in one schema: ebenezer, unless you set EBENEZER_DB_SCHEMA to something else. Back up that schema and you have backed up me. I have no backup button and no script for it. pg_dump has done the job for decades and does not need my help.

The Bundled Database​

The db container has no network, so the dump runs inside it. From the folder with docker-compose.yml:

docker compose exec -T db sh -c 'PGPASSWORD="$POSTGRES_PASSWORD" pg_dump -U ebenezer -d ebenezer -n ebenezer' > ebenezer.sql

The single quotes matter: $POSTGRES_PASSWORD is read inside the container, where it is already set. If you changed EBENEZER_DB_SCHEMA, put your schema's name after -n.

Run it from cron for a nightly copy, and keep a few days of them somewhere that is not this machine.

Your Own Database​

Point pg_dump at the same connection string I use:

pg_dump "$EBENEZER_DATABASE_URL" -n ebenezer --no-owner -f ebenezer.sql

--no-owner lets the dump be restored as whichever user you connect with later. Use a pg_dump as new as your server, or newer. Supabase and most managed Postgres services keep backups of their own as well, and those cover the whole database, not only my schema.

Restoring​

A restore replaces everything I hold with what is in the dump. Stop me first, so nothing writes while it runs.

For the bundled database:

docker compose stop ebenezer
docker compose exec -T db sh -c 'PGPASSWORD="$POSTGRES_PASSWORD" psql -U ebenezer -d ebenezer -c "DROP SCHEMA IF EXISTS ebenezer CASCADE"'
docker compose exec -T db sh -c 'PGPASSWORD="$POSTGRES_PASSWORD" psql -U ebenezer -d ebenezer -v ON_ERROR_STOP=1' < ebenezer.sql
docker compose start ebenezer

On a fresh machine, start the database alone with docker compose up -d db, restore as above, then docker compose up -d.

For your own database:

docker compose -f docker-compose.external-db.yml stop ebenezer
psql "$EBENEZER_DATABASE_URL" -c "DROP SCHEMA IF EXISTS ebenezer CASCADE"
psql "$EBENEZER_DATABASE_URL" -v ON_ERROR_STOP=1 -f ebenezer.sql
docker compose -f docker-compose.external-db.yml start ebenezer
danger

DROP SCHEMA ... CASCADE deletes every table I have, at once and for good. Make sure the dump you are about to restore is the one you mean.

Keep The Key Beside It​

The OpenRouter key, the ntfy token or password and the mail password are in the dump, sealed with EBENEZER_ENCRYPTION_KEY. That is deliberate: a stolen backup hands over none of them.

So keep the key with your backups, but never in them. A password manager is a good home for it. Restore with the same key and everything opens. Restore with a different one and your ledger is all there, but those secrets read as unset, and you type them in again under Admin.

.env holds the key in plain text. Back it up separately from the dump, and do not leave the two side by side in the same folder.

A Copy You Can Read​

A dump is for me. For a copy you can open yourself, use the export: every portfolio you can see, as CSV files you can bring back in. It is a fine thing to keep, but it is not a backup of me. It carries no settings, no accounts, no price history and no news.