> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.aegismemory.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Backup & Restore

> Backing up and restoring Aegis Memory data

# Backup & Restore

Aegis Memory stores everything in PostgreSQL, so your database backup is your source of
truth. Aegis also provides a logical export for portable, human-readable snapshots.

<Note>
  The open-source distribution has **no managed or automated backup**. Backups are your
  responsibility — schedule them with your own tooling (cron, your cloud provider's
  managed backups, etc.).
</Note>

## Option 1 — Database backup (recommended)

A full `pg_dump` captures memories, embeddings and all metadata exactly, and restores
to a byte-identical state.

```bash theme={null}
# Back up
pg_dump "$DATABASE_URL" --format=custom --file=aegis_backup.dump

# Restore into a fresh database
pg_restore --dbname="$DATABASE_URL" --clean --if-exists aegis_backup.dump
```

After restoring to a new database, ensure the `pgvector` extension exists and run
`alembic upgrade head` if the target is on a newer Aegis version (see
[Migrations](/deployment/migrations)).

## Option 2 — Logical export (portable snapshots)

Use the export endpoint / CLI for a portable JSON or JSONL snapshot — useful for
migrating between environments or archiving a namespace.

```bash theme={null}
# CLI
aegis export --namespace default --format jsonl > memories.jsonl
aegis import memories.jsonl
```

```python theme={null}
# SDK
client.export_json("memories.json")
```

The export endpoint is `POST /memories/export` (`format` = `jsonl` or `json`,
optional `include_embeddings`). Re-embedding on import is automatic when embeddings are
not included.

<Warning>
  A logical export is not a substitute for a database backup for disaster recovery:
  depending on options it may omit embeddings (recomputed on import) and does not capture
  every server-side column. Use `pg_dump` for authoritative recovery and exports for
  portability.
</Warning>

## Verify your backups

* [ ] Periodically restore a backup into a scratch database and start the API against it.
* [ ] Confirm a sample query returns expected results.
* [ ] Keep backups encrypted at rest and access-controlled.