Backup and Restore - KnevS/Tesla-Carview GitHub Wiki

Backup & Restore

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Your data (trips, charging history, logbook, settings) lives in SQLite databases on your server. Regular backups protect against hardware failure, accidental deletion, or migration to a new server.

What needs backing up?

Data Location Size (typical)
Master database /app/data/master.db ~1 MB
Tenant databases /app/data/tenants/*.db ~50 MB per tenant (3 years)
Environment config /opt/tesla-carview/backend/.env Tiny
SSL certificate /etc/letsencrypt/ Tiny

The Docker images and app code don't need backing up — they can be re-downloaded from GitHub at any time.

Option 1: In-app backup (recommended for most users)

Tesla Carview has a built-in backup feature:

  1. Go to Admin → Data → Backup
  2. Click Download Backup
  3. A JSON file is downloaded containing all 25 database tables
  4. Save it somewhere safe (external drive, cloud storage, different device)

Restore from backup:

  1. Go to Admin → Data → Restore
  2. Upload the backup JSON file
  3. Type the confirmation phrase RESTORE
  4. The restore completes in seconds
  5. A safety backup of the current data is made automatically before restoring

Option 2: Automated backup script

For hands-off backups, create a cron job that saves a copy daily:

# Create backup directory
mkdir -p /opt/backups/tesla-carview

# Create backup script
cat > /opt/backups/backup-tesla.sh << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M)
BACKUP_DIR="/opt/backups/tesla-carview"
DATA_DIR="/var/lib/docker/volumes/tesla_data/_data"

# Copy databases
cp "$DATA_DIR/master.db" "$BACKUP_DIR/master-$DATE.db"
cp -r "$DATA_DIR/tenants" "$BACKUP_DIR/tenants-$DATE/"
cp "/opt/tesla-carview/backend/.env" "$BACKUP_DIR/env-$DATE.bak"

# Keep only last 14 days
find "$BACKUP_DIR" -name "*.db" -mtime +14 -delete
find "$BACKUP_DIR" -name "*.bak" -mtime +14 -delete
find "$BACKUP_DIR" -type d -name "tenants-*" -mtime +14 -exec rm -rf {} +

echo "Backup done: $DATE"
EOF

chmod +x /opt/backups/backup-tesla.sh

# Add to cron (runs daily at 2 AM)
echo "0 2 * * * root /opt/backups/backup-tesla.sh >> /var/log/tesla-backup.log 2>&1" > /etc/cron.d/tesla-backup

Option 3: Offsite backup (recommended for important data)

A backup on the same server doesn't protect against server failure. Copy backups offsite:

To a remote SSH server / NAS

# Add to your backup script:
rsync -az /opt/backups/tesla-carview/ user@nas-ip:/backups/tesla-carview/

To Hetzner Storage Box (cheap, ~1€/month for 100 GB)

# Add to your backup script:
rsync -az /opt/backups/tesla-carview/ your-storagebox.your-storagebox.de:/backups/

To a cloud provider (Backblaze B2, AWS S3)

# Install rclone (supports most cloud providers):
curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash
rclone config  # Interactive setup for your cloud provider

# Add to backup script:
rclone sync /opt/backups/tesla-carview/ backblaze:my-bucket/tesla-carview/

Migrating to a new server

When moving to a new server (hardware upgrade, VPS change):

  1. On the old server: Download a full backup via Admin → Data → Backup
  2. On the new server: Run the setup script: curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/KnevS/Tesla-Carview/main/deploy/setup.sh | bash
  3. Log in to the new installation
  4. Go to Admin → Data → Restore → upload the backup
  5. Update your DNS record to point to the new server IP
  6. Update the Tesla Developer Portal's Redirect URI if your domain changed

Nightly maintenance (automatic)

Tesla Carview runs an automatic maintenance task every night at 03:30 (Berlin timezone):

  • Removes expired tokens and orphaned records
  • WAL checkpoint (SQLite optimization)
  • VACUUM — reclaims disk space if a database is over 50 MB
  • If AUTO_UPDATE_ENABLED=true: pulls latest code and restarts

You can trigger it manually:

  • Admin → System → Run Maintenance Now

Or view the maintenance log:

  • Admin → System → Maintenance Log

Backup best practices

  • 3-2-1 rule: 3 copies, 2 different storage types, 1 offsite
  • Test your backups by actually restoring one (use the Admin → Restore test feature)
  • Store your .env file backup separately and securely (it contains credentials)
  • Back up before any major update or configuration change