Native dump, live signal
Use official PostgreSQL/MySQL clients, a consistent SQLite snapshot, a transaction-backed Turso dump, or Cloudflare's native D1 export. Watch phase and byte progress without loading the dump into RAM.
Backup Center · Ctrl B from a saved connection
Backups that keep running.
Choose an existing saved connection or add one, then set the destination and time. dbterm handles verification, wrapping, retention, history and alerts.
Alt+B instant · Alt+K then N scheduled · Dashboard Ctrl+B preselected
PostgreSQL · MySQL / MariaDB · SQLite · Turso · Cloudflare D1
● prod-postgres · runningrun_8f4a21
WRAP + ENCRYPT
68%Compressing verified archive
12.4 / 18.1 GiB41.8 MiB/sETA 02:19
DESTINATION
/mnt/db-backups
NVMe volume · 284 GiB freeAGENT
systemd system · PID 2418
up 3d 8h · ≈13 MiB RSSzstd 3 + age X25519 · next: publish → prune → notify
One durable policy
The small things are the system.
Defaults make the first job short. Advanced sections are there when production needs a stricter answer.
Local or remote storage
Use an absolute folder, mounted volume, or rclone://remote/path. Local capacity remains visible; one configured rclone remote opens S3, SFTP, Drive, Azure and other backends.
Bounded retention
Combine latest-count, maximum-age and total-byte ceilings. Oldest eligible artifacts are pruned; the newest success and changed files stay protected.
Failure reaches you
Send email on failure, success, or both. Gmail defaults are ready for an app password; custom SMTP, STARTTLS and implicit TLS remain configurable.
OS-supervised
Choose a no-admin desktop registration or an elevated boot-time server registration. Inspect startup, runtime, PID, uptime, memory, heartbeat and bounded logs separately.
Restore is a separate gate
Inspect wrappers and database format from content, match the destination engine, preview warnings and require explicit consent before a restore begins.
Desktop / user
No admin prompt.
Use systemd user, a macOS LaunchAgent, or a Windows logon task. Start, stop, restart and control startup from Backup Center.
dbterm backup service installServer / system
Starts at boot.
Choose system scope explicitly for an unattended machine. dbterm explains the required elevation and keeps using the selected config, state and log paths.
dbterm backup service status --allRecovery, not hope
Know what the file is first.
Extensions are hints. dbterm unwraps supported compression and age layers, detects the database format from bytes, verifies engine compatibility and previews the restore plan.
dbterm backup inspect \
--identity ./recovery-key.txt \
prod.dump.zst.age
dbterm backup restore \
--connection staging \
--identity ./recovery-key.txt \
--yes prod.dump.zst.ageClean mode needs a second exact-name confirmation. Restore support currently targets PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB and local SQLite.
Straight answers
Before you schedule it.
Can I back up an AWS or other remote database to my machine?
Yes. Save a reachable PostgreSQL, MySQL, Turso, or Cloudflare D1 connection, then choose a local/mounted folder or a configured rclone destination. Local-to-local, local-to-remote, remote-to-local and remote-to-remote combinations are supported.
Does the TUI have to stay open?
No. A small native backup agent reads the durable job catalog. Desktop mode follows the user session; server mode is installed explicitly for boot-time operation.
Will retention delete files I placed in the folder myself?
No. Retention only considers successful artifacts recorded for that job, contained by its destination and unchanged from their recorded identity, size and checksum.