Backup and Restore

Mindwtr stores your working data locally and lets you export JSON backups for portability, repair, and migration.

Restore is designed as a local data replacement flow:

• You choose a backup JSON file
• Mindwtr validates it before changing anything
• Mindwtr creates a recovery snapshot first when possible
• The selected backup replaces the current local dataset

This keeps restore simple and predictable. It is not a merge operation.

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Export Backup

Desktop

1. Open Settings → Data
2. In Data Transfer, choose Export Backup
3. Save the JSON file where you want

Mobile

1. Open Settings → Data
2. Tap Export Backup
3. Save or share the JSON file

The backup format is compatible with Mindwtr’s internal data.json structure.

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Restore from Backup

Desktop

1. Open Settings → Data
2. In Data Transfer, choose Restore Backup
3. Select a Mindwtr backup JSON file
4. Review the summary and confirm restore

Before restore, desktop creates a data snapshot in the local snapshot directory when the Tauri runtime is available.

Mobile

1. Open Settings → Data
2. Tap Restore Backup
3. Select a Mindwtr backup JSON file
4. Review the summary and confirm restore

Before restore, mobile saves a local recovery snapshot in app storage.

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Recovery Snapshots

Mindwtr creates recovery snapshots automatically before restore and import operations.

• Desktop: snapshots appear in Settings → Sync → Recovery Snapshots
• Mobile: snapshots appear in Settings → Sync → Recovery Snapshots

Use these when you restored the wrong file or want to roll back a local import/restore operation.

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Validation Rules

Mindwtr validates the selected JSON file before restore:

• the file must be valid JSON
• it must match Mindwtr’s data shape
• item counts and backup metadata are shown when available
• version mismatches produce warnings instead of silent failure

If validation fails, restore is blocked and your current data stays unchanged.

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What Restore Does Not Do

• It does not merge the backup with your current local data
• It does not restore only one task or one project
• It does not overwrite remote sync services by itself until your next sync cycle

If you use sync, think of restore as replacing the current local state first. Sync behavior after that depends on your backend and which device syncs next.

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Tips

• Keep periodic manual exports in addition to sync
• Restore only from backups you trust
• If you are using file sync, wait for the correct data.json to finish replicating before syncing another device

See also Data and Sync.