Backups

Backups bundle your whole workspace into a single portable file you can carry to another machine. Everything goes in — Companies, workers, routines, Plans, Library files, Kafenio history, and the entire database. Export here, copy the file, import on the new install, and you’re exactly where you left off. You can optionally protect the bundle with a password.

Workspace size

Three tiles up top estimate the bundle’s footprint: your Database size, your Workspace files size, and an Estimated bundle size (roughly half, after compression). They give you a sense of how big the export will be before you make it.

Export workspace

• Password (optional) — leave it empty to export unencrypted, or set a password to encrypt the bundle. If you set one, it must be at least 8 characters and you’ll confirm it. Encryption uses AES-256-GCM with an Argon2id key derivation.
• ⬆ Export workspace — opens your OS save dialog with a dated default filename; pick where to save. A spinner shows while it works, and a confirmation tells you how many bytes were written and whether the file is encrypted.

The file extension reflects encryption: .atbackup for plain, .atbackup.encrypted for password- protected.

Remember the password

There’s no recovery if you forget the password on an encrypted bundle — the encryption is real. Store it somewhere safe, or export unencrypted if you’re keeping the file somewhere already secure.

Import workspace

Importing brings a bundle into this install — and it replaces everything currently here.

1. Pick a backup file… — choose a .atbackup (or encrypted) file. If it’s encrypted, a password field appears.
2. 🔍 Inspect bundle — read the bundle’s details first: the app version and schema version it was made with, when it was exported, and whether it’s encrypted. (For encrypted bundles you must enter the password to inspect.)
3. Confirm the overwrite — tick I understand this will erase my current workspace, then type OVERWRITE in the confirmation box.
4. ⬇ Import + overwrite my workspace — runs the import. When it’s done you’ll be told how many files were restored, and asked to restart the app so the database reopens against the replaced file.

Import wipes and replaces your whole workspace

A confirmed import erases your current database and files and replaces them with the bundle’s contents — it does not merge. If there’s anything in this install you want to keep, export it first. The typed OVERWRITE confirmation is there precisely because this can’t be undone.

Restart after importing

After an import, quit and relaunch askTheodor. The running app still holds the old database connection; restarting reopens it against the newly imported data.

In practice

Export before anything irreversible. Installing a demo pack, restructuring Companies, letting a new Routine loose on your files, or trying a major version — a one-minute export turns each of those into a reversible experiment.

Provider keys do not travel in the bundle. The workspace restores fully — Companies, workers, their memories, Library, Plans — but the encryption key protecting your provider keys is machine-local by design, so you re-paste those on the new install. Plan for that as part of any migration; it’s the one step people are surprised by.

Encrypt any bundle that leaves your control. A plain .atbackup is readable by anyone who has it, and it contains everything. Use a password for anything going onto a USB stick, a shared drive or cloud storage — and store that password somewhere real, because there is no recovery.

Restore one, once, on purpose. A backup you’ve never tested isn’t a backup. Import a bundle onto a spare machine or a fresh install at least once so you find out now rather than during a real recovery.

A sensible cadence for a working setup: export monthly, plus before any big change. The bundle is a point-in-time snapshot with no incremental history, so the frequency is what determines how much you could lose.

🎓 Learn it hands-on: Backup, export & privacy

Terms in this page

• Backup / bundle — a single file containing your entire workspace, made for carrying to another machine or keeping as a safety copy.
• Export — write your current workspace out into a bundle file.
• Import — load a bundle into this install, replacing what’s currently here.
• Workspace — everything askTheodor stores for you: Companies, workers, routines, Plans, Library, Kafenio history, and the database.
• Database — the SQLite file where askTheodor keeps your structured data; it’s included in every bundle.
• Encryption — scrambling the bundle so only someone with the password can read it.
• AES-256-GCM — a strong, standard encryption method used to protect the bundle’s contents.
• Argon2id — the method that turns your password into the actual encryption key, designed to resist guessing.
• Schema version — the version of askTheodor’s data layout the bundle was made with, shown so you can tell how old a backup is.
• Overwrite — replacing the current workspace entirely (not merging); the import confirmation word.