Back up and restore

Ferry does not back up datastores. You dump the database to a file on a schedule.

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Back up

Dump the database on a schedule, for example from a cron entry on the server. The tool is pg_dump.

Terminal

docker exec ferry-ds-notes-db pg_dump -U notes_db notes_db > notes-$(date +%F).sql

Restore into a new datastore:

Terminal

docker exec -i ferry-ds-notes-db psql -U notes_db notes_db < notes-2026-09-27.sql

If you delete the datastore, you delete the data

ferry db rm notes-db removes the container and its volume. While notes has a reference to the datastore, Ferry refuses, unless you add --force.

Connect to the database yourself

Open psql in the container of the datastore, or connect from your machine through an SSH tunnel.

Add Redis

A Redis datastore works the same way as Postgres. Create it, then give its URL with a reference.