Backups

Regular backups are essential for protecting your LearnHouse data. The LearnHouse CLI provides built-in backup and restore functionality.

Creating a Backup

Create a backup with a single command:

learnhouse backup

This creates a timestamped archive file containing:

• PostgreSQL database dump — all users, courses, organizations, and configuration data
• Uploaded content — images, videos, documents, and other files stored on the filesystem

The backup file is saved in the current working directory with a name like backup-2025-01-15-120000.tar.gz.

Restoring from a Backup

To restore from a backup file:

learnhouse restore backup-2025-01-15-120000.tar.gz

The restore process:

1. Stops all running services
2. Restores the database from the dump
3. Restores uploaded content files
4. Restarts all services

Automating Backups

It is recommended to set up automated backups using a cron job. For example, to create a daily backup at 2:00 AM:

# Edit your crontab
crontab -e
 
# Add this line for daily backups at 2 AM
0 2 * * * /usr/local/bin/learnhouse backup

Backup Retention

Backup files can accumulate over time and consume significant disk space. Implement a retention policy to remove old backups. For example, keep the last 7 daily backups:

# Remove backups older than 7 days
find /path/to/backups -name "backup-*.tar.gz" -mtime +7 -delete

S3 Storage Considerations

If you use S3-compatible storage for uploaded content, the learnhouse backup command backs up the database only. Your S3 content is managed by your storage provider, which typically offers its own backup and versioning features.