Published from Orako Core

Backup and restore

A complete Orako backup contains three parts:

the PostgreSQL database;
attachment objects, when S3-compatible storage is enabled;
stable deployment secrets and configuration.

The database contains organizations, members, projects, conversations, search data, licenses, and encrypted provider credentials. Attachment bytes live outside PostgreSQL.

Back up PostgreSQL

From the directory containing docker-compose.yml:

mkdir -p backups
docker compose exec -T orako_postgres \
  sh -c 'pg_dump -U "$POSTGRES_USER" -d "$POSTGRES_DB" -Fc' \
  > "backups/orako-$(date -u +%Y%m%dT%H%M%SZ).dump"

Check that the dump is non-empty and periodically test it by restoring into a separate PostgreSQL instance. A backup that has never been restored is unverified.

For larger installations, use managed PostgreSQL snapshots or continuous WAL archiving in addition to logical dumps.

When ORAKO_S3_ENDPOINT is configured, back up the entire ORAKO_S3_BUCKET. Use the storage provider's versioning, replication, or snapshot feature. Database rows contain storage keys, so the database dump and bucket snapshot should be taken in the same backup window.

No object-storage backup is needed when attachments are disabled.

Back up stable secrets

Store the deployment configuration in a secret manager, not in the database dump. The restore requires the original:

ORAKO_ENCRYPTION_KEY;
ORAKO_AUTH_HS256_SECRET;
PostgreSQL credentials;
SMTP and object-storage credentials;
provider and reverse-proxy configuration not stored in Orako.

Changing ORAKO_ENCRYPTION_KEY loses access to encrypted provider credentials. Changing ORAKO_AUTH_HS256_SECRET invalidates existing local sessions.

Restore PostgreSQL

Restoring replaces the current database. Stop Orako first and keep a copy of the current database until verification succeeds.

docker compose stop orako_server

docker compose exec -T orako_postgres sh -c \
  'dropdb -U "$POSTGRES_USER" --if-exists "$POSTGRES_DB" &&
   createdb -U "$POSTGRES_USER" "$POSTGRES_DB"'

docker compose exec -T orako_postgres sh -c \
  'pg_restore -U "$POSTGRES_USER" -d "$POSTGRES_DB" --no-owner --no-privileges' \
  < backups/orako-YYYYMMDDTHHMMSSZ.dump

docker compose start orako_server

Restore the attachment bucket to the matching snapshot and start the server with the same stable secrets.

Verify the restore

curl --fail https://orako.example.com/healthz
curl --fail https://orako.example.com/readyz

Then verify:

an admin can sign in;
projects and members are present;
conversation history is searchable;
an old attachment can be downloaded;
Slack or Discord can send a test message;
the edition shown under Settings is correct.

Retention