Quickstart
Create a backupd workspace, connect your first database, run a backup and add your own encryption key.
This guide takes you from a new account to a verified, encrypted backup that you can open yourself.
Before you start
- A database that is reachable from the internet over TLS. See Connecting a database for the requirements.
- A database user for backupd. A read-only user is enough to back up.
Create your account and workspace
Sign up with your name, email and a password. backupd then walks you through a short setup:
- Profile: your full name and timezone.
- Role and Discovery: a couple of questions about you.
- Workspace: a Workspace name and a Workspace URL. A workspace holds your databases, backups, schedules and team. You can create more workspaces later from the workspace switcher.
- Goals: the engines you run.
- Invite team: optional. You can invite people later from Settings → Members.
Choose a plan
A new workspace has no plan, so it can't back up yet. Open Settings → Billing and choose Start 14-day trial on Starter, or subscribe to Pro. See Plans.
Connect a database
Go to Databases and click Add database. In the Connect a database dialog:
- Pick the Engine: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB or Convex.
- Give it a Name, for example
production. - Paste the Connection string. For Convex, choose Convex Cloud or Self-hosted and enter the deployment URL and key instead.
- Pick a Schedule and how long to Keep backups for.
- Click Connect database.
The connection string is encrypted before it is stored. Only the host is shown after you save.
Run your first backup
Scheduled backups start on the next slot of the schedule you picked. To back up right away, open the database and click Backup now, or use Run your first backup in the setup checklist on the Overview page.
The backup's page shows progress: Connecting, Backing up, Uploading, Finishing, then Verifying while the stored file is checked.
Add your own key
Open Settings → Encryption and click Add key. Choose Generate in browser, then Generate key pair, and save the secret key with Download key file or copy it to your password manager.
From now on every new backup is also encrypted to your key, so you can decrypt it without backupd. See Encryption keys.
Set up alerts
Open Notifications and click Add channel to get told about failed backups, failed restore tests and unreachable databases. See Notifications.
Next steps
- Check the first restore test on the backup's page. It runs on your plan's cadence, and the first backup of a database is always tested.
- On Pro, add your own bucket to keep a second copy you control.
- Learn how to restore without backupd.