Back up and restore Tilecast

Tilecast backups include the database, media originals and processed files, thumbnails, and cached Player updates. Only the Owner can manage backups. Open Settings > Backup and restore.

Create and protect a backup

1. Select Create backup. Tilecast queues the backup and shows its progress under Recent backup activity.
2. When the archive appears under Available backups, select Verify before relying on it.
3. Select Download and copy the file to storage outside the Tilecast host.

The Studio panel restores archives already stored by this installation. Downloading an archive gives you an off-host copy; it doesn’t add that file back to Available backups.

Caution

An archive includes the full database, including each enrolled user’s authenticator secret. Protect backups like credentials. With Docker Compose, backups are stored under /data/backups in the tilecast_data volume; a copy on that volume won’t protect you if its storage is lost.

If you use Presentation Networks, keep TILECAST_PRESENTATION_NETWORK_KEY with your deployment secrets. This environment variable is not included in the backup.

Schedule backups

Under Automatic backup schedule, enable scheduled backups and choose daily or weekly runs, a time, and a time zone. Retention settings apply only to scheduled backups. Manually created backups remain until an Owner deletes them.

Restore an archive

1. Select Verify for the archive you plan to restore.
2. Select Restore and review the confirmation. Tilecast creates a pre-restore backup, then replaces the current database and media state. Studio is temporarily unavailable during the restore.
3. If Studio warns that the archive belongs to a different installation, continue only if that is intentional. Players enrolled with the current installation must be reset and paired again after restoring a backup from another installation.

Deleting an archive can’t be undone. Tilecast asks for an extra confirmation before deleting the last complete backup because no known-good restore point would remain.