Backup

Take a consistent snapshot of your history database so you can recover from mistakes. Suvadu also snapshots automatically before any destructive delete.

Quick Start

Run suv backup to write a timestamped copy of your database into the backups directory.

suv backup
# ✓ Backed up to ~/Library/Application Support/suvadu/backups/history-20260621-091500.db (34.0 MB)

Write the snapshot to a specific path with --out:

suv backup --out ~/suvadu-backup.db

How It Works

Backups use SQLite's VACUUM INTO, producing a compact, internally-consistent copy even while the database is in use. The copy is written with owner-only permissions, since it contains your shell history.

Where backups live

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/suvadu/backups/
Linux: ~/.local/share/suvadu/backups/

The directory is created on first use with 0700 permissions.

Automatic Backup Before Delete

Because suv delete is irreversible, Suvadu writes a snapshot to the backups directory before deleting, and aborts the delete if that snapshot fails. Skip it with --no-backup if you're sure.

suv delete "old-pattern"        # backs up first, then deletes
suv delete "old-pattern" --no-backup   # skip the safety snapshot

Backup vs. Export

suv backup and suv export serve different purposes:

suv backup — a full, exact database snapshot for recovery. Restore by replacing your database file with the snapshot.
suv export — a portable JSONL/CSV dump for moving history between machines or analysis, imported with suv import.

Restoring

To restore, replace your database file with a backup copy while no shell is actively recording:

cp ~/Library/Application\ Support/suvadu/backups/history-20260621-091500.db \
   ~/Library/Application\ Support/suvadu/history.db

Tips

Schedule periodic snapshots with cron: 0 9 * * * suv backup.
The backups directory accumulates snapshots over time — prune old ones manually when needed.