Backup and restore

Everything the workspace holds is in memory/, so a backup is one tar command. The tree is text and typically well under a megabyte. No database, no hidden dotfiles, no scattered config. Claude Code's own personal files (.claude/settings.local.json, CLAUDE.local.md) are not Hostwarden state and not in the backup.

For what memory/ holds, see The workspace.

Back up

bin/hostwarden-backup

Writes hostwarden-backup-<hostname>-<timestamp>.tar.gz to the current directory. Use --list for a dry run, -o <path> to write somewhere specific.

Restore

bin/hostwarden-backup --restore <file.tar.gz>

Refuses to overwrite existing memory/ content unless --force is passed. The archive is validated before any files are written: all entries must live under memory/, and symlink or hardlink entries are rejected.

A shared workspace

With a shared workspace, most of memory/ lives on its remote already. The personal files that memory/.gitignore keeps off it still need this backup. The archive leaves out memory/.git and memory/ssh_config; a restore sets the workspace up first and writes ssh_config for the new checkout.