Content Management
Backups & Restore - ContentMK Docs
Create snapshots, restore previous states, and manage your sync changelog.
ContentMK includes a comprehensive backup system that gives you full control over database snapshots and sync history. Whether you need to recover from an error or roll back an unwanted change, everything you need is on the Backups page. All snapshots are stored locally at ~/ContentMK/backups/.
Creating Snapshots
Snapshots are complete copies of your entire database file, covering all sites in a single backup. ContentMK creates them in two ways:
- Manual snapshots — Click the Create Snapshot button at any time to save a point-in-time copy. You can add an optional label to help identify it later (for example, “Before reorganizing categories” or “Pre-migration baseline”).
- Auto-snapshots — Created automatically before each WordPress sync operation. These are named with timestamps so you can always trace them back to a specific sync event.
Between manual and automatic snapshots, you’ll have a reliable safety net without needing to think about it.
Restoring a Snapshot
To restore your database to a previous state:
- Find the snapshot you want in the list
- Click the restore icon (circular arrow)
- Click Continue, then type RESTORE in the confirmation field
- ContentMK will automatically create a pre-restore safety backup, replace the database, and restart
The confirmation step is intentional — restoring replaces your entire current database with the snapshot’s contents, so you want to be sure.
If you change your mind after restoring, the pre-restore snapshot will be available in the list after the app restarts. Select it and restore again to get back to where you were.
Exporting Snapshots
Click the download icon on any snapshot to save a copy to a location of your choice. Exported snapshots are useful for archiving important milestones or transferring data between machines.
For security, exported snapshots have WordPress Application Passwords automatically stripped. Your WordPress URL and username remain in the export, but encrypted credentials are removed. Internal snapshots used for restoring within ContentMK retain all credentials so that sync connections continue working after a restore.
Deleting Snapshots
Click the trash icon on any snapshot to remove it permanently. This is straightforward — the snapshot file is deleted from disk and removed from the list.
Retention Policy
ContentMK automatically manages snapshot retention to prevent unlimited disk usage. You don’t need to manually clean up old snapshots unless you want to.
How Auto-Pruning Works
After every new snapshot is created — whether from a sync, manual creation, or pre-restore backup — the oldest snapshots beyond the retention limit are automatically deleted. The default limit is 30 snapshots, which typically covers several weeks of daily syncs.
Changing the Retention Limit
- Go to the Backups page (either from the sidebar or from a specific site)
- In the Retention limit field at the bottom of the Snapshots card, enter your preferred number
- Click outside the field or press Tab to save — the change takes effect immediately
- New snapshots will automatically prune the oldest ones beyond this limit
The retention setting is saved globally and applies across all future snapshot creation.
Manual Pruning
Click Prune Now to immediately remove snapshots exceeding the retention limit. This is particularly useful if you’ve just lowered the limit and want to apply it right away rather than waiting for the next automatic prune cycle.
Sync Changelog
The changelog records every change made during WordPress sync operations, storing full before-and-after data for each individual change.
Viewing Changes
Each changelog entry shows:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Operation type | The kind of change (create, update, delete) |
| Entity | Which article or content item was affected |
| Timestamp | When the sync change occurred |
Click any entry to expand it and see the complete before/after JSON data — useful for understanding exactly what changed during a sync.
Reverting Changes
Click the undo icon on any non-reverted entry to reverse that specific change. This rolls back the individual sync change without affecting the rest of your data.
Reverted entries are shown with a strikethrough and a “Reverted” badge so you can tell at a glance which changes have been undone.
Global vs. Per-Site Views
ContentMK offers two ways to view backups depending on context:
| View | Snapshots | Changelog |
|---|---|---|
| Per-site (Backups within a site) | All snapshots | Filtered to that site only |
| Global (Backups from All Sites) | All snapshots | All sites, with site name and color dot labels |
Snapshots are identical in both views because each snapshot is a full database copy containing all sites’ data. The only difference is how the changelog is filtered.
The global view is especially helpful when you manage multiple sites and want to see all recent sync activity in one place. Each changelog entry is labeled with the site name and a color dot so you can quickly identify which site it belongs to.
Storage Info
The storage info card at the bottom of the Backups page shows:
- Total snapshot count — How many snapshots are currently stored
- Combined file size — Total disk space used by all snapshots
- Backup directory path — The location on disk where snapshots are saved (
~/ContentMK/backups/)
This gives you a quick overview of how much space your backups are consuming without needing to check the filesystem directly.
See Also
- Status Page — The Status page shows aggregate backup stats (snapshot count and size) alongside other system health metrics. You can also export a diagnostic report from the Status page header.