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Backup & Restore

vectlite provides several ways to create backups and restore databases.

Snapshots​

Create a self-contained copy of the database at any point:

Python​

db.snapshot("/backups/knowledge_2024.vdb")

Node.js​

db.snapshot('/backups/knowledge_2024.vdb')

The snapshot file includes all committed data. It does not include uncommitted WAL entries — call compact() first if you need a fully up-to-date snapshot.

Full Backup​

A full backup copies the database file and all ANN sidecar files:

Python​

db.backup("/backups/full/")

Node.js​

db.backup('/backups/full/')

Restore​

Restore a backup to a new database path:

Python​

restored = vectlite.restore("/backups/full/", "restored.vdb")

Node.js​

const restored = vectlite.restore('/backups/full/', 'restored.vdb')

Read-Only Mode​

Open a database in read-only mode for safe concurrent access:

Python​

ro = vectlite.open("knowledge.vdb", read_only=True)
results = ro.search(query, k=5)  # Reads work
ro.upsert(...)                    # Raises VectLiteError

Node.js​

const ro = vectlite.open('knowledge.vdb', { readOnly: true })
const results = ro.search(query, { k: 5 })  // Reads work
ro.upsert(...)                                // Throws VectLiteError

Read-only mode uses shared file locks, allowing multiple readers to access the same database file simultaneously.