Backup and moving to a new computer

You can save all of Pinchy into one file and bring him back from it, on this computer or a new one. You can also keep encrypted backups in your own cloud storage.

What to ask for

“Make a backup of yourself.” He saves one file and tells you where it is.
“I got a new laptop, how do I take you with me?” He explains the two steps: save a backup here, restore it there.
“Back yourself up to my cloud storage now.” He starts an encrypted backup into your own bucket and tells you when it is done.
“When was your last backup?” He tells you when the last cloud backup ran and whether it worked.

What is in a backup

His memory (the second brain), skills, extensions, artifacts, tasks and agents, variables and settings.
Not in it: passwords and other secrets. You sign in and reconnect accounts again after a restore.
Never restored: what you allowed on a computer (remembered permissions, full autonomy, extension rights, paired phones, chat apps). You switch those on again yourself.
Restoring a backup FILE also leaves this computer’s set-up as it is: the away server, connectors, where results are sent, cloud storage, folders and spending caps. A backup someone hands you can then not connect you to their server or run their commands. Your own cloud backup does bring your set-up along.

How it works

A backup is one file you can copy anywhere.
Cloud backups are encrypted on your computer, with a recovery key, before they are uploaded. How often they run is set in the Cloud storage window. The bucket is yours: Backblaze B2, Cloudflare R2, Oracle Cloud, Amazon S3 or any S3-compatible storage. Pinchy has no server of his own that sees your files.
The working files of swarms (big outputs, videos) are left out of backups above a size cap, so a backup stays small.

Settings

Settings → Safety & data → Backup & move: save Pinchy into one file, restore from a file.
Settings → Safety & data → Backup & move → Open Cloud storage: connect your bucket, back up now, see and restore earlier backups. Cloud storage can also sit in his right-click menu (Customize → Add).

Limits

Restoring is done by you in Settings, not by Pinchy in a chat. A restore replaces what is on this computer with what is in the backup.
Without the recovery key nobody can open a cloud backup, including you. The Cloud storage window shows the key; keep a copy somewhere safe.

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