Backup #

What to back up #

• ./data/ - required. You can skip cache/ and favicons/; FreshRSS rebuilds them.
• ./extensions/ - recommended if you use third-party extensions.
• ./i/themes/ - optional, only if you have added custom themes.
• External database (MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL) - back up separately with ./cli/db-backup.php (portable SQLite per user) or mysqldump/pg_dump. SQLite is covered by ./data/ above.

All other folders belong to the source code and are restored by a fresh install or upgrade.

Full installation backup #

Do this before an upgrade.

The following commands assume your FreshRSS directory is /usr/share/FreshRSS; substitute your path if installed elsewhere.

ℹ️ It is safer to stop your web server and cron during maintenance operations.

Creating a database backup #

Back up each user’s database to ./data/users/*/backup.sqlite:

cd /usr/share/FreshRSS/
./cli/db-backup.php

Creating a backup of all files #

Save the backup to your home directory:

cd ~

Create a gzipped tar archive of the FreshRSS directory:

tar -czf FreshRSS-backup.tgz -C /usr/share/FreshRSS/ .

Restoring files from a backup #

Extract the backup into your FreshRSS directory:

tar -xzf ~/FreshRSS-backup.tgz -C /usr/share/FreshRSS/

Restoring a database backup #

Restore each user’s database from ./data/users/*/backup.sqlite:

cd /usr/share/FreshRSS/
./cli/db-restore.php --delete-backup --force-overwrite

Migrating the database #

First, back up all user databases to SQLite files:

cd /usr/share/FreshRSS/
./cli/db-backup.php

Change your database setup:

• to change the database type (e.g. from MySQL to PostgreSQL), edit ./data/config.php accordingly.
• to upgrade to a major PostgreSQL version, after a PostgreSQL backup, delete the old instance and start a new one (remove the PostgreSQL volume if using Docker).

Restore all user databases from the SQLite files:

cd /usr/share/FreshRSS/
./cli/db-restore.php --delete-backup --force-overwrite

See also our Docker documentation for migrating the database.

Backing up selected content #

Feed list export #

You can export your feed list in OPML format either from the web interface, or from the command-line interface.

The OPML export only includes the standard OPML parameters; it omits FreshRSS-specific attributes like refresh frequency, credentials, user agent, and XPath web scraping rules.

For a full export including these, use the SQLite export described below.

Exporting your data #

MySQL or MariaDB #

You can use phpMyAdmin or mysqldump. Replace <db_user> with your database username, <db_host> with your database server hostname, and <freshrss_db> with the FreshRSS database name:

mysqldump --skip-comments --disable-keys --user=<db_user> --password --host <db_host> --result-file=freshrss.dump.sql --databases <freshrss_db>

Any database #

Export your database to a SQLite file with the command-line interface:

./cli/export-sqlite-for-user.php --user <username> --filename </path/to/db.sqlite>

Import the SQLite file back into your database:

./cli/import-sqlite-for-user.php --user <username> --filename </path/to/db.sqlite>

ℹ️ The database filename must use the .sqlite extension for both commands to work.

The export/import flow is useful when you need to:

• fully export a user,
• back up your service,
• migrate the service to another server,
• change the database type,
• fix database corruption.