Backups & Presets¶
Orb keeps all of your data — characters, chats, lorebooks, fragments, phrase bank, settings — in a single SQLite database. Backups & Presets lets you capture that data into portable .db files, share subsets of it, and roll your live database back to an earlier state.
Open it from Settings → 💾 Backup & Presets.
Backups vs. presets¶
Both are the same kind of file — a standalone .db snapshot — and live together in one library. The difference is only in what they carry:
- A backup covers everything. Because it holds your whole database, it can be restored to roll the app back to exactly that state.
- A preset covers a subset (say, just your characters and lorebooks). It's portable — meant to be downloaded and shared, then merged into someone else's data.
The library lists every file uniformly with a coloured tag for its kind:
| Kind | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
manual |
You created it with Snapshot current. |
auto |
Orb took it automatically before a destructive action (see Safety net). Auto backups are pruned to the most recent 10. |
imported |
You brought it in from outside with Import file. |
Creating a snapshot¶
Click 📸 Snapshot current and pick what to include:
| Domain | Contents |
|---|---|
| Characters | Character cards |
| Chats | Conversations and their full message trees (requires Characters) |
| Lorebooks | Worlds and lorebook entries |
| Fragments | Mood & director fragments |
| Phrase bank | Phrase bank entries |
| Settings & endpoints | App settings, endpoints, model configs, personas |
Check everything to make a full backup you can restore from. Check a subset to make a portable preset.
Chats need their characters
A conversation is meaningless without the character it's about, so selecting Chats automatically pulls in Characters.
API keys
If you include Settings & endpoints, the snapshot contains your endpoint configuration — including API keys. A Strip API keys option appears (on by default); leave it checked when sharing a preset so your keys never leave your machine. If you don't include Settings & endpoints, all personal config and secrets are scrubbed from the file automatically.
Add an optional Label to make the file easy to recognise later, then click Create.
Bringing data in¶
Each entry in the library offers two ways to bring its data into your live database — plus Download (save the .db to disk, e.g. to share it) and Delete.
Apply — merge¶
Apply merges the file's data into what you already have, by identity:
- Matching items are overwritten with the file's version; items the file doesn't mention are left alone.
- New items are added.
This is the right choice for installing a shared preset — you gain its characters or lorebooks without losing your own.
Restore — roll back¶
Restore rolls your data back to match the file. How much it touches depends on the file's coverage:
- A full backup (all domains) is swapped in whole — a clean, total rollback of every domain.
- A partial file is restored domain-scoped: each domain the file carries is replaced to match the file exactly (anything you've added to those domains since is removed), while domains the file doesn't carry are left untouched.
Restore is destructive
Unlike Apply, Restore removes data within the domains it covers. Use it to undo changes or recover a known-good state, not to combine two sets of data.
Importing an external file¶
Click ⬆ Import file… and choose a .db file. Importing is non-destructive — it only adds the file to your library. Nothing changes in your live data until you then choose Apply or Restore on it.
On import, Orb validates that the file is a genuine Orb database and migrates it up to your current schema if it was made by an older build.
Version skew
A file produced by a newer version of Orb is rejected — update Orb before importing it.
Safety net¶
Every destructive action — Apply, Restore, and importing-then-applying — is preceded by an automatic backup of your current state. If a result isn't what you wanted, that auto entry sits at the top of your library, ready to Restore. Orb keeps the 10 most recent auto backups and prunes older ones.