Backinator

Backups, restores and migrations for WordPress. It builds full-site archives with a standalone installer, and supports schedules and off-site storage.

What it does

• Backups (Create New): a Setup, Scan and Build wizard. Files and database (or database only) go into one archive plus an installer.php.
• Restore here: the Restore button on any backup. The live site keeps running until the very last step, so a failed restore leaves it untouched.
• Clean restore: after the database swap, the installer deletes files in wp-admin, wp-includes and wp-content that aren't in the archive (plugins, themes and uploads the source didn't have), so the result mirrors the backup. Paths the backup excluded, symlinks, wp-content/backinator-backups and anything else in the web root are left alone. Untick it in the installer to only overwrite.
• Migrate: upload the archive and installer.php to an empty folder on any server, open installer.php, and enter the new database details. URLs, paths and the table prefix are rewritten safely, including serialized data and Elementor's JSON.
• Encryption: on by default. Archives are encrypted with XChaCha20-Poly1305, using a key derived from the site's backup password with Argon2id. The password lives in Settings: keep it in your password manager, because it's the only way to restore off-site copies if the server is gone.
• Schedules: hourly, daily, weekly or monthly, in the site's timezone.
• Storage: S3-compatible services (AWS, Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2, Wasabi, MinIO), Google Drive, or a folder such as a mounted NAS. Each storage keeps the newest N backups.
• Import: drag in an archive from another site (chunked, so PHP's upload limit doesn't apply), or pull one back from storage.

Backups are stored in wp-content/backinator-backups/, outside the plugin folder, so deleting or updating the plugin never deletes them.

Requirements

PHP 7.4+ with zip, mysqli and sodium (all standard). WordPress 5.8+. Multisite is not supported.

Releasing an update

Sites running Backinator check this repository's releases and offer updates under Dashboard → Updates. A copy that is a git checkout (has .git) never updates itself.

1. Bump the version in both places in backinator.php: the Version: header and BACKINATOR_VERSION.
2. Commit and push, then tag:

   git tag v1.0.1 && git push origin main v1.0.1
   

   That's all sites need: they pick up the highest version tag (checked every ~6 hours, or immediately via Settings → Check for updates now).
3. Optional: on git.web9.live, open Releases → New release for the tag to add notes. They're shown as the changelog in WordPress, and a published release takes priority over bare tags.

Forgejo's source archive of the tag is the update package. Files marked export-ignore in .gitattributes are left out of it.

Layout

Path	Role
backinator.php	Bootstrap and hooks
includes/BackupJob.php	Resumable backup state machine (scan, DB, files, verify, installer, encrypt, upload)
includes/ZipWriter.php	Append-only zip/zip64 writer that resumes across requests
includes/DbDumper.php	Resumable, keyset-paged SQL dump
includes/Runner.php	Drives jobs: browser polling, loopback chain, inline cron fallback, watchdog
includes/Storage.php, includes/GDrive.php	Off-site storage
includes/Schedules.php	Cron schedules
includes/Updater.php	Updates from git.web9.live releases
includes/Admin.php, assets/	wp-admin UI
installer/installer.php	Standalone restore/migration installer (template; config is injected per backup)