Recovery — Fresh Laptop in 3 Years

This guide covers the “I just got a new laptop and I want my Strata data back” scenario. Three personas:

1. You used the Docker setup → your data lives on a host volume.
2. You used the Strata desktop app → your data lives under ~/Library/Application Support/Strata/strata.db (macOS).
3. You only have a JSON backup export.

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0. Get the source code back

git clone https://github.com/fducat18/strata.git
cd strata

Make sure your tooling is installed (Node 24+, npm, optionally Docker Desktop, optionally Rust + Tauri CLI for the desktop app).

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1. Restore from a SQLite file (Docker user)

You backed up backend/.data/strata.db (or the ./.data/strata.db mounted volume from docker-compose.yml). Drop it back in:

mkdir -p backend/.data
cp /path/to/your/strata.db backend/.data/strata.db

# Apply any new migrations that shipped after your backup:
cd backend
npx prisma migrate deploy
cd ..

# Start everything
npm run docker:dev

Verify:

curl -s http://localhost:3000/api/v1/assets | jq length
curl -s http://localhost:3000/api/v1/portfolio-snapshots | jq length
curl -s http://localhost:3000/api/v1/version

Then open http://localhost:4321 and check the dashboard renders your assets and net worth chart.

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2. Restore from a SQLite file (Desktop app user)

The desktop .app keeps its DB at:

Build flavour	Path
Production (tagged release)	~/Library/Application Support/Strata/strata.db
tauri:dev local run	<repo>/backend/.data/strata-dev.db

Restore is just:

mkdir -p "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Strata"
cp /path/to/your/strata.db \
   "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Strata/strata.db"

Then launch the app. The current data folder is shown in About → Strata (also in the app log file at ~/Library/Logs/Strata/).

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3. Restore from a JSON backup

If all you have is the JSON export from Settings → Export Backup:

1. Start the backend (Docker or local — see Quick Start).
2. Open http://localhost:4321/settings.
3. Click Import Backup, pick the JSON file, confirm in the dialog.

The import endpoint (POST /api/v1/admin/restore) is idempotent and wraps the entire restore in a single transaction.

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4. Verify

After any restore:

• curl -s http://localhost:3000/api/v1/assets | jq length → expected asset count
• curl -s http://localhost:3000/api/v1/portfolio-snapshots | jq length → expected snapshot count
• curl -s http://localhost:3000/api/v1/version → confirms which build is running
• Open dashboard → snapshot timeline + allocation chart render

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5. Recommended ongoing backup strategy

• Weekly JSON export to iCloud Drive or any cloud sync (lossless, human-readable).

• Daily SQLite copy if you’re a heavy user (small file, fast):

  cp "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Strata/strata.db" \
     "$HOME/iCloud/Strata-Backups/strata-$(date +%Y%m%d).db"

• Store at least one backup off-machine.

See also: Backup for the full backup philosophy and Versioning for how to identify which build produced a backup.