Backups and exports

The copy of your database you can rely on is the one you export and keep. Fortly does not keep automatic backups of your project's database that you can restore from. The Backups section of the Data tab says so: Automatic backup: Not running. This page covers taking a full export, automating it, and restoring from it.

What you can take out

The Backups section also shows the database's current size, as measured by the server it runs on.

Export the whole database

In the console, open Data › Backups › Exports, choose a format and select Download. The console downloads it gzipped.

From the API, any member of the project's team can export:

curl "https://api.fortly.com/projects/my-app-ada/export?format=postgres&gzip=1" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FORTLY_TOKEN" \
  -o my-app-ada.sql.gz

my-app-ada is the project's full name: the name you chose plus your account's slug. See Project names in paths.

The response is the file itself, with a Content-Disposition file name of the project name and the date, such as my-app-ada-2026-10-12.sql or my-app-ada-2026-10-12.json. An unknown format is refused with no export format called xml — try sql, postgres, mysql or json.

Choose a format

Every format writes column types as they were declared, so numeric(12,2) stays numeric(12,2), and values come out with the digits the server holds. Each table carries its keys, checks, defaults and identity columns, followed by its rows as INSERT statements. The formats differ in what they do with triggers and routines:

When something is written as a comment, it's still in the file for you to port by hand. It isn't silently dropped.

The PostgreSQL formats begin with BEGIN; and SET CONSTRAINTS ALL DEFERRED; and end with COMMIT;. Each table's key counter is set past the highest id in the file, so new rows don't collide with restored ones. The MySQL file switches on ANSI_QUOTES and turns foreign key checks off while it loads.

The JSON file is a single document. identity is PostgreSQL's own code for an identity column: d for generated by default, a for generated always, and empty for neither:

{
  "project": "my-app-ada",
  "exported_at": "2026-10-12T09:30:00Z",
  "format": "fortly/1",
  "tables": [
    {
      "name": "orders",
      "columns": [
        { "name": "id", "type": "bigint", "not_null": true, "primary_key": true, "default": null, "identity": "d", "generated": null }
      ],
      "rows": [{ "id": 1, "customer_id": 7, "total": 129.50 }]
    }
  ],
  "views": [],
  "triggers": [],
  "indexes": [],
  "routines": []
}

Keep exports on a schedule

Fortly doesn't run exports for you, but anything that can run curl on a timer can, such as a CI job or a cron entry on a machine you control. Use an API token kept as a secret there:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

file="my-app-ada-$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H%M).sql.gz"
curl --fail --silent --show-error \
  "https://api.fortly.com/projects/my-app-ada/export?format=postgres&gzip=1" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FORTLY_TOKEN" \
  -o "$file"

# then copy "$file" to storage you control

--fail makes the script exit with an error, instead of saving the error message as your backup, if the export is refused.

Restore from an export

A restore is an import: Fortly runs the SQL script against the database as it is, in one transaction. A postgres export loads back in, subject to the table-order warning above. A sql export does too, unless it contains triggers.

• Into a new project, upload the file as it is. This is the simplest way to check that an export restores.
• Into the same project, the tables in the file already exist, so the import stops at the first CREATE TABLE and changes nothing. Drop the tables first, then import.

curl -X POST https://api.fortly.com/projects/my-app-ada/sql \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FORTLY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"sql": "drop table if exists orders cascade; drop table if exists customers cascade"}'

gunzip my-app-ada-2026-10-12.sql.gz

curl -X POST https://api.fortly.com/projects/my-app-ada/import \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FORTLY_TOKEN" \
  --data-binary @my-app-ada-2026-10-12.sql

If any statement fails, nothing is applied and the reply names the statement. See When a statement fails.