Backups & Restore

Scape backs up your data on this Mac automatically, and you can restore all of a backup or just the parts you need. To move work rather than protect it, you can also export a project or a few items to a file.

You want to…	Use
Protect everything, or go back to an earlier state	A backup
Get back one deleted note or table without losing anything newer	Recover items from a backup
Give a whole project to another Mac or person	Export Project…
Copy a few items into another project	Export… and Import Items…

Sync Backups

Backups live in Settings → General → iCloud → Sync Backups…. The window lists every backup with its kind, date, size and contents, and each row has Save As…, Restore and Delete. The header has Back Up Now… and Import Backup….

Despite the name, backups don't need iCloud. Scape makes them whether or not Sync with iCloud is on.

Kinds of backup

Kind	When it's made	How long it's kept
Manual	When you choose Back Up Now…	Until you delete it.
Daily	Automatically, about once a day	Only the newest one.
Weekly	Automatically, about once a week	Only the newest one.
Safety	Automatically, before something risky such as a restore	30 days. The newest Safety backup is always kept, however old.

Scape checks shortly after it opens, then every hour, so a backup missed while Scape was closed or your Mac was asleep is made soon after. Scape has to be running to make one.

If a new automatic backup holds less than half the notes, projects or table rows of the previous one, Scape keeps the previous one as a Safety · Pre-shrink backup rather than replacing it. Damage can't quietly push out your last good backup. Small libraries, with fewer than 10 of a thing, aren't compared this way.

What a backup holds

A backup is made of parts, which you can tick separately when you back up or restore.

Part	What's in it
Library	Notes, projects, tables, Apps, playbooks, Flight Plans and images
Workscapes	Workscapes with their sessions, layouts and pinned tabs
Arguses	Arguses and their logs
Tools	Custom tools and hidden tools
Injected MCP	Injected MCP tools with their version history
Sessions	Session settings, custom names and avatars, and repo history
Preferences	Settings, shortcuts and your chat identity
Secrets	Passwords and tokens, sealed with a passphrase

Automatic backups hold everything except Secrets. Secrets are only ever saved in a Manual backup, when you ask for them.

The row in the list tells you what a backup holds: Everything, Everything, with secrets, Notes, tables and images, Notes only for an older backup, or the names of the parts you picked.

Backups never include the code in your repos, your license, or anything that identifies this particular Mac.

Making a backup

Open Sync Backups… and choose Back Up Now….
Untick anything you don't want. Each part shows its size on disk.
Choose Back Up.

Including secrets

Tick Secrets to include your playbook secrets, integration tokens, trigger secrets, SSH passwords and chat room passwords. You'll be asked for a passphrase of at least 12 characters, typed twice. The secrets are sealed with it inside the backup, and they aren't written to disk unsealed.

Keeping a copy somewhere else

Backups are stored on this Mac, in ~/.scape/sync-backups. If you lose the Mac, or delete that folder, they go too. Choose Save As… on a backup to write it to a single .scapebackup file you can keep anywhere. An older notes-only backup saves as a .sqlite file.

Restoring

Choose Restore on a backup, or Import Backup… to use a file from outside the list. Scape checks the backup first, then opens a sheet listing the parts it holds. Everything is ticked except Secrets. Untick what you want to leave alone.

If Library is ticked, you choose how to restore it:

Roll back everything replaces your Library with the backup's.
Recover items copies chosen items back in and replaces nothing.

The sheet then says exactly what will happen, and the button tells you whether Scape has to quit: Restore and Quit, or just Restore.

Roll back everything

The sheet gives you the numbers before you commit, for example how many items will be overwritten and how many created since the backup will be deleted. If your data already matches the backup, it says so.

When you confirm:

Scape makes a Safety backup of exactly what the restore will replace.
Scape quits.
Open Scape again. The restore finishes as it opens.

The same happens if you restore any part other than Library, Secrets or Recover items: Workscapes, Arguses, Tools, Injected MCP, Sessions and Preferences each replace this Mac's copy.

Good to know:

Reopen within an hour. If you don't, the restore isn't applied, your data stays as it was, and Sync Backups tells you to choose it again.
If something stops Scape quitting, the restore is normally cancelled, and Sync Backups tells you what happened.
If another app has Scape's data open, the restore waits. Sync Backups names the process. Quit it and reopen Scape.
Older notes-only backups restore your notes and leave tables and images as they are.

Recover items

Use this to get something back without going back in time. Pick Recover items, and Scape lists the backup's projects and what's in them.

Pick items from one project, then choose a project under Copy into.
Tick the project itself ("whole project, as a new project") to bring it all back as a new project.

Choose Restore. The items arrive as new copies, so nothing in your Library is replaced or deleted, and Scape doesn't quit unless you also ticked other parts. An older notes-only backup can't give back tables.

Restoring secrets

Tick Secrets, type the backup's passphrase and choose Unlock. A wrong passphrase restores nothing. Scape then tells you how many secrets are new and how many differ from this Mac's.

For the ones that differ, choose Keep this Mac's (the default) or Use the backup's. If you use the backup's, this Mac's values are first kept in a Safety backup, protected by the passphrase you just entered. Trigger secrets are only ever added, never replaced.

Secrets are written when you confirm, not when Scape reopens, so they stay even if the rest of the restore is cancelled. With Recover items, only the secrets the recovered items use are added, and no secret on this Mac is replaced.

Importing a backup from another Mac

Import Backup… takes a .scapebackup file or folder, or a .sqlite backup. It works like Restore, and the Safety backup is labelled Pre-backup-import. File paths in your home folder are adjusted when the backup came from a Mac with a different home folder.

Scape refuses a file that's damaged, isn't a Scape backup, was made by a newer version of Scape, or contains database code Scape didn't write. The message says which. Beyond those checks, Scape doesn't review what's in the file. The settings and approvals it holds are applied, so only import a backup you trust. Scape's own records of what each Mac created or removed aren't taken from the file, and Preferences applies only the settings Scape recognises.

Restoring with iCloud sync

A rollback isn't private to this Mac. Scape sends the restored data to iCloud, so items it removes are normally deleted on your other Macs too, as the confirmation warns.

Some items are only removed from this Mac. iCloud doesn't carry all of an item's content, so a table Scape can't confirm was made on this Mac, or a playbook or chart whose content isn't here, stays in iCloud and on your other Macs. So does the project it's in.
If another Mac has a newer version of something, that version may win. Sync Backups then reports, for example, 3 items kept their newer version from another Mac.
A delete still waiting to reach iCloud when the backup was made isn't sent, so that item stays in iCloud and on your other Macs. It may not come back on this Mac.
If a later sync brings back values you had just restored over, restore again from the same backup. This can happen if Scape quits just after reopening from a restore, before the restored data has been sent to iCloud.

If a restore can't finish

A failed restore puts your data back the way it was, and Sync Backups tells you what went wrong. If you did anything in Scape after the failure, that work is kept separately in a folder the message names. It isn't merged back in.

Sometimes Scape can't put your data back straight away. It then says so in a notice and in Sync Backups: some items may be missing, agent tools can't open your data, and iCloud sync and scheduled backups are paused. Nothing has been lost. Quit other apps using Scape's data, check your free disk space, and reopen Scape.

If opening your data could damage it, Scape stops at launch with Scape can't open your data yet and names the folder your data is kept in. If the alert offers Put My Data Back, choose it, then reopen Scape. If it doesn't, follow what it says. It may ask you to keep that folder and contact Scape support.

Exporting and importing a project

A project export is a single .scapeproject file holding everything in the project except its repos.

To export, right-click the project and choose Export Project….

To import, click the + in the sidebar's Projects header and choose Import Project…. It always arrives as a new project, so importing never changes one you already have.

Secret values are never included in a project export. Their names are listed so you can enter them again.

Exporting and importing items

An items export is a .scapeitems file holding some of a project's items, ready to bring into another project.

Exporting

You can export Apps, tables, notes, folders, Boxes, Flight Plans, playbooks and triggers:

Right-click an item in the project panel and choose Export….
Select several from one project, right-click and choose Export N Items….
From an open tab, choose Export… in the tab's ⋯ menu.

The sheet shows what will go in the file:

Items inside what you export always come along, such as the contents of a folder.
Also used lists other items in the project that yours depend on, like a table a playbook writes to. They start ticked. Anything you untick stays a reference to the original project and is listed after import. Scape doesn't follow links in notes.
Include secrets seals the secrets these items use into the file, with a passphrase of at least 12 characters. Playbook secrets and integration tokens travel this way. Trigger webhook secrets and account connections don't, so you'll enter those again on the other side.

Importing

Right-click a project, folder or Box and choose Import Items…. Items arrive as new copies, so importing the same file twice gives you two sets. Choosing a .scapeproject file here still creates a new project.

If the file includes secrets, Scape asks for its passphrase. Choose Add Secrets, or Skip to enter them yourself later. Importing only adds secrets the imported items use. Secrets already on this Mac are never replaced.

After an import

Both kinds of import finish with a report. Sections only appear when they have something in them.

Section	What it tells you
Automation	What each imported playbook reaches outside this Mac, with the secrets and hosts its steps use. Imported playbooks run like your own, so give this a read.
Secrets from the file	What was added from the file, and anything left out because this Mac already uses or holds it.
Secrets	Each secret the items need, marked Stored on this Mac or Missing: enter it before running.
Integrations	Integrations that need you to connect an account.
Repos to re-link	Repos the project used, which aren't in the file.
Also	Links pointing outside the project, which may not open here, and any images that couldn't be copied.