Backups

The wiki and IRC bot both create automatic backups of character sheets before making changes. No character data is ever silently lost.

How Backups Work

Wiki Backups

Every time a character sheet is saved through the wiki (edit, approval, restore), the wiki creates a timestamped backup of the current file before overwriting it.

Bot Backups

The IRC bot creates one backup per character per day -- before the first edit of that character on a given day. Subsequent bot edits on the same day do not create additional backups.

This means if an ST runs several !set or !damage commands during a session, only the pre-session state is backed up. This keeps the backup directory manageable while still preserving the state before any changes were made.

Backup Storage

Backups are stored in:

_characters/_backups/<slug>/<timestamp>.toml

The timestamp format is 2006-01-02T15-04-05 (UTC, sortable). Example:

_characters/_backups/storm-runner/
  2026-02-15T03-22-41.toml
  2026-02-16T08-45-12.toml
  2026-02-17T22-01-30.toml

Viewing Character History

Admins can view a character's backup history through the wiki:

Navigate to the character's page
Click "History" or "Versions"
See a list of all backups with timestamps
Click any backup to view that version

Comparing Versions

The wiki provides a side-by-side diff view to compare two versions of a character:

From the history page, select two versions to compare
The diff view highlights what changed between them
Changed fields are color-coded: additions, removals

This is especially useful for reviewing player submissions -- the pending review page automatically shows a diff between the submitted version and the current live version.

Restoring from Backup

To restore a character to a previous state:

Go to the character's history
Find the backup you want to restore
Click "Restore"
The wiki creates a backup of the current state first, then restores the selected version

Restoring is non-destructive -- you can always restore back to the version before the restore.

Downloading Backups

Any backup version can be downloaded as a TOML file:

From the character's history page
Click the download link next to any version
The file downloads as <slug>-<timestamp>.toml

Retention

Backups are kept indefinitely. There is no automatic cleanup or rotation. For a typical game with a handful of characters and weekly sessions, backup storage growth is negligible.

What's Not Backed Up

Wiki pages -- not automatically backed up (use git for versioning)
Images -- uploaded assets are not backed up
User accounts -- stored in SQLite, not backed up by the wiki

If git integration is enabled (git.enabled: true in config), wiki page edits are auto-committed to a local git repository, providing version history for all page content.

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