Back up and restore

Everything Linen keeps lives in the folder you run it from. A backup is one archive file you make with rer export and keep somewhere safe; rer import puts it back.

Make a backup

With Linen stopped or running, from the Linen folder:

rer export --output exports/linen-2026-10-14.rer

Name the file with the date. Archives go in the exports/ folder of your checkout, which Linen never serves, or at a full path outside the checkout, such as a backup drive. rer refuses any other place inside the folder, so an archive can never end up on a page.

The archive holds your workspace, people, requests, conversations, attachments and history, with a check of its own integrity. It deliberately leaves out signed-in sessions and stored provider credentials. Keep it as private as the data in it.

Restore

An archive restores with the Linen release that made it. Restore into the same version of Linen you exported from (the same commit of this repository), then update Linen afterwards if you need to. Keep that release and its exact source/release identity with each archive.

Restoring only goes into an empty installation, so it can never mix two workspaces. To restore over the copy on this computer, empty it first. rer reset --yes deletes this checkout's local Linen data, so make sure your backup is the one you want:

rer reset --yes
rer import --input exports/linen-2026-10-14.rer --yes

To restore on another computer, clone the repository at the same commit, then run the same rer import with the archive's path.

After a restore

Restore the local owner settings before starting Linen:

rer setup --owner-email '<original owner email>'
rer dev

Replace <original owner email> inside the quotes with the email that owned the exported installation, for example 'alex@example.com'. Keep the quotes, not the angle brackets. rer dev uses these saved settings; it does not ask for the previous owner email.

• Sign in again. Sessions are not part of a backup. Open the link from rer dev, or use rer outbox (see Get started).
• Re-enter connections. Stored credentials are not part of a backup; open Connections & setup and enter each one again.
• Release held work. Anything that was in flight when you exported is restored as held. In Existing desk & data custody, under Execution holds, check each one against what really happened (Reconcile current evidence), then Release reconciled hold. Linen never repeats an action on its own after a restore, and restored history never brings back permission to act: current grants are checked again at every action.

Keep a habit

Make a backup before every update of Linen and on a regular schedule, keep more than one, and try a restore into a spare checkout now and then. A backup you have never restored is a hope, not a backup.