Backup & restore

A Curio Core SP has two backup-worthy artifacts:

1. state.sqlite — all metadata: keys, tasks, datasets, rails, message tracking. Small (~50–200 MB), high value. Lose this and you lose the SP identity.
2. The stash directory — the actual client piece bytes. Large (TBs), can be rebuilt only by re-uploading from clients (which fails them on proofs in the meantime).

Back them up separately: state DB on a frequent schedule, stash on a cheaper periodic rsync.

Backing up the state DB

SQLite's online .backup command takes a consistent snapshot without blocking writers:

sqlite3 /var/lib/curio-core/state.sqlite \
  ".backup '/backup/state-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S).sqlite'"

Run from cron every 5–15 minutes. Each backup is a complete standalone DB; you can restore from any snapshot in isolation.

For a cold backup with full quiesce:

sudo systemctl stop curio-core
cp /var/lib/curio-core/state.sqlite /backup/state-$(date +%Y%m%d).sqlite
sudo systemctl start curio-core

Backing up the stash

rsync -a --delete /var/lib/curio-core/stash/ /backup/stash/

--delete keeps the backup in sync with deletions; if you'd rather keep historical copies of removed pieces, drop --delete.

For off-machine backups, point rsync at a remote target (S3 via rclone, another Filecoin SP, etc.).

Restore

The two pieces must be restored together to a consistent point in time:

sudo systemctl stop curio-core

# Replace state DB
cp /backup/state-20260525-1430.sqlite /var/lib/curio-core/state.sqlite

# Replace stash
rsync -a --delete /backup/stash/ /var/lib/curio-core/stash/

sudo systemctl start curio-core

If the state DB references piece UUIDs the stash doesn't contain, ParkComplete will log warnings about missing stash files for those rows. Pieces with intact stash files keep working; pieces with missing files are effectively lost (the SP cannot prove them on the next challenge).

Disaster recovery for the PDP wallet

The PDP wallet is what proves your identity on-chain. Always keep a separate exported copy of the PDP key offline:

curio-core wallet export --confirm 0x<pdp-address> > ~/.curio-pdp-key.txt
chmod 600 ~/.curio-pdp-key.txt

Move that file to encrypted offline storage (USB stick in a safe, password manager secure note, hardware wallet etc.). If the box dies and you can't recover the SQLite DB, you can wallet import the exported key into a fresh installation and resume the SP identity — though you lose the proof history and rail state, which then forces re-discovery on next PDPv0_PaySettle cycle.