Back up and share plans

PyOps provides three levels of protection and portability:

Tool	Scope	Use it for
Project backup	The complete active project database	Disaster recovery or moving a project to another computer
Block/plan JSON	One block or all blocks and their folders	Sharing designs or copying plans into another project
Block snapshot	One block at a point in time	Comparing or undoing a substantial block edit

Back up a complete project

Open Settings → Backup & share, then select Download “project” under Project backup.

The downloaded database contains that project's planning data, including blocks, goals, tasks, notes, planning settings, and synced Factorio reference data. App-level configuration such as the active-project selection and Assistant API key is stored separately and is not part of the project backup.

A project backup protects the complete database. JSON export is for portable block definitions rather than full recovery.

Restore a project backup

1. Open Settings → Backup & share.
2. Select Import backup….
3. Choose a PyOps .db backup.
4. Select Switch to it when the import finishes, or use the project selector.

An imported backup always becomes a new project. It does not overwrite the active project or another database with the same name.

Keep backups outside the PyOps data directory

Copy important backups to another disk or a synchronized backup location. A file stored beside the working database does not protect against disk loss or accidental directory removal.

Share blocks as JSON

Use JSON when the recipient needs the design but not the complete project database.

Export one block

Open the block and select Export block in its toolbar. The JSON includes the block's goals, recipes, machines, fuels, modules, constraints, and other planning choices.

Export the whole plan

Open Settings → Backup & share and select Export all blocks (n). The plan export also preserves block folders.

Import a block or plan

1. Switch to the project that should receive the design.
2. Open Settings → Backup & share.
3. Select Import block/plan JSON… and choose the file.
4. Open the imported block links shown in the result and review them.

Imports always create new block copies. When a name already exists, PyOps adds a suffix. If the receiving project's Factorio data lacks a referenced recipe or good, the block is still imported and marked with its missing references so the incompatibility can be fixed deliberately.

JSON is not a complete project backup

Block and plan JSON does not include tasks, notes, synced game data, or every project setting. Use the database download when the goal is full recovery.

Take and restore block snapshots

Open a block and select Snapshots in its toolbar.

1. Enter an optional label describing the safe point.
2. Select Snapshot now.
3. Use Diff to compare a snapshot with the block on screen.
4. Use Restore to replace the block definition with that snapshot.

Labels make manual restore points easy to recognize. Diff shows what changed before a restore is applied.

PyOps also creates automatic snapshots around structural or destructive block changes and periodically during ordinary edits. It keeps the newest 20 automatic snapshots per block. Manual snapshots remain until they are deleted.

Restoring is safe to explore: PyOps snapshots the block's pre-restore state first, and the restore itself participates in the app's undo history.