Backups and Restore

Overview

StretchWP backs your site up for you. The managed Snapshot plugin, part of the core suite, takes scheduled snapshots of your site, and the history is reported back to your workspace on the Backups tab. If you ever need to roll back a bad change or recover from an incident, the Stretch team restores from one of those snapshots.

Because backups are managed, you don't configure schedules or storage — you just confirm they're happening and know how to ask for a restore.

Read your backup history

Open the site and select the Backups tab.
Each entry shows the backup label/type, its status, when it was created, and its size.
For the most recent snapshot at a glance, check the Last backup tile on the Overview tab.

A healthy managed site shows a recent, successful backup on both the Backups tab and the Overview tile.

What a snapshot captures

A snapshot is a point-in-time copy of your site that can be used as a restore point. Each entry on the Backups tab represents one such point, with a timestamp so you can identify exactly which moment you'd be rolling back to.

Requesting a restore

Restores are performed by the Stretch team so they can be done safely and verified. To request one:

Identify the restore point. On the Backups tab, find the snapshot you want to roll back to and note its date/time and label.
Contact the Stretch team. Provide the site name, the exact snapshot you've identified, and a short description of what went wrong.
The team restores and verifies. They restore the site from that snapshot and confirm it's healthy — you'll see the activity reflected on the Events timeline and the site's Health.

Example

An editor applies a theme change that breaks the homepage layout. Rather than fight it in wp-admin, the site owner opens the Backups tab, finds last night's snapshot (status completed, created 02:00, 480 MB), and messages the Stretch team: "Please restore harbor-cafe to the 02:00 snapshot — a theme change broke the homepage." The team restores from that point, the homepage is back to normal, and the restore appears on the Events timeline. Total downtime: minutes.

Tips

Check Last backup before risky changes. Before a major edit, migration test, or plugin change, glance at the Last backup tile so you know you have a recent restore point.
Name the exact snapshot when you ask for a restore. The date/time and label from the Backups tab let the Stretch team act without a back-and-forth.
A snapshot is a safety net, not a version-control tool. Restoring rolls the whole site back to that moment, so anything created after that point (new posts, orders, comments) would be lost. Pick the restore point that best balances recovering what broke against keeping recent work.
Combine backups with staging for big changes. For major redesigns, ask the Stretch team for a staging copy to test on (see Staging and safe changes) rather than relying on restore alone.

Troubleshooting

Backups tab is empty on a new site. Snapshot history reports after the plugin's next heartbeat. Give a newly provisioned site time and refresh; the first scheduled snapshot appears once it runs.
Last backup looks stale. On a live site, the Last backup tile should show a recent date. If it's a dash or clearly old, check the Events tab, then raise it with the Stretch team — a stalled schedule is something they should investigate.
I need to restore but I'm not sure which snapshot. Describe to the Stretch team when the site was last known-good ("it was fine yesterday afternoon"), and they can help you pick the right restore point from the available snapshots.

FAQ

How often is my site backed up? Managed snapshots run on a schedule set by the platform. You can see the cadence in practice from the timestamps on the Backups tab.

Can I download a backup? Backups are managed for restore purposes. If you need an export of your site, ask the Stretch team about the best way to get one.

Will a restore affect my custom domain or SSL? A restore rolls back site content and files. Your domain attachment and SSL are managed separately, so your site stays reachable on its domain after a restore — the team verifies this as part of the process.