Uptime Kuma Has No Built-In Backup Strategy!

I've been using Uptime Kuma to monitor my LAN and external systems.

I'd noticed that Uptime Kuma had an update.  I was hesistant to apply the update because I might lose my configuration data, but tried it anyways.  Yeah, I lost everything.

I'd looked into the settings to see if there was a backup strategy but didn't see anything.

I used AI to determine if there was an alternative backup solution.  The AI stated that the Uptime Kuma (UK) developer had issues with a configuration backup solution and had reverted what existed.

I asked it to give me a script to use as a backup solution.  Based on the Docker compose file that I'm using (which I provided to the AI), it presented me this:

#!/bin/bash

# --- CONFIGURATION ---

CONTAINER_NAME="uptime-kuma"

#SOURCE_DIR="/app/data" # Or your specific host path found in Step 1

SOURCE_DIR="/data/compose/28/uptime-kuma-data"

BACKUP_DIR="/opt/stacks/backups/uptime-kuma"

TIMESTAMP=$(date +"%Y%m%d_%H%M%S")

BACKUP_NAME="kuma_backup_$TIMESTAMP.tar.gz"

RETENTION_DAYS=30

# ---------------------

# Ensure backup directory exists

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"

echo "Starting Uptime Kuma backup..."

# 1. Stop the container to freeze the SQLite DB safely

docker stop "$CONTAINER_NAME"

# 2. Compress the data directory

tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/$BACKUP_NAME" -C "$(dirname "$SOURCE_DIR")" "$(basename "$SOURCE_DIR")"

# 3. Restart the container immediately

docker start "$CONTAINER_NAME"

# 4. Clean up backups older than X days

find "$BACKUP_DIR" -type f -name "kuma_backup_*.tar.gz" -mtime +$RETENTION_DAYS -exec rm {} \;

echo "Backup completed successfully: $BACKUP_DIR/$BACKUP_NAME"

I tested it several times.  There was an issue with the source directory values, which I sorted.  Once I sorted that, the script worked.

I then created a cron job for the script:

# Backup of Uptime-Kuma

0 2 * * 1 /usr/local/bin/backup-kuma.sh > /dev/null 2>&1

One cool option is that I can set the retention days for the backup data.  Anything older than 30 days, for example, gets removed.  That value can also be changed (it was initially set to backup on a daily basis).

I also asked the AI to present restoration steps, which it did.  I documented that for later use.  I will ask it, later, to create a script of the restoration steps.

That is my backup solution.

The backup solution is mainly so that I do not have to recreate the UK monitors if I lose them during an upgrade of Uptime Kuma.