Upgrades and backups

Update the server

Pull the latest code, rebuild the image, and replace the container. With Docker:

cd rply
git pull
docker build -t rply .
docker stop rply && docker rm rply
docker run -d --name rply --restart always \
  -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 -v rply-data:/data \
  -e RPLY_URL=https://rply.example.com rply

With Compose, run docker compose up -d --build. On Railway, Fly.io and Render, redeploy from the latest commit.

Your data lives in the /data volume, so it’s kept across updates.

Database migrations

The server updates its database schema automatically when it starts. Migrations only move forward.

Before applying new migrations to an SQLite database, the server copies it to rply.db.bak-<version> next to the original, named after the last migration that was already applied. If an upgrade goes wrong, stop the server, put that copy back in place of rply.db, and run the previous version again.

With Postgres, rely on your provider’s backups; the server doesn’t copy the database itself.

Back up your data

Everything is in /data:

• rply.db, the SQLite database (plus rply.db-wal and rply.db-shm while it runs)
• files/, uploaded attachments

For a consistent copy of a running database, use SQLite’s backup instead of copying the file:

docker exec rply node -e "new (require('node:sqlite').DatabaseSync)('/data/rply.db').exec(\"VACUUM INTO '/data/backup.db'\")"
docker cp rply:/data/backup.db ./rply-backup.db
docker cp rply:/data/files ./rply-files

To restore, stop the server, copy the database to /data/rply.db and the files to /data/files, and start it again.

Reset a password without email

Without email configured, reset a password from the server’s command line. It prints a new password and signs the account out everywhere:

docker exec rply node packages/server/src/reset-password.ts you@example.com

Remove an account

To delete an account and every channel it owns, for example after abuse:

docker exec rply node packages/server/src/delete-user.ts someone@example.com

People can also delete their own account under Settings in the app.