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Backups

Citet can back up project files to Google Drive or deployment-configured S3-compatible storage on a schedule. Each snapshot is a ZIP archive of a captured project revision.

What gets backed up

Each backup snapshot contains:

  • All source files in the project — .tex, .bib, images, and other assets.
  • The captured source revision, a manifest describing the snapshot, and the generated citation bibliography.

Available compile PDFs and logs are also included. Their recorded compile revision may differ from the source revision in the snapshot. Archives open with standard ZIP tools and are not encrypted by Citet.

Connecting Google Drive

  1. Open Project settings → Backups and choose Connect Google Drive.
  2. Authorize Citet's Drive scope. The OAuth flow returns you to the project settings.
  3. Choose a backup schedule:
    →Manual only
    run a backup whenever you click Backup now.
    →Nightly + manual
    adds a background snapshot once per day in addition to manual backups.
  4. Click Backup now to verify the connection before relying on the schedule.
▶Google Drive OAuth and archive storage

Citet requests Google Drive write access via OAuth. The resulting refresh token is stored encrypted at rest using BACKUP_ENCRYPTION_SECRET — never in plaintext. This protects the stored credential, not the uploaded archive.

Files are written to a folder in your Drive named after the project. The storage provider can read the archive content; its access controls and storage encryption apply.

Disconnecting in project settings stops future backups but an in-progress transfer may finish. To revoke the OAuth grant itself, remove Citet from your Google account's third-party app access settings. Existing Drive archives remain there.

The Google Drive integration is opt-in and requires the server to be configured with Google OAuth credentials and a BACKUP_ENCRYPTION_SECRET. See self-hosting for setup.

Restoring a snapshot

Open a completed backup's Google Drive link in Project settings → Backupsand download its ZIP archive. In the project list, choose New project, then Restore backup. Select the ZIP to create a separate restored project. Older archives without compiler metadata use Tectonic; check the restored project's compiler before compiling.

Restoring directly into an existing project is not yet supported in the UI. Restored snapshots are imported as new projects. You can then copy individual files manually if you need to merge them back.

Other storage providers

Administrators can configure a deployment-owned S3-compatible destination with the BACKUP_DEPLOYMENT_S3_* settings. Dropbox and OneDrive destinations are not currently implemented.