# Using projects as a back up?

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/using-projects-as-a-back-up/59844>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [14 March 2022 14:13 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/using-projects-as-a-back-up/59844 "2022-03-14T14:13:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![magicman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@magicman](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/magicman)\
**Post date:** [14 March 2022 14:13 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/using-projects-as-a-back-up/59844/1 "2022-03-14T14:13:28Z")

</div>

May i ask if i transfer my flows to a project then commit the project from my linux server can i then pull back the flows onto my windows PC and run node-red with these flows or is it more complicated that that? and if i can is it possible to explain how this is done?  
Appreciate any help you can give for this i am hoping to use this as a back up if the linux server dies.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ghayne](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/ghayne/32/39_2.png) [@ghayne](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/ghayne)\
**Post date:** [14 March 2022 15:14 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/using-projects-as-a-back-up/59844/2 "2022-03-14T15:14:16Z")

</div>

Yes you can do that:  
[https://nodered.org/docs/user-guide/projects/](https://nodered.org/docs/user-guide/projects/)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![magicman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@magicman](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/magicman)\
**Post date:** [14 March 2022 16:11 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/using-projects-as-a-back-up/59844/3 "2022-03-14T16:11:48Z")

</div>

Thanks for replying @ghayne , I have read the project guide but am unsure of how i clone the project onto my windows PC from git? . The procedure i mean to do this? forgive my lack of knowledge but i am here to learn 😉  
Thanks again

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ghayne](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/ghayne/32/39_2.png) [@ghayne](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/ghayne)\
**Post date:** [14 March 2022 16:20 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/using-projects-as-a-back-up/59844/4 "2022-03-14T16:20:00Z")

</div>

> [@magicman](#):
>
> I have read the project guide but am unsure of how i clone the project onto my windows PC from git?

Directly from Node red. When you create a new project you have the possibility to clone a GitHub repository.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![magicman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@magicman](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/magicman)\
**Post date:** [14 March 2022 16:20 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/using-projects-as-a-back-up/59844/5 "2022-03-14T16:20:46Z")

</div>

ahh ty @ghayne

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)\
**Post date:** [14 March 2022 18:08 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/using-projects-as-a-back-up/59844/6 "2022-03-14T18:08:22Z")

</div>

> [@magicman](#):
>
> Appreciate any help you can give for this i am hoping to use this as a back up if the linux server dies.

Please note that Projects don't back up everything needed, especially if you are using multiple projects. You should still back up the contents of the userDir folder (without the `node_modules` sub-folder). If you have a look into that folder (typically `~/.node-red`), you will see there is much more, especially if you are using persistent variables, have made changes to settings.js, installed nodes in different projects, ...

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![magicman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@magicman](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/magicman)\
**Post date:** [15 March 2022 10:19 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/using-projects-as-a-back-up/59844/7 "2022-03-15T10:19:06Z")

</div>

thanks @TotallyInformation so as long as i back up the above mentioned folder as well as my flow files all should be ok?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)\
**Post date:** [15 March 2022 12:28 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/using-projects-as-a-back-up/59844/8 "2022-03-15T12:28:51Z")

</div>

You should be. I've previously shared some daily/weekly/monthly shell scripts that will back up your userDir on Linux.

Worth noting though that the projects folder is also inside the userDir so you would want to exclude that folder as well as `node_modules`.

The reason for excluding `node_modules` is that it contains all of the installed node.js modules and, if you are restoring, you should do a `npm install` in the userDir folder to get the right versions installed. Also, that folder gets VERY big so backing it up is just a waste of backup space.

Do review the userDir folder though, it can get all sort of stuff in it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/colin/32/17040_2.png) [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [15 March 2022 14:19 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/using-projects-as-a-back-up/59844/9 "2022-03-15T14:19:43Z")

</div>

Personally I am not convinced that it is worth using projects unless you want to manage multiple projects on one system. I use git manually to manage it, committing everything in the .node-red folder except for these (which are in .gitignore so that git ignores them.

```auto
*.backup*
node_modules
nodes
package.json.formatted
dist
context
.config.users.json

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/1X/d073cd938eafa2e558d7c2cd59003b3ef4963033.png) [@system](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [14 May 2022 14:20 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/using-projects-as-a-back-up/59844/10 "2022-05-14T14:20:30Z")

</div>

This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.