Backup and restore
A backup saves your Nouto data to one file, so you can move to a new machine, reinstall, or keep a copy before a large change. Restoring a backup replaces your current data with the data in the file.
Create a backup
Section titled “Create a backup”Open Settings, go to the Storage section, and click Export Backup. In VS Code, you can also run Nouto: Export Backup from the Command Palette or the ... menu at the top of the Nouto sidebar.
In VS Code, Nouto then asks which data to include. Every item is selected by default:
| Item | Contents |
|---|---|
| Collections | Collections with their folders, requests, auth, headers, variables, scripts, assertions, and notes |
| Environments | Environments, global variables, and the active environment |
| Cookies | Cookie jars and their cookies |
| History | Request history |
| Drafts | Unsaved request drafts |
| Trash | Deleted items waiting in Trash |
| Runner history | Collection runner results |
| Mock server routes | Mock server routes and port |
| Settings | Settings from the Nouto Settings page |
Choose where to save the file. VS Code writes a .nouto-backup file.
The desktop app doesn’t ask which data to include. It writes a .zip file with collections, environments, cookies, history, Trash, runner history, and settings.
Restore a backup
Section titled “Restore a backup”- Open Settings, go to the Storage section, and click Restore from Backup. In VS Code, you can also run Nouto: Restore from Backup.
- Select the backup file.
- In VS Code, review the summary of what the backup contains and click Restore. The desktop app restores without a confirmation step.
Nouto replaces your current data with each section in the backup. Sections that the backup doesn’t contain stay as they are.
Undo a restore
Section titled “Undo a restore”Before it restores, Nouto saves your current data to pre-restore-snapshot.nouto-backup in its storage directory. To go back, restore that file with Restore from Backup. Each restore overwrites the previous snapshot, so copy the file somewhere else if you need to keep it.
Move data between VS Code and the desktop app
Section titled “Move data between VS Code and the desktop app”The desktop app restores VS Code backups. It skips the drafts and mock server routes in them.
VS Code can’t restore a desktop backup. It reads only .nouto-backup and .json files, and the desktop app writes .zip files. To move collections from the desktop app to VS Code, export them in the Nouto format and import them. See Exporting.