Signifly DatoCMS Automatic Backups

A DatoCMS plugin by Signifly that automatically creates scheduled backups of your environments with full history tracking and configurable retention policies.

Features

• Scheduled Backups: Daily, weekly, and monthly backup schedules with fully configurable cron expressions
• Backup History: Unlimited backup history stored in Vercel KV with status, duration, and timestamps
• Manual Backups: Trigger on-demand backups from the plugin UI
• Retention Policies: Automatically clean up old backups based on configurable retention counts
• One-Click Deploy: Deploy the backend service to Vercel with a single click

Quick Start

1. Deploy the Backend to Vercel

During deployment:

1. Set a secure CRON_SECRET (generate one with openssl rand -hex 32)
2. Vercel KV storage will be automatically provisioned

2. Install the Plugin

Install the plugin from the DatoCMS marketplace, or add it manually to your project.

3. Configure

1. When prompted, enter your Vercel deployment URL
2. Provide a DatoCMS Full-Access API token
3. Configure your backup schedules

Architecture

This is a monorepo containing:

├── apps/
│   ├── plugin/     # DatoCMS plugin UI (React 19 + Vite)
│   └── api/        # Vercel API backend (Next.js 15)
├── packages/
│   └── shared/     # Shared TypeScript types

Plugin (apps/plugin)

The DatoCMS plugin provides:

• Setup wizard for deploying and connecting the backend
• Backup history view with filtering
• Schedule configuration UI
• Manual backup trigger

API Backend (apps/api)

The Vercel-hosted backend provides:

• /api/cron/backup - Scheduled backup execution (called by Vercel cron)
• /api/backup/trigger - Manual backup endpoint
• /api/backup/history - Backup history retrieval
• /api/config - Configuration management
• /api/health - Health check for connection validation

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• pnpm 9+

Setup

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Start development servers
pnpm dev

This starts:

• Plugin dev server at http://localhost:5173
• API dev server at http://localhost:3001

Build

pnpm build

Type Check

pnpm typecheck

Environment Variables

API Backend (apps/api)

Variable	Required	Description
CRON_SECRET	Yes	Secret for authenticating cron requests
KV_*	Auto	Vercel KV connection strings (auto-provisioned)

API Endpoints

GET /api/health

Health check endpoint. Returns service status and KV connection state.

GET/PUT /api/config

Manage backup configuration for a project.

POST /api/backup/trigger

Trigger a manual backup. Requires Authorization: Bearer <apiToken> header.

GET /api/backup/history

Retrieve paginated backup history. Supports filtering by type and status.

GET /api/cron/backup

Cron endpoint called by Vercel. Requires Authorization: Bearer <CRON_SECRET> header.

Extension Ideas

• Backup Verification: Verify environment accessibility after fork
• One-Click Restore: Promote backup environment to primary
• Notifications: Slack/Discord webhooks for backup events
• Multi-Environment: Backup from any environment, not just main
• Backup Tags: Tag and pin important backups
• Analytics Dashboard: Success rates, duration trends

About Signifly

Signifly is a digital agency specializing in strategy, design, and technology. We build digital products and experiences that make a difference.

License

MIT