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Project backups

Point-in-time snapshots of every project, stored locally. Auto-backups happen during active editing; manual backups can be triggered any time. Restore overwrites the live state — and takes a before-restore backup automatically so you can roll back if needed.


Where to find it

Top bar → History icon (next to Save).


How it works

StorageIndexedDB table projectBackups. Each backup is a full project snapshot — includes layer images, frame metadata, slices, references, etc.
Limit per project8 by default (getQuota('maxBackupsPerProject')). Older backups are pruned automatically.
Auto-backup intervalEvery 10 minutes during active editing (configurable in Preferences). Throttled via localStorage, so closing the tab doesn't reset the timer.
Manual backupsAny time. Optionally label them ("before-refactor", "v1-final", etc.).
Restore safetyThe current state is auto-backed up as "Auto: before restore" before any restore replaces it.

Workflow

Manual backup before a risky change

  1. About to do a big refactor? History → Create backup with label "before-refactor".
  2. Make your change.
  3. If it goes wrong: History → "before-refactor" → Restore.
  4. The current (broken) state is auto-saved as "Auto: before restore" first, so you can undo the restore if needed.

Auto-backup safety net

Just keep editing. After 10 minutes of activity the editor takes a snapshot. After 8 backups, the oldest ones rotate out. You don't have to think about it.


Configuration

The auto-backup interval is in Preferences:

  • 0 minutes — auto-backups disabled (manual only).
  • 1–60 minutes — interval between auto-backups for any single project.

The 8-backup-per-project limit is currently a plan quota. On the free tier this is generous for typical projects; the limit can be raised by editing the project's quota config.


Tips

  • Don't rely on backups as your only safety net — .mstack exports are the canonical "I want to keep this forever" format.
  • Backups are browser-local — clearing IndexedDB removes them. They don't sync across devices.
  • For team / cloud workflows, export to .mstack and version-control or share the file.

Motestack is a personal hobby project. The editor and these docs ship under no warranty — back up your `.mstack` files.