Workspace Backups

Guida workspaces are ordinary folders, but some important files are live databases and indexes. Copying the folder in Explorer while workers are running can produce inconsistent queue or workflow-ledger state.

Use Guida’s backup actions when you want an app-owned archive of the current workspace.

Backup actions

Guida provides two backup scopes from the File menu:

Action	Includes	Use when
Backup Workspace…	The full workspace folder, including scripts, libraries, config, workflows, stores, queues, workflow ledger data, and search index files	You want a portable snapshot of the whole automation project
Backup Managed Workspace Files…	Guida-managed state only: store.db, SQLite snapshots of queue.db and workflow-ledger.db, and search-index/	You want a smaller operational-state backup without project scripts or unrelated files

Backups are written to:

%APPDATA%/Guida/backups/<workspace-name>/

The archive name includes a timestamp, for example:

workspace-backup-20260524-103000.zip
workspace-managed-files-backup-20260524-103000.zip

How Guida makes backups safer

Before creating an archive, Guida stops active workers and scripts, closes the workspace to release database/index handles, writes the backup, then reopens the workspace and restores the active workflow when possible.

For SQLite-backed state, Guida does not copy raw WAL/SHM sidecars into the archive. Instead, it uses SQLite backup snapshots for:

• queue.db
• workflow-ledger.db

That produces a consistent database file in the archive without requiring you to reason about live sidecar files.

Required state files

Guida treats core state files as important evidence, not optional extras. If required workspace state such as store.db, queue.db, or workflow-ledger.db is locked or inaccessible, the backup fails clearly instead of silently producing a misleading archive.

Skipped optional files are reported in the Console pane after the backup completes.

What is excluded

Guida avoids recursively including its own backup output. If the backup root is inside the workspace, existing backup archives under that folder are not added to the new archive.

For SQLite databases that Guida snapshots, sidecar files such as queue.db-wal, queue.db-shm, workflow-ledger.db-wal, and workflow-ledger.db-shm are excluded because the snapshot database replaces them.

Related state

Workspace backups complement, rather than replace, Guida’s operator consoles:

• Queues and Review — inspect executable queue work before or after backup
• Workflow Ledger — inspect durable run/item history and recovery state
• Workspaces — understand workspace folder layout and managed files