Backups, restores and exports

What copies of the data exist, who restores them, and what can leave?

Backups cover the whole instance and every module on it. Where the host has switched on the daily schedule, the instance pauses and copies all data, configuration and keys. The copy goes to Amazon S3 cloud storage that the instance's top administrator chooses. Keep in mind: The pause varies in length. Some protected instances are left out whatever the settings say. A saved destination does not prove a backup ran, so ask your instance's host to confirm. Settings cannot start a backup or change the schedule. AIEUS never deletes old backups automatically.

Restoring a backup is done by your instance's host. A restore returns every module to the backup point together. There is no self-service restore and no one-click undo for a deleted file. Keep in mind: A restore loses changes made after the backup point. A file deleted in the Web App (AIEUS in your web browser) cannot be restored there. Try the module's Git history if an administrator keeps one. You can also ask your instance's host about their server's file history or a full restore.

An admin may publish the module to an outside code repository, an online copy of its files and history. If they do, personal and bot folders go too, unless they were excluded beforehand. Anyone with access to that repository can read them. Keep in mind: The standard setup leaves out system and secret-settings files, not personal or bot folders. Excluding a folder later does not remove what was already published. Ask your admin where the module publishes. A deleted file may survive in the server's internal history.

An administrator can take a module's files elsewhere by publishing them to a Git repository, a separate store that keeps files and their history. Accounts, passwords, permissions, bot conversation history, settings, audit records and secrets stay behind in the database. Keep in mind: Each person's folder goes along unless excluded. Nested modules never go along. A new module built from that repository starts with no users, permissions or AI connections. Re-adding a person whose folder came along is refused until that folder is moved or renamed.

Your instance's host can export a child module (a module nested inside another) as a private bundle. The bundle holds the module's files and a complete copy of its database. It can be inspected and reopened elsewhere with no AIEUS service, account or subscription. Keep in mind: The instance's main (root) module cannot be exported. The bundle covers that module and any child modules beneath it. It does not include the module's record of past file changes. Reopening takes technical setup and gives you your data, not a running AIEUS. AI features still need your own provider credentials. The bundle holds sensitive data, so keep it private.

If your account is removed, the account and its permissions are deleted. Your files stay, readable by administrators, until an administrator deletes them. Messages you wrote in bot conversations stay too, since no member or administrator can delete them through AIEUS. Keep in mind: This describes ordinary use of AIEUS. It does not cover deleting a whole module or direct access by your instance's host. AIEUS has no setting for how long data is kept, and it issues no deletion certificate. How long data is kept after an instance shuts down is for its host to say.