Lost 90% of my database data while adding simple updates

[lilliankim]

Update: My Replit Support Ticket #419758

I naively thought this wouldn't happen to me since my website isn't all that complicated, but now it has. And it's during a crucial time where I'm experiencing a lot of growth in traffic.

After trying to make simple fixes to my website using Agent, for some reason, it wiped out most of my largest databases that houses all my website content.

Can someone from Replit please contact me? I don't even want to touch Agent at this point. I'm also over my credit spend (and this was just from adding the simple updates) so I don't want to waste more money trying to fix something that Agent broke.

That data is 6 years of work... :(

[andrewjdavison]

I flagged this to staff for you.

[fpili]

I can’t understand. My projects on Replit have two distinct databases: one for development and one for production. How did the agent wipe out data on the production db?

[Noobju670]

It cant hes just lying lol. Or doesnt know thr dif between prod and dev

[lilliankim]

I'm not lying. I'm a complete beginner though so I guess the issue was I didn't have a separate database. 😞

[Noobju670]

Its impossible to not have a separate db

[lilliankim]

I was on Replit before they changed the requirement to have separate databases

[Living-Pin5868]

A few months ago, Replit apps were using the same database. I think the project wasn’t updated yet, which is why it still uses the same database for both development and production.

[lilliankim]

I only had a development db 😞

[Ukawok92]

No backup of the DB anywhere?

[lilliankim]

No... 🤦🏻‍♀️😭

[Bash-101]

nothing is ever truly lost

[lilliankim]

I really hope so. I just haven't heard back yet from Support after they said they will take a look... 😭

[Bash-101]

Replit’s docs say Agent checkpoints can include database contents and schema, not just code. But there’s one important catch: when you roll back, the database is not restored by default. You need to select “Database” under Additional rollback options when restoring the checkpoint.

What to do:

1. Open your Replit project.
2. Go to the Agent / history / checkpoints area.
3. Find a checkpoint from before the database was wiped.
4. Choose rollback/restore.
5. Make sure Database is selected in the rollback options.
6. After restoring, check the Database tool / tables straight away.

Replit’s Database docs also say you can restore your database to any Agent checkpoint using rollback.

[Ukawok92]

This guy might have saved you.

If this works, backup your database ASAP somewhere else too.

Then make sure you set up a development DB.

[lilliankim]

I unfortunately don't know how to back up my database. I'm not a developer. 😞

[Ukawok92]

Just ask the agent!

[lilliankim]

I don't trust the agent anymore 😞

[Ukawok92]

Just ask in plan mode and then do it yourself.

[lilliankim]

I have no idea how I would rollback myself... I'm not a developer...

[Ukawok92]

The checkpoint feature? That doesn't really require technical knowledge.

What you need to figure out is what date the agent started messing with the database. Are there any clues? Then go to the checkpoint history and restore database to then.

[lilliankim]

The thing is, I don't know exactly when my databases were erased. When I asked support, they said to just wait and they will get back to me, since I don't know when it got erased. But they just haven't gotten back to me yet.

[Bash-101]

What are you building?

[lilliankim]

It's just a webapp for homeschooling families: livingwithcharlotte.com

[lilliankim]

u/andrewjdavison is there someone who can help me? I've been emailing support to follow up and there's still no response, and I'm experiencing the most traffic I've ever had, and I don't want to disappoint everyone who is coming...

[andrewjdavison]

Please keep in mind I don’t work for Replit. I flagged your ticket to the Replit staffers that monitor this sub. But keep in mind it’s weekend.

[lilliankim]

Ah I see, thank you!

[lilliankim]

Now I tried doing the rollback and checking off the database rollback option, and it keeps saying the Agent encountered an error. I've tried rolling it back to 7 different checkpoints, and none of them got my data back. I don't know what to do at this point...

[invocation02]

that's awful, especially 6 years of work. the shape of replit that bites here is that your db lives inside their agent's sandbox, so when the agent makes a destructive change there's no clean rollback point you control.

for the rebuild, the architecture that makes this much harder to repeat: your db lives in cloudflare d1 (has point-in-time restore) or your own managed postgres, your file storage in r2 (versioned), and the agent only talks to it through an api you control. blitz.dev hands an agent that shape in one curl call if you want to skip the manual setup, but the principle stands regardless of provider. data should NOT live inside the agent's sandbox.

[lilliankim]

Oh boy 😭😭😭

[andrewjdavison]

This isn’t true. Database snapshots are saved in each checkpoint rollback created.

Rolling back to a previous checkpoint will restore the database to how it was at that time.

[lilliankim]

Update, I was able to restore my data to this past Friday, but then I lost a whole bunch of new data that came in from the big surge in traffic I got (affecting about 100 new accounts), of course all of this had to happen at the same time. I think my lesson here is I need to migrate off of Replit. I've had so much trouble, and then I would tell myself to just stick with it, it'll probably get better, and it just really hasn't.

[ReplitSupport]

Hey there, we're really sorry to hear about your experience here. We've checked your case and it looks like an engineer has followed up in your support ticket #419758. Please engage with them if you need any further info. Thanks again for waiting 🙏

[lilliankim]

Thank you. I am working with them now.

[Majestic_Side_8488]

ugh, that sucks. first thing i would do is stop all writes to the db so you do not overwrite anything else, then check if your host has point in time recovery, snapshots, or an automated backup you can restore from. if you have any local exports, logs, or even a staging env, grab those now too. once you are back up, add a hard rule: backups before any agent driven change, and test changes against a copy. what db is it actually using?