Laravel Backup

Laravel Backup

When to Apply

Activate this skill when:

• Configuring backup sources, destinations, or notifications
• Scheduling backup, cleanup, or monitor commands
• Creating custom cleanup strategies or health checks
• Customizing backup notifications
• Troubleshooting backup failures

Key Commands

# Run a backup
php artisan backup:run

# Backup only the database
php artisan backup:run --only-db

# Backup specific database connections
php artisan backup:run --db-name=mysql --db-name=pgsql

# Backup only files (no database)
php artisan backup:run --only-files

# Backup to a specific disk
php artisan backup:run --only-to-disk=s3

# Custom filename
php artisan backup:run --filename=my-backup.zip

# Clean old backups
php artisan backup:clean

# List all backups
php artisan backup:list

# Monitor backup health
php artisan backup:monitor

# Use an alternative config key
php artisan backup:run --config=backup_secondary

Scheduling

Add to routes/console.php or app/Console/Kernel.php:

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schedule;

Schedule::command('backup:clean')->daily()->at('01:00');
Schedule::command('backup:run')->daily()->at('01:30');
Schedule::command('backup:monitor')->daily()->at('10:00');

Configuration

Published to config/backup.php with sections: backup (source files/databases, destination disks, encryption), notifications (mail, Slack, Discord), monitor_backups (health checks), and cleanup (retention strategy).

Database Dump Customization

Customize dumps per connection in config/database.php:

'mysql' => [
    // ...
    'dump' => [
        'exclude_tables' => ['telescope_entries', 'telescope_monitoring'],
        'useSingleTransaction' => true,
    ],
],

Enable dump compression:

// config/backup.php
'database_dump_compressor' => \Spatie\DbDumper\Compressors\GzipCompressor::class,

Multiple Backup Destinations

// config/backup.php
'destination' => [
    'disks' => ['local', 's3'],
],

Encryption

// config/backup.php
'password' => env('BACKUP_ARCHIVE_PASSWORD'),
'encryption' => 'default', // Uses ZipArchive::EM_AES_256

Custom Cleanup Strategy

Extend Spatie\Backup\Tasks\Cleanup\CleanupStrategy and implement deleteOldBackups:

use Spatie\Backup\BackupDestination\BackupCollection;
use Spatie\Backup\Tasks\Cleanup\CleanupStrategy;

class MyCleanupStrategy extends CleanupStrategy
{
    public function deleteOldBackups(BackupCollection $backups): void
    {
        $backups
            ->reject(fn ($backup) => $backup->date()->gt(now()->subMonth()))
            ->each(fn ($backup) => $backup->delete());
    }
}

Register in config/backup.php:

'cleanup' => [
    'strategy' => \App\Backup\MyCleanupStrategy::class,
],

Custom Health Check

Extend Spatie\Backup\Tasks\Monitor\HealthCheck and implement checkHealth:

use Spatie\Backup\BackupDestination\BackupDestination;
use Spatie\Backup\Tasks\Monitor\HealthCheck;

class MinimumBackupCount extends HealthCheck
{
    protected int $minimumCount;

    public function __construct(int $minimumCount = 3)
    {
        $this->minimumCount = $minimumCount;
    }

    public function checkHealth(BackupDestination $backupDestination): void
    {
        $this->failIf(
            $backupDestination->backups()->count() < $this->minimumCount,
            "Expected at least {$this->minimumCount} backups."
        );
    }
}

Register in config/backup.php:

'health_checks' => [
    \App\Backup\MinimumBackupCount::class => 5,
],

Custom Notification

Extend Spatie\Backup\Notifications\BaseNotification:

use Illuminate\Notifications\Messages\MailMessage;
use Spatie\Backup\Notifications\BaseNotification;

class CustomBackupFailedNotification extends BaseNotification
{
    public function toMail(): MailMessage
    {
        return (new MailMessage)
            ->error()
            ->subject("Backup failed for {$this->applicationName()}")
            ->line($this->event->exception->getMessage());
    }
}

Map it in config/backup.php:

'notifications' => [
    'notifications' => [
        \App\Notifications\CustomBackupFailedNotification::class => ['mail'],
    ],
],

Events

All events are in Spatie\Backup\Events:

• BackupWasSuccessful - Backup completed successfully
• BackupHasFailed - Backup failed (includes exception and optional backup destination)
• BackupManifestWasCreated - File manifest created before zipping
• BackupZipWasCreated - Zip archive created (used for encryption hook)
• DumpingDatabase - Database dump in progress
• CleanupWasSuccessful / CleanupHasFailed - Cleanup result
• HealthyBackupWasFound / UnhealthyBackupWasFound - Monitor result

Common Pitfalls

• Forgetting to schedule backup:clean alongside backup:run, causing disk space to fill up
• Not excluding vendor and node_modules from file backups (excluded by default)
• Setting only-db and only-files together (mutually exclusive)
• Missing the ext-zip PHP extension
• Not configuring the notification mail.to address after publishing config