Data, Backups & Recovery

Where Your Data Lives

gdluxx keeps its data in <data dir> (default ./data; in Docker that's the /app/data volume). The SQLite database at <data dir>/gdluxx.db holds your admin account, sessions, API keys, jobs history, site rules, schedules, and extension backups. Your saved gallery-dl config lives beside it as a separate file, <data dir>/config.json, with snapshots in <data dir>/config-history/, and synced browser cookies are stored as Netscape-format text files under <data dir>/cookies/.

DANGER

In Docker, /app/data must be a persistent bind mount or volume. If it isn't, everything above, your account, API keys, schedules, config, jobs, is lost the moment the container is recreated.

Protect the Data Directory

gdluxx does not encrypt anything at rest. The database stores session tokens in plaintext and API keys as unsalted SHA-256 hashes. The cookies/ directory holds your synced site cookies as plaintext text files, directly usable by anyone who reads them. None of this needs to be decrypted or cracked, reading the files is enough.

Treat the data directory like you would a browser's cookie store:

• Keep it owner-only: chmod 700 data, files 600, owned by uid 1000 for Docker (the container runs as 1000:1000, not root).
• Never expose it via a network share, a web root, or a world-readable bind mount.

Backups

Back up the whole data directory before every upgrade, see the Upgrading guide. gdluxx.db needs a bit of care since it can be open and being written to; the rest is just files:

• App stopped: copy the entire data directory, gdluxx.db included.

• App running: use SQLite's own backup command to get a consistent snapshot of the database instead of a half-written copy, then copy the rest of the directory (config.json, config-history/, cookies/) alongside it:

  sqlite3 gdluxx.db ".backup 'backup.db'"

To restore, stop the app, replace the data directory's contents with the backup, and start it again. A restored backup brings back sessions and API keys exactly as they were at backup time, anything created or revoked after that point is gone.

Recovering a Lost Admin Password

There's no email-based password reset, and editing the stored password hash directly is not a supported path. The supported recovery is a full account reset: delete the one user row and go through first-run setup again.

This deletes API keys, schedules, sessions, and extension backups

Because user cascades to account, session, apiKey, and schedules, this procedure removes all of those, along with the synced extension cookie and extraction backups that hang off your API keys. Your API keys stop working, so the browser extension needs to be re-paired with a new key. The cached cookie text files under <data dir>/cookies/ are not removed by this SQL delete, only deleting a key through the UI cleans those up, so remove them by hand afterward if you want them gone. Jobs history, your saved gallery-dl config, site rules, and supported-site data are not touched.

1. Stop gdluxx.

   docker compose stop

2. Back up gdluxx.db first. This is a destructive procedure, don't skip this. See Backups above.

3. Delete the user row. Run this against gdluxx.db with the sqlite3 CLI. If you're running in Docker, do this on the host against ./data/gdluxx.db, the host side of your bind mount, so you don't need sqlite3 inside the container at all. On bare metal, run it against your data directory's gdluxx.db the same way.

   PRAGMA foreign_keys = ON;
   DELETE FROM user;

   The pragma matters: the sqlite3 CLI defaults foreign-key enforcement off, and without it the dependent account, session, apiKey, and schedules rows are left behind instead of cascading.

   The instance is claimable while the user table is empty

   From the moment this delete runs until you finish first-run setup, gdluxx has zero users, and anyone who can reach it can complete setup and claim the admin account instead of you, exactly the window this release closed for normal operation. If the instance is reachable beyond localhost, block outside access first (stop the reverse proxy, or firewall the port) before you run the delete, and only restore access after your new account exists.

4. Start gdluxx and finish setup immediately.

   docker compose up -d

   With zero users, gdluxx redirects to /auth/setup. Create a new admin account there right away, same as First Run Setup.

Changing AUTH_SECRET is not a recovery mechanism

Rotating AUTH_SECRET invalidates browser sessions, but it doesn't touch your password, and API keys are unaffected by it either way. It's not a substitute for the steps above.