Database

Ai Forgot These Cards supports two database modes:

PostgreSQL (default; typically run via the provided Docker targets)
SQLite single-file mode (optional)

PostgreSQL (default)

In the container stacks, Postgres runs in a container named db, and a named Docker volume persists data.

Export (Postgres-only)

Exports to db/backup.sql (archives existing backups as backup1.sql, backup2.sql, ...).

make export-db

If you don’t have Postgres client tools installed locally, export via the container:

make export-db-container

Import (Postgres-only)

make import-db

Or via the container:

make import-db-container

Portable migrations (Postgres <-> SQLite)

The project supports a vendor-neutral “portable dump” format (ZIP + JSONL) to move between Postgres and SQLite.

Common workflows:

# Postgres -> SQLite (overwrites db/cards.db by default)
make migrate-postgres-to-sqlite

# SQLite -> Postgres
make migrate-sqlite-to-postgres

Advanced usage:

# Export only
make portable-export-postgres
make portable-export-sqlite

# Validate structure of db/portable-dump.zip
make validate-portable

# Import only
make portable-import-postgres
make portable-import-sqlite

# Safer import mode (fails if target DB is not empty)
PORTABLE_IMPORT_MODE=fail-if-not-empty make portable-import-postgres
PORTABLE_IMPORT_MODE=fail-if-not-empty make portable-import-sqlite

SQLite single-file mode

SQLite mode uses a local .db file (default ./db/cards.db).

Containerized: make up-core-sqlite or make build-deploy-sqlite
Containerless: make run-standalone-sqlite

Last modified: 16 December 2025