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Vultr profile image Sanskriti Harmukh
Sanskriti Harmukh for Vultr

Posted on with Aashish Chaurasiya • Originally published at docs.vultr.com

Backing Up and Restoring PostgreSQL Databases to S3-Compatible Storage in Coolify

#database #devops #selfhosted #postgres

Coolify is an open-source, self-hosted PaaS for deploying applications and databases. Its backup engine ships with first-class support for S3-compatible object storage, so PostgreSQL backups can flow straight to Vultr Object Storage, AWS S3, Wasabi, Backblaze B2, or MinIO without extra tooling. This guide deploys a PostgreSQL service in Coolify, schedules automated backups to an S3 bucket, simulates accidental data loss, and restores the database from the backup. By the end, you'll have a working backup-and-restore loop covering a self-hosted Postgres service in Coolify.

Prerequisite: A running Coolify install (2 CPU cores, 4 GB RAM minimum) and an S3-compatible bucket with access key and secret key.

Deploy a PostgreSQL Service in Coolify

  1. Open the Coolify dashboard at http://SERVER_IP:8000.
  2. Projects → Add — name the project (e.g. Pg Backup) and continue.
  3. Add New Resource → Databases → PostgreSQL (standalone — not Supabase or pgVector variants).
  4. Click Start to deploy.

Insert Sample Data

1. Connect to the running database from the service's terminal in the Coolify UI:

$ psql -U postgres
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2. Create a table and insert a couple of rows:

postgres=# CREATE TABLE users (
    id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(100),
    email VARCHAR(100)
);

postgres=# INSERT INTO users (name, email) VALUES ('John Doe', 'john@example.com');
postgres=# INSERT INTO users (name, email) VALUES ('Jane Smith', 'jane@example.com');

postgres=# SELECT * FROM users;
 id |    name    |      email
----+------------+------------------
  1 | John Doe   | john@example.com
  2 | Jane Smith | jane@example.com
(2 rows)
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Register S3-Compatible Storage in Coolify

  1. Create a bucket in your S3 provider (e.g. pg-backups). Capture the bucket name, endpoint URL, access key, and secret key.
  2. In Coolify: S3 Storages → Add:
    • Name: Backup Storage
    • Endpoint: provider URL — e.g. ewr1.vultrobjects.com, s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com, or s3.wasabisys.com
    • Bucket: pg-backups
    • Region: e.g. us-east-1
    • Access Key / Secret Key: S3 credentials
  3. Click Validate Connection & Continue.

Enable Scheduled Backups

  1. Open the PostgreSQL resource dashboard → Backup tab.
  2. Add a backup schedule:
    • Frequency: */1 * * * * for a one-minute test cadence (drop to daily before production)
    • Check Save to S3
    • Save
  3. Open the schedule → Settings → enable Backup All Databases (otherwise only the default postgres database gets dumped).
  4. Wait one minute for the first run. Confirm the dump (e.g. pg-dump-all-1771242721.gz) lands in the S3 bucket.

Simulate Data Loss 

$ psql -U postgres
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postgres=# DROP TABLE users;
postgres=# SELECT * FROM users;
ERROR:  relation "users" does not exist
LINE 1: SELECT * FROM users;
                      ^
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Restore from S3

  1. Open the S3 bucket, locate the backup file, and copy its object key (the path without the bucket name) — e.g.: 
data/coolify/backups/databases/root-team-0/postgresql-database-k8480c44sogcswc0w4oskg4c-k8480c44sogcswc0w4oskg4c/pg-dump-all-1771242721.gz
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  1. In the PostgreSQL resource → Configuration → Import Backup → Choose Restore Method → Select from S3.
  2. Pick the configured S3 storage (Backup Storage), paste the object key into S3 File Path, and enable Backup includes all databases for multi-database dumps.
  3. Click Check File — Coolify confirms it can read the file.
  4. Click Restore Database from S3, type the case-sensitive confirmation text, click Continue, and enter the Coolify password to confirm.

Verify the Restore 

$ psql -U postgres
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postgres=# SELECT * FROM users;
 id |    name    |      email
----+------------+------------------
  1 | John Doe   | john@example.com
  2 | Jane Smith | jane@example.com
(2 rows)
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The original rows are back — the backup captured the database state before the drop.

Next Steps

You now have working backups and restores for Coolify-managed PostgreSQL. From here you can:

  • Lower the schedule frequency (0 2 * * * for nightly) and set retention
  • Apply the same pattern to MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, and other Coolify-managed databases
  • Mirror backups to a second S3 region for disaster recovery

For the full guide with additional tips, visit the original article on Vultr Docs.

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