Project backups

A project backup is a file that captures everything in your project — pages, blocks, styles, and settings — so you can restore it later or open it on a different computer.

For the full project lifecycle — create, rename, copy, delete, back up, restore, and choose between ZIP export and project backup — see Project management.

Export a backup

1. Click the Project menu in the topbar.
2. Select Export Project.

3. Choose where to save it (Chrome and Edge ask; other browsers save to your downloads folder).

Expected result

A file named <site-title>.swebsy is saved. It holds your pages, settings and every uploaded file, however large. Keep it somewhere safe — it’s your only offline copy.

Export Project sits in the topbar's Project menu.

Restore a backup

1. Click the Project menu in the topbar.
2. Select Import Project.

3. Choose the .swebsy file you previously exported. Older .json backups still import too.

4. Confirm the import — this replaces the current project.

Caution

Importing a backup overwrites your current project. Export a backup of the current state first if you want to keep it.

What’s included (and excluded)

Included	Excluded
All pages and blocks	AI chat history
Settings (SEO, fonts, analytics, theme, …)	Your Anthropic API key
Uploaded files (images, fonts, audio, video)	Unsplash API key
Deployment config (adapter, repo name)	Cloudflare / GitHub tokens

Secrets are always stripped from backups for safety.

Common issues

Backup file is very large — every uploaded file is included as it is, so a site with video or audio makes a backup about as big as those files.

Import says “This is a published-site ZIP” — that’s the website from Download site (ZIP), which can’t be imported. Choose the .swebsy file from Export Project instead.

Import says “This file isn’t a Swebsy project” — choose the .swebsy (or older .json) file from Export Project.

Import says a file “in this backup is damaged” — the backup was changed or cut short after it was saved (an interrupted copy or download). Nothing was imported and your current site is unchanged. Use another copy of the backup.