Data & Backup

Everything the server stores lives under one directory — dataDir, by default /var/lib/code/data (userland install: ~/.local/share/code/data). Plain files, no database.

What's in there

	Contents
device/	Bound machines and their (hashed) web passwords — your "accounts"
sessions & messages	Chat history for every past session
settings	Server-side preferences
cert/cache/	HTTPS certificates and the Let's Encrypt account key

Your code and Claude Code credentials are not here — those never leave your own computer. The server holds only relay data and history.

Backup

Two files matter: the data directory and the config.

sudo systemctl stop code-server
sudo tar czf code-backup-$(date +%F).tgz /var/lib/code/data /etc/code.yaml
sudo systemctl start code-server

(Stopping isn't strictly required, but it guarantees a consistent snapshot and only takes a second.)

Move to a new server

1. Install the server on the new machine (Install the Server).
2. Stop it, restore the backup into the same paths, chown -R code:code /var/lib/code (containers: 10001:10001), start it.
3. Point your domain's DNS at the new IP.

Agents and browsers reconnect by domain name, so bindings, passwords, and history all carry over — nothing needs to re-bind. The certificate cache moves with the data, so no re-issuing either.

Reset

Want a factory reset? Stop the server and delete the data directory — all machines, passwords, and history are gone, and every agent must bind again. Certificates are also re-issued on start; if you reset repeatedly you may hit the Let's Encrypt rate limit (see HTTPS & Domain), so consider keeping cert/cache:

sudo systemctl stop code-server
sudo find /var/lib/code/data -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 ! -name cert -exec rm -rf {} +
sudo systemctl start code-server