Documentation

How Backup Works

The backup system is designed to be invisible — you save posts the same way as always, and the system handles everything in the background.

New Posts (Saved After Enabling)

When you save a post with backup enabled:

  • The extension captures all media URLs and author details from the platform
  • The post appears immediately in your dashboard with the platform's temporary media links
  • In the background, the media URLs are sent to our secure cloud service for permanent storage
  • The worker copies eligible files into Backblaze B2 and records the stored object paths
  • When displayed, B2 objects are served through signed URLs that are valid for four hours

Existing Posts (Backfill)

When you first enable backup, the system automatically scans your existing posts from Instagram, Threads, TikTok, and Facebook. Any post that still has valid (non-expired) CDN links is queued for backup. The backfill runs in the background and processes posts in batches.

Expired links cannot be recovered

The backup worker cannot copy a file from an expired URL. If the original post is still accessible, opening and saving it again may capture a fresh URL; deleted or inaccessible originals may not be recoverable.

Author Profile Pictures

Instagram and Threads author profile pictures can use expiring CDN URLs too. When an eligible avatar URL is captured and remains fetchable, the backup pipeline can copy it to B2 with the post media.

Security & Privacy

Your backed-up media is stored securely with multiple layers of protection:

  • Per-user isolation — Each user's media is stored in a separate, user-scoped folder. You cannot access another user's media, even with a direct URL.
  • Private delivery — B2 media is served through Savebase's signed-URL flow rather than documented as a public asset URL.
  • Signed URLs — Media is accessed through time-limited signed URLs (valid for 4 hours) that are generated on-the-fly after verifying your identity.
  • No cookies or credentials stored — The backup system never stores your social media login cookies or session tokens. Only the public media URLs are processed.