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Database ​

AwaitStep stores all application data — users, projects, workflows, and connections — in a relational database.

SQLite (default) ​

SQLite requires zero configuration. When DATABASE_URL is unset, AwaitStep creates a SQLite file at /app/data/awaitstep.db inside the container.

This is the recommended option for single-node deployments and self-hosted setups where simplicity is more important than horizontal scaling.

bash
# .env — omit DATABASE_URL entirely

Make sure /app/data is a persistent Docker volume:

yaml
volumes:
  - awaitstep_data:/app/data

PostgreSQL ​

Set DATABASE_URL to a standard PostgreSQL connection string:

bash
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@host:5432/awaitstep

AwaitStep is compatible with any PostgreSQL 14+ server, including managed services like Supabase, Neon, and Railway.

TIP

If you use Neon or another serverless Postgres provider, prefer a pooled connection string to avoid connection exhaustion.

Migrations ​

Database migrations run automatically on startup. You do not need to run any migration commands manually. If a migration fails, the container will exit with a non-zero code — check the logs for details.

Backups ​

SQLite ​

The database file is a single file at /app/data/awaitstep.db. Back it up by copying the file while the application is idle, or use the SQLite backup API:

bash
# Copy the file out of the Docker volume
docker run --rm \
  -v awaitstep_data:/data \
  -v $(pwd):/backup \
  alpine cp /data/awaitstep.db /backup/awaitstep.db.bak

For a consistent snapshot while the app is running, use the SQLite online backup:

bash
docker exec <container_name> sqlite3 /app/data/awaitstep.db ".backup /app/data/db.backup.sqlite"

PostgreSQL ​

Use pg_dump:

bash
pg_dump "$DATABASE_URL" > awaitstep_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql

Restore with:

bash
psql "$DATABASE_URL" < awaitstep_20260101.sql