Updating & Backup

Smart Panel is actively developed, and updates bring new features, bug fixes, and security patches. This guide covers how to safely update your installation and back up your data.

Before You Update

⚠️

Always back up your data before updating. While updates include automatic database migrations, it’s good practice to have a recovery point.

Backup

Your Smart Panel stores two important files:

config/config.yaml — system configuration (plugins, weather, display settings)
data/database.sqlite — all devices, dashboards, users, and scenes

The location depends on your installation method:

Installation Method	Data Location
One-liner script or npm global	`/var/lib/smart-panel/`
Manual tarball	`/var/smart-panel/`
Docker	Inside the `smart-panel-data` Docker volume

Systemd Installations (npm, tarball, one-liner)

Stop the services


sudo systemctl stop smart-panel-backend smart-panel-display

Create a backup


sudo tar czf ~/smart-panel-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz -C /var/lib/smart-panel .

Restart the services


sudo systemctl start smart-panel-backend smart-panel-display

Docker Installation


docker run --rm -v smart-panel-data:/data -v $(pwd):/backup alpine \
	tar czf /backup/smart-panel-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz -C /data .

You don’t need to stop the Docker container to back up, but stopping it ensures data consistency.

Restore from Backup

Systemd Installations


sudo systemctl stop smart-panel-backend smart-panel-display
sudo tar xzf ~/smart-panel-backup-YYYYMMDD.tar.gz -C /var/lib/smart-panel
sudo systemctl start smart-panel-backend smart-panel-display

Docker Installation


docker compose down
docker run --rm -v smart-panel-data:/data -v $(pwd):/backup alpine \
	sh -c "rm -rf /data/* && tar xzf /backup/smart-panel-backup-YYYYMMDD.tar.gz -C /data"
docker compose up -d

Updating

Docker


docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

The container automatically runs pending database migrations on startup.

One-Liner / npm Global Install


sudo smart-panel-service update

This downloads the latest version, runs migrations, and restarts the services.

Manual Tarball Install

Stop services


sudo systemctl stop smart-panel-backend smart-panel-display

Download the latest release


curl -sL https://github.com/FastyBird/smart-panel/releases/latest/download/smart-panel.tar.gz \
	-o /tmp/smart-panel.tar.gz

Extract over existing installation


sudo tar xzf /tmp/smart-panel.tar.gz -C /opt/smart-panel --strip-components=1

Install dependencies


cd /opt/smart-panel && pnpm install --production

Start services


sudo systemctl start smart-panel-backend smart-panel-display

Database migrations run automatically when the backend starts.

Pinning a Version

Docker

Edit your docker-compose.yml to use a specific tag:


services:
  smart-panel:
    image: ghcr.io/fastybird/smart-panel:1.2.3

npm


npm install -g @fastybird/smart-panel@1.2.3

Rolling Back

If an update causes problems:

Stop the services
Restore your backup (see above)
Install the previous version using the pinning method above
Start the services

⚠️

Rolling back after a database migration may cause issues if the schema has changed. Always test updates on a non-critical setup first if possible.

What’s Next?

Check the Troubleshooting guide if you encounter issues after updating
Visit the GitHub Releases page for changelogs