Now that we've built our full-featured Rails application and are ready to share it with users, it’s time to start thinking about deploying to production. However, before we package up our app and push it to a production server, we need to establish a clear backup strategy.

As someone who has accidentally deleted a production SQLite database, I can tell you from experience that having a strong backup plan on day one is crucial.

Backup Options for SQLite

SQLite offers several built-in backup options, each with its own trade-offs:

1. SQLite CLI Backup Command

• Clones the database file on the same machine.
• Can be automated with a cron job for simplicity.
• Risk: If the machine is lost or the directory is deleted, both the original and backup are gone.

2. SQLite rsync Command (Over SSH)

• Clones the database to another machine via SSH.
• Ensures data isn’t lost if the primary machine fails.
• Requires setting up a sync process manually, which can be cumbersome.

Both of these can work well if you prefer a lightweight and hands-off approach, but I personally prefer automated, point-in-time backups that just work.

Why I Use Litestream for SQLite Backups

For automated, real-time backups, I use and highly recommend Litestream.

• Runs alongside SQLite and watches for every change.
• Syncs data automatically to an S3-compatible storage bucket.
• Provides point-in-time backups, so you can restore your database at any moment.
• Simple installation with a single Go executable or a Rails gem for easy integration.

This means that any change in production is instantly backed up, and I can restore my database anytime, from any machine.

How to Install Litestream in a Rails App

To add Litestream to our Rails app, we can install it using a simple command:

bundle add litestream

This fetches the Litestream gem from RubyGems and installs the correct executable for our OS.

Once installed, we run the Litestream generator to create the necessary configuration files:

bin/rails generate litestream:install

This creates two key files:

Configuration File (litestream.yml)

• Defines which databases to back up and where to store them.
• Auto-detects production SQLite databases from database.yml.
• Supports S3, DigitalOcean Spaces, FTP, and other storage options.

Rails Initializer (litestream.rb)

Allows Rails credentials to store S3 bucket keys securely. This keeps secrets safe and easily manageable within Rails.

Once set up, all we need to do is update our credentials with S3 or DigitalOcean Spaces details, and Litestream is ready to go.

Choosing an S3-Compatible Backup Storage

When selecting where to store backups, there are a few key considerations:

• AWS S3 → Industry standard, but pricing can be unpredictable (~$15/month).
• DigitalOcean Spaces → Flat, predictable pricing, great for budget-conscious developers.
• Cloudflare R2 → No egress fees, competitive pricing for large-scale backups.

Since I deploy my applications on DigitalOcean, I personally use DigitalOcean Spaces and have had no issues.

Next Steps: Integrating Litestream into Production

In the next video, we’ll fully integrate Litestream into our application, ensuring:

• Automatic syncing of backups.
• Secure storage in S3-compatible storage.
• Seamless recovery options for production.

With this setup, we can deploy confidently knowing our data is secure and always recoverable.