This page describes how to restore a Cloud SQL Postgres database from one of the automated daily backups that Nais takes of your instance.
Cloud SQL keeps the last seven daily backups by default. You can restore a backup either in-place (overwriting the current instance) or into a separate instance (to inspect the data without touching production).
Before you begin ¶
- Install and authenticate the
gcloudCLI, or use the Google Cloud Console. - naisdevice connected.
- You need access to the GCP project where the instance runs. Your team has full access to view and restore backups for its own instances.
The instance name defaults to your application name. If you are unsure of the instance name or
project, find them in the Cloud SQL dashboard or in
your nais.yaml.
When using gcloud, set the project you are working in:
gcloud config set project <project-id>Find the backup to restore ¶
List the available backups and note the ID of the one you want:
gcloud sql backups list --instance <instance-name>Example output:
ID WINDOW_START_TIME TYPE STATUS
1700000000000 2026-08-30T02:00:00.000+00:00 AUTOMATED SUCCESSFUL
1699913600000 2026-08-29T02:00:00.000+00:00 AUTOMATED SUCCESSFULGo to the instance's backups page and note the backup you want to restore:
https://console.cloud.google.com/sql/instances/<instance-name>/backupsRestore in-place (same instance) ¶
Use this when you want to roll the production database back to an earlier state.
gcloud sql backups restore <backup-id> \
--restore-instance=<instance-name>Confirm the prompt to start the restore. The command returns once the operation is queued; you can follow its progress with:
gcloud sql operations list --instance <instance-name> --limit 5- Go to
https://console.cloud.google.com/sql/instances/<instance-name>/backups. - Find the backup you want and click Restore.
- In Choose restore destination, select Overwrite the source instance.
- Enter the instance name to confirm, then click Restore.
Start the application again once the restore completes:
nais app start <app-name>Verify that the application is running and that the data is as expected.
Restore into a separate instance ¶
Use this when you want to inspect or extract data from a backup without affecting the running database — for example to recover a few accidentally deleted rows.
Restore a backup taken from the source instance into an existing target instance:
gcloud sql backups restore <backup-id> \
--backup-instance=<source-instance-name> \
--restore-instance=<target-instance-name>- Go to
https://console.cloud.google.com/sql/instances/<source-instance-name>/backups. - Find the backup you want and click Restore.
- In Choose restore destination, select the existing target instance.
- Confirm to start the restore.
Troubleshooting ¶
If a restore fails, the current data on the instance is left unchanged. Check the failed operation for the reason:
gcloud sql operations list --instance <instance-name> --limit 5
gcloud sql operations describe <operation-uuid>Common causes are a target instance with a smaller disk or a different Postgres major version than the backup.