---
type: reference
title: Gitea Data Persistence
description: Gitea data persistence, volume mounts, ownership, and backup strategy on dankclaw (Containers/gitea layout).
tags:
  - gitea
  - data
verified: 2026-10-18
---

# Gitea Data Persistence

All data lives on host bind mounts under `/home/dank/Containers/gitea/` (fleet storage standard since 2026-09-01; quadlet units re-pointed from the old `/opt/gitea/data/` tree, which lingers on disk as a leftover — never write to it). Containers are ephemeral. Quadlet stops remove the container (`podman run --rm --replace`). The next start recreates it. Data survives.

## Volume Layout

| Host Path | Container Mount | Contents |
|---|---|---|
| `/home/dank/Containers/gitea/data/` | `/data` (gitea-server) | Git repositories, avatars, attachments, LFS objects, `app.ini` |
| `/home/dank/Containers/gitea/postgres/` | `/var/lib/postgresql/data` (gitea-postgres) | PostgreSQL WAL, tables, indexes |

## Ownership

The bind-mount directories are owned by host user `dank` (UID 1000). Files that the containers create are owned by host UID/GID **100999** — the rootless ID mapping of container uid/gid 1000 (dank subuid range 100000-165535). User `dank` cannot write those files directly from the host.

Edit container-owned files inside the container:

```
podman exec --user 1000 gitea-server sed -i 's/old/new/' /data/gitea/conf/app.ini
```

## Backup Strategy

### Full backup (recommended)

Tar the entire data directory. This captures Gitea repos and PostgreSQL data in one archive.

```
tar czf gitea-backup-$(date +%F).tar.gz -C /home/dank/Containers/gitea data/ postgres/
```

### PostgreSQL-only backup

Use `pg_dump` for a portable SQL dump. Useful for restoring to a different PostgreSQL version.

```
podman exec -e PGPASSWORD="$GITEA_DB_PASSWORD" gitea-postgres pg_dump -U gitea gitea > gitea-db-$(date +%F).sql
```

Set `PGPASSWORD` from `/home/dank/Containers/gitea/env` (mode 0600, `GITEA_DB_PASSWORD`).

### Restore procedure

1. Stop the stack: `systemctl --user stop gitea-server gitea-postgres`
2. Restore data: `tar xzf backup.tar.gz -C /home/dank/Containers/gitea/`
3. Start the stack: `systemctl --user start gitea-postgres gitea-server`

## Data Growth

- Git repositories grow with each commit and push. Monitor with `du -sh /home/dank/Containers/gitea/data/git/repositories/`.
- PostgreSQL WAL files accumulate. VACUUM via `podman exec gitea-postgres psql -U gitea -c "VACUUM;"`.
- Gitea's log files grow with usage.

## See Also

- ](index.md) — index with management commands
- [[management|management]] — operations and boot persistence
- [[architecture|architecture]] — network and ports