chronovault-backup

ChronoVault — Streaming Incremental Backup for Fabric

Real-time chunk-level backup with SHA-256 dedup, Zstd compression, web panel, and cloud sync. Only stores what changed — no more wasteful full-world dumps.

Why ChronoVault?

Traditional backup mods dump the entire world on a timer — slow, wasteful, and disruptive. ChronoVault captures chunks as they are saved via Mixin injection, computes a SHA-256 hash, and only stores what actually changed. This is backup built for production servers.

| Feature | ChronoVault | Vanilla Backup | Fast Backups |
|———|:———–:|:————–:|:————:|
| Incremental (changed chunks only) | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| SHA-256 dedup (no duplicates) | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Hot restore (no restart) | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Chunk-level rollback | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Web dashboard | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Cloud sync (S3/WebDAV) | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Player evacuation on restore | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Live audit (who broke/placed what) | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Section-level audit diff | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Zstd compression (~6.4:1 ratio) | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| SQLite metadata (instant queries) | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Notification webhooks | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Config hot-reload | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |

Features

Streaming Incremental Backup

ChronoVault hooks into Minecraft’s chunk serialization pipeline via Mixin. Every time a chunk is saved, we capture it in real-time, hash it, and store it only if it’s new. No polling, no wasted I/O.

Hot Restore with Player Evacuation

Roll back any region without restarting the server. Players in affected chunks are safely evacuated to spawn before the restore begins. Down to the minute — no world downtime.

Live Audit Tracking

Real-time block break, block place, and explosion event logging via Mixin injection. Query by player name in-game (/cv audit <player>) or via Web API. Every block change is timestamped and attributable.

Section-Level Audit Diff

Compare two snapshots at chunk-section granularity (16×16×16) using NBT hash comparison. Cross-reference with live audit logs for full player attribution on every change.

Web Dashboard (port 27480)

Built-in single-page web app for monitoring and management:

• Status — engine health, queue size, dropped chunks, player count
• Snapshots — browse, inspect, trigger manual backup
• Restore — cold or hot region restore via coordinate inputs
• Live Audit — query real-time block events by player
• Audit Diff — section-level comparison between any two snapshots
• Config — hot-reload all settings without restart

Cloud Sync

Auto-upload snapshots to S3 or WebDAV. Async worker pool never blocks the server tick. Tiered retention keeps recent snapshots local, archives older ones to cloud.

Layered Retention

Configurable retention policy: keep all snapshots for N hours, then hourly for M days, then daily for K days. Old snapshots auto-rotate with optional cloud offload.

Notification Webhooks

Discord, Slack, and Feishu webhook integration. Get notified on backup completion, restore events, and errors.

Configuration Hot-Reload

Change any setting in config/chronovault.json while the server is running. No restart needed.

Installation

1. Download from Modrinth
2. Place it in your server’s mods/ folder
3. Requires Fabric Loader ≥ 0.16.0 and Fabric API ≥ 0.100.0
4. Start the server — ChronoVault auto-configures and begins capturing on first chunk save
5. Open http://your-server:27480 for the web dashboard

Configuration: all settings in config/chronovault.json.

Commands

All commands use /cv prefix. Run them from server console or as an OP.

| Command | Description |
|———|————-|
| /cv backup | Force a new snapshot immediately |
| /cv list | List all snapshots with time, chunks, size |
| /cv snapshots | Alias for /cv list |
| /cv status | Show engine status (queue, dropped, online) |
| /cv delete <id> | Delete a snapshot permanently |
| /cv restore <id> [x1 z1 x2 z2] | Cold-restore a region (restart required) |
| /cv hot-restore <id> <x1> <z1> <x2> <z2> | Hot-restore a region (no restart, players evacuated) |
| /cv audit [player] [limit] | Query live audit events by player |
| /cv config [key] [value] | View or set config (hot-reloads) |
| /cv schedule [now] | Show schedule or trigger scheduled backup |
| /cv reset | Reset dropped chunk counter |

License

MIT.

Built for server admins who take their worlds seriously.