---
description: Snapshot and restore sandbox directories in seconds with the new createBackup() and restoreBackup() methods.
title: Backup and restore API for Sandbox SDK
image: https://developers.cloudflare.com/changelog/post/2026-02-23-sandbox-backup-restore-api/og.png?v=330d77a65c995dac
---

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February 23, 2026

## Backup and restore API for Sandbox SDK

[Agents](https://developers.cloudflare.com/agents/) [R2](https://developers.cloudflare.com/r2/) [Containers](https://developers.cloudflare.com/containers/)

Copy as Markdown| [View as Markdown](https://developers.cloudflare.com/changelog/post/2026-02-23-sandbox-backup-restore-api/index.md)| [Agent setup](https://developers.cloudflare.com/agent-setup/)

[Sandboxes](https://developers.cloudflare.com/sandbox/) now support `createBackup()` and `restoreBackup()` methods for creating and restoring point-in-time snapshots of directories.

This allows you to restore environments quickly. For instance, in order to develop in a sandbox, you may need to include a user's codebase and run a build step. Unfortunately `git clone` and `npm install` can take minutes, and you don't want to run these steps every time the user starts their sandbox.

Now, after the initial setup, you can just call `createBackup()`, then `restoreBackup()` the next time this environment is needed. This makes it practical to pick up exactly where a user left off, even after days of inactivity, without repeating expensive setup steps.

```ts
const sandbox = getSandbox(env.Sandbox, "my-sandbox");

// Make non-trivial changes to the file system
await sandbox.gitCheckout(endUserRepo, { targetDir: "/workspace" });
await sandbox.exec("npm install", { cwd: "/workspace" });

// Create a point-in-time backup of the directory
const backup = await sandbox.createBackup({ dir: "/workspace" });

// Store the handle for later use
await env.KV.put(`backup:${userId}`, JSON.stringify(backup));

// ... in a future session...

// Restore instead of re-cloning and reinstalling
await sandbox.restoreBackup(backup);
```

Backups are stored in [R2](https://developers.cloudflare.com/r2) and can take advantage of [R2 object lifecycle rules](https://developers.cloudflare.com/sandbox/sdk/guides/backup-restore/#set-a-name-and-ttl) to ensure they do not persist forever.

Key capabilities:

- **Persist and reuse across sandbox sessions** — Easily store backup handles in KV, D1, or Durable Object storage for use in subsequent sessions
- **Usable across multiple instances** — Fork a backup across many sandboxes for parallel work
- **Named backups** — Provide optional human-readable labels for easier management
- **TTLs** — Set time-to-live durations so backups are automatically removed from storage once they are no longer needed

Note

Backup and restore currently uses a FUSE overlay. Soon, native snapshotting at a lower level will be added to Containers and Sandboxes, improving speed and ergonomics. The current backup functionality provides a significant speed improvement over manually recreating a file system, but it will be further optimized in the future. The new snapshotting system will use a similar API, so changing to this system will be simple once it is available.

To get started, refer to the [backup and restore guide](https://developers.cloudflare.com/sandbox/sdk/guides/backup-restore/) for setup instructions and usage patterns, or the [Backups API reference](https://developers.cloudflare.com/sandbox/sdk/api/backups/) for full method documentation.

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