Backup Policy

Status: Permanent
Applies to: Developer local backups
Authority: ChatGPT Desktop (Architect) instructs; Developer executes

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Purpose

Local backups provide a recoverable snapshot of the repository before irreversible or high-impact operations. Backups are never automatic — they occur only when ChatGPT explicitly instructs the Developer.

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When Backups Are Created

Trigger	Timing
Major baseline freeze	After freeze review approval, before Git commit
Major refactor	Before starting work that restructures modules or migrations
Production deployment	Before deploying to production environment
Irreversible upgrade	Before framework major version, PHP upgrade, or destructive migration

Backups are not created after every implementation pass, every commit, or every test run.

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Standard Sequence at Baseline Freeze

Freeze Review Approved
        ↓
Release Document Ready
        ↓
Local Backup  ← this step
        ↓
Git Commit
        ↓
Git Tag
        ↓
GitHub Push

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Naming Convention

Dental-Clinic-ROS-{version}-{phase-name}-Baseline.zip

Segment	Description	Example
Dental-Clinic-ROS	Fixed project prefix	—
{version}	Target tag or version	v3.8
{phase-name}	Kebab-case phase identifier	Production-Hardening
Baseline	Fixed suffix for freeze backups	—
.zip	Archive format	—

Examples

Dental-Clinic-ROS-v3.8-Production-Hardening-Baseline.zip
Dental-Clinic-ROS-v3.7-Observability-Platform-Baseline.zip
Dental-Clinic-ROS-v3.6-Deployment-Platform-Baseline.zip

Non-baseline backups

For refactors or pre-deployment snapshots, append purpose:

Dental-Clinic-ROS-v3.8-Pre-Refactor-Finance-Module.zip
Dental-Clinic-ROS-v3.8-Pre-Production-Deploy.zip
Dental-Clinic-ROS-v3.8-Pre-Laravel-12-Upgrade.zip

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What to Include

Include	Exclude
Full project directory	vendor/ (reinstall via composer install)
app/, config/, docs/, tests/	node_modules/ (reinstall via npm install)
.env.example	.env (secrets — never archive)
composer.lock, package-lock.json	storage/logs/*
database/migrations/	Large cache/temp directories

Recommended: Archive from clean working tree at freeze approval — all phase files present, nothing uncommitted outside scope.

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Storage

• Store locally on Developer machine or designated backup drive
• Do not commit zip files to the repository
• Record backup filename in phase notes or checklist when created

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Recovery

To restore from backup:

1. Extract archive to a new directory
2. Run composer install and npm install
3. Copy .env from secure storage (not from backup)
4. Run php artisan migrate if needed
5. Verify tag: git rev-parse {tag}^{commit}

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Related Documents

• BASELINE_AND_RELEASE_POLICY.md
• PHASE_CHECKLIST.md
• DEVELOPMENT_WORKFLOW.md

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Backups are a Developer action on Architect instruction — never a Runtime Adapter action.