Backing Up and Restoring Your Data

Everything StarYard remembers about you (equipment profiles, saved locations, horizon calibrations, and your last session) is saved locally in this browser, not on a server. That's great for privacy, but it also means clearing your browser data, switching browsers, or moving to a new device wipes it out unless you've saved a backup first.

Back up your data

Go to Settings and press "Download backup" in the "Backup your data" card. This downloads a single JSON file (named something like staryard-backup-2026-08-31.json) containing:

• Your equipment profiles
• Your saved locations, including each one's horizon calibration and Bortle class
• Your last session (the date, location, and equipment profile you had picked)

Keep the file somewhere you'll find it again, a cloud drive or a notes app both work fine. There's nothing sensitive in it beyond what you've already entered into StarYard.

Restore from a backup

On the same Settings page, go to the "Restore from backup" card and press "Choose backup file", then pick a JSON file you downloaded earlier. StarYard reads it and shows you a summary first, the date it was exported and how many equipment profiles and locations it contains, before anything changes.

Restoring replaces everything currently stored in this browser. It doesn't merge with what you already have. Review the summary, then press "Replace all data" to go ahead, or "Cancel" to back out and keep what you've got.

When to do this

A few moments where a fresh backup or a restore is worth doing:

• Before clearing your browser's site data or cache
• When you set up StarYard on a new browser or device and want your old locations and equipment carried over
• Before reinstalling or resetting your browser
• Just periodically, if you've put real effort into calibrating a horizon and would rather not redo it