Take a server snapshot

A snapshot is an archive of a server's files, kept in your account's snapshot storage. It belongs to your account rather than to the server, so it stays after you delete the server and you can restore it onto any of your servers. The server's Snapshots tab, under More on its page, takes new snapshots, turns automatic backups on and off, and lists the snapshots you already have.

• Every snapshot uses part of your account's snapshot allowance. The Snapshot storage card at the top of the tab shows how much is Used and how much is left across every server on the account. Snapshot storage allowance explains where the allowance comes from.
• A snapshot holds the server's files only. The server's databases are not in it.
• You cannot take a snapshot while the server is installing, being moved or suspended.
• A server runs one snapshot or restore at a time.
• A snapshot is stored in your server's region. When that region's storage is full, we store it in the nearest region that has room, and it works the same way. Restoring it can take a little longer, because the archive travels further. We may also move a stored snapshot to another region to free space; you can restore it the whole time.
• While a Minecraft server runs, we pause its world saving for the few seconds the copy needs, so the snapshot holds a consistent world. A Bedrock server gets save hold and then save resume, and a Java server gets save-off, save-all flush and then save-on. Players are not kicked. If the pause fails, we take the snapshot anyway. A server we paused starts saving again when the copy ends, and within 15 minutes at the latest. A stopped server, and a server for another game, is copied as it is.
• On a server someone shared with you, the owner must have given you the Snapshots permission.

1. In the dashboard, go to App Deployment and open the server, then the Snapshots tab.
2. Select Take snapshot…. A page opens with the heading Take a snapshot. Under Size, it measures the server's disk usage and shows it against what is left of your allowance, as Estimated size against what is left.
3. Under Name, check the Name. It starts as snapshot- followed by the date and time in UTC, such as snapshot-2026-09-25-1430, and can be up to 191 characters.
4. Optional: under Leave out, list the files and folders the snapshot should skip, one pattern per line, relative to the server root. For example, logs/* skips everything in the logs folder. You can list up to 50 patterns.
5. Optional: select Lock this snapshot. Nobody can delete a locked snapshot until someone unlocks it, and a schedule never deletes it to make room. The one exception is the cleanup when your account stays over its snapshot storage: it deletes unlocked snapshots first, then locked ones (Snapshot storage allowance).
6. Select Take snapshot.

The page returns to the list, and the snapshot shows there while it uploads. If we cannot take it, the page keeps what you entered and says why under the form. The estimate is the server's current disk usage. We compress the archive, so the finished snapshot is usually smaller. When the estimate is more than what is left, the page shows Not enough snapshot storage and you cannot take the snapshot. Delete an old snapshot, or select Order more storage to open the Snapshot Storage order page, as Add snapshot storage describes.

With automatic backups, we take a snapshot of the server every day and keep the newest 7. Each one is named Automatic backup followed by the date, such as Automatic backup 2026-09-27, and counts toward your snapshot storage like any other snapshot. The Automatic backups card on the Snapshots tab shows whether the server has them.

Automatic backups come with the Pro plan and up, once account plans open on your account. Otherwise, add them to the server as an add-on. A server you bought from a storefront has them only with the add-on, which its owner adds in that storefront's panel, whatever account plan the storefront's owner has (Automatic backups for a storefront's customers), or while a level of the brand's Medal quest gives a paid server them. Then the card names the boost as their source (source is boost), and they stop when the level drops; the backups already taken stay.

1. Open the server, then the Snapshots tab.
2. On the Automatic backups card, select Add… beside Automatic Server Backups. The card shows the monthly price.
3. A page titled Add automatic backups opens. Check the price under Your order, then select the button at the foot of it. It reads Pay and the amount, then and add.

The add-on renews with the server, on the same date and billing cycle, and the first invoice charges the rest of the current billing period. We take it from your credit balance when that covers it. Otherwise you pay on the same page, and the backups start once the payment is in. The Size and add-ons card on the Billing tab offers the same add-on, and removes it. Add-ons explains how add-ons are billed.

Once the server has automatic backups, the card shows:

Comes with

Your plan, or An add-on on this server.

Latest backup

When we took the newest automatic backup, or None yet.

Next backup

When we take the next one. Within the next hour means it is due now.

Backups saved

How many automatic backups the server has.

To stop them on this server, turn off the switch on the card. The card then reads Automatic backups are off for this server. The ones already taken stay until you delete them. Turn the switch on again to restart them. With an add-on, turning them off does not stop its billing: remove the add-on from the Size and add-ons card on the server's Billing tab.

We check once an hour and take a server's backup about a day after its last one, so it lands at about the same hour each day. When a server already has 7 automatic backups, we delete the oldest after each new one. We never delete a snapshot you or a schedule took. To keep an automatic backup past the rotation, lock it in the list: a locked backup leaves the rotation and no longer counts among the 7.

We skip a server while it installs, moves or is suspended. When a backup fails, the card shows The last automatic backup failed with the reason, and we try again six hours later.

The list starts on This server, which shows the snapshots taken from this server. Select Whole account to see every snapshot on your account, with a Fit column that says how each one would restore onto this server:

Same software

The snapshot was taken on this server's software, or on software that runs the same plugins or mods (Paper and Purpur, for example). It restores as it was.

Other loader

The same game on different server software, such as a Paper world for a Fabric server. The world loads, but its plugins or mods do not. You must allow the difference when you restore it.

Incompatible

A different game. You cannot restore it onto this server.

Unknown

We do not know which software the snapshot was taken on. Check that it matches before you restore it.

Point at a badge to read the reason. On a server someone shared with you, Whole account shows only this server's snapshots, because the rest of the account is not yours to see. All snapshots opens the account's Snapshots page.

Each row shows the snapshot's name, the software it was taken on, its Status, its Size and when it was Taken. Select a column heading to sort by it.

• A Locked badge beside the name means nobody can delete the snapshot until someone unlocks it. Only the cleanup of an account that stays over its snapshot storage deletes a locked snapshot, after every unlocked one.
• A schedule's name under the date means that schedule took it. By the platform means we took it: an automatic backup, or a snapshot we took on our own before removing a server, after a cancellation or for an unpaid invoice.
• "(probably)" after the software means we recorded the software after the snapshot was taken, from what the server ran later.
• A failed snapshot shows its error under its name.
• On Whole account, a snapshot of another server names that server, with a Deleted server badge once the server is gone.

The menu at the end of each row holds Restore onto this server…, Download, Lock or Unlock, and Delete snapshot…. While a snapshot is still Pending or Creating, Cancel snapshot… takes the place of Delete snapshot…. Restore a snapshot and Manage snapshots explain them.

A message confirms that we are taking the snapshot, and it appears in the list straight away. Its Status goes from Pending to Creating while the server archives and uploads its files, then to Completed. The tab refreshes on its own while a snapshot is in progress, and the Size fills in when it completes. To stop it before then, select Cancel snapshot… in its row's menu, as Cancel a snapshot in progress describes.

A server that was ordered from a snapshot also shows the state of that restore at the top of the tab: Waiting to restore your snapshot, Restoring your snapshot, Restored from a snapshot or Could not restore the snapshot. See Start a server from a snapshot.

This snapshot needs … and your plan includes …

The snapshot does not fit in what is left of your allowance. Delete an older snapshot or add snapshot storage, then try again.

A snapshot or restore is already in progress on this server; wait for it to finish before you start another snapshot.

Wait until the snapshot or restore in the list shows Completed or Failed, then try again. A snapshot that is still Pending or Creating can also be cancelled.

Cannot start a snapshot while the server is suspended

A suspended server cannot take snapshots. Try again once the server is unsuspended. The same message names installing or transferring while the server installs or moves; wait until it finishes.

Could not estimate the size; the snapshot is refused if it does not fit.

We could not measure the server's disk usage. You can still take the snapshot, and we refuse it if it does not fit.

This snapshot stopped making progress, so we stopped it after …

The server stopped sending its files before the snapshot finished. We stop a snapshot after an hour without progress, or longer on a server with a lot on disk, and 12 hours after it started at most. Nothing was saved, and a failed snapshot does not count against your allowance. Delete it and take a new one.

Snapshots are not enabled on this platform yet.

Snapshots are switched off for now. Try again later, or contact support.

Take snapshot is greyed out

The Name is empty, or the estimate does not fit in what is left of your allowance.

Automatic backups come with the Pro plan and up. On another plan, add them to this server as an add-on.

The Automatic backups card shows this when the server has no automatic backups. Select Add… on the card to add them, as Add automatic backups to a server describes. When the card shows no Add…, the server is shared with you, and only its owner can add them.

Automatic backups save snapshots, and snapshots are not available yet.

Snapshots are switched off for now, so automatic backups cannot run either.

The last automatic backup failed

The reason follows the date of the failed run, and we try again six hours later. Your snapshot storage is full, so we could not take the automatic backup. means the backup did not fit in what is left of your allowance: delete an older snapshot or add snapshot storage.

• Restore a snapshot onto a server
• Manage snapshots
• Snapshot storage allowance
• Snapshots and backups compared

GET /api/v1/client/servers/{uuid}/snapshots lists the snapshots taken from the server, newest first. Add ?scope=account to list every snapshot on your account instead. Each one then carries a compatibility object for this server: level is same, same_game, incompatible or unknown, and reason explains any level but same. When the server is shared with you, scope=account returns the server's own list.

Each snapshot has uuid, name, status, size_bytes, is_locked, created_by (customer, schedule or system), reason (auto_backup on an automatic backup), error, region (where the snapshot is stored), software_label, source_uuid, source_name, source_deleted, created_at and completed_at. status is pending or creating while it is taken, completed when you can restore or download it, restoring or deleting while that work runs, or failed.

Before you take a snapshot, check that it fits:

curl https://api.coritan.com/api/v1/client/servers/$SERVER/snapshots/estimate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CORITAN_TOKEN"

{
  "estimated_bytes": 2147483648,
  "remaining_bytes": 8589934592,
  "fits": true,
  "shortfall_bytes": 0
}

Take the snapshot. name is required and can be up to 191 characters. ignored_files is an optional list of up to 50 patterns, each up to 255 characters and 4,000 characters in all. is_locked defaults to false.

curl -X POST https://api.coritan.com/api/v1/client/servers/$SERVER/snapshots \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CORITAN_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "before-1.21-update", "ignored_files": ["logs/*", "cache/*"], "is_locked": true}'

The response is 201 with the new snapshot, its status set to pending. Poll the list, or GET /api/v1/client/snapshots/{snapshot_uuid}, until status is completed. To stop it before then, send POST /api/v1/client/snapshots/{snapshot_uuid}/cancel (Manage snapshots).

A snapshot that does not fit answers 402. Its detail holds message, used_bytes, allowance_bytes, needed_bytes and reason set to over_allowance. A second snapshot while one is running, or a server that is installing, moving or suspended, answers 409. When snapshots are switched off, or no region has storage room for it, the API answers 503.

On a server shared with you, listing and the estimate need snapshot.read, and taking a snapshot needs snapshot.create. The Snapshots permission in the dashboard grants both.

GET /api/v1/client/servers/{uuid}/auto-backups returns the server's automatic backups:

{
  "available": true,
  "source": "addon",
  "enabled": true,
  "keep": 7,
  "every_hours": 24,
  "backups": 3,
  "latest_backup_at": "2026-09-26T04:07:12",
  "last_run_at": "2026-09-26T04:07:12",
  "last_error": null,
  "next_run_at": "2026-09-27T04:07:12",
  "reason_unavailable": null,
  "service_id": 2231
}

available is true when the server has automatic backups, and source says where they come from: plan or addon. When available is false, reason_unavailable gives the reason in words. enabled is the switch on the card. backups counts the automatic backups the server holds, and last_error is why the last run could not take one, or null. The times are in UTC.

Turn them off, or on again, with PUT on the same path. The answer is the same object:

curl -X PUT https://api.coritan.com/api/v1/client/servers/$SERVER/auto-backups \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CORITAN_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"enabled": false}'

A server without automatic backups answers 409 with the reason in detail. To add them, add the container_auto_backups add-on to the server's service, as Add-ons shows. On a server shared with you, GET needs snapshot.read and PUT needs snapshot.create.