Custom Backup Profiles

2 min readUpdated Feb 26, 2026

When you need a custom profile

Pink Narwhal auto-detects Rust, Minecraft Java, and Hytale. For everything else, you build a custom profile. This includes:

  • DayZ servers
  • Discord bots
  • Websites and web apps
  • Any game we have not added yet
  • Detected games where you want to tweak the included files

Building a custom profile

The custom profile builder appears during server setup when auto-detection cannot determine the game (or when you click "Customize backup paths" on a detected profile).

The folder browser

You get a live view of your server's file system through the panel API. Navigate into folders by clicking them. A breadcrumb trail at the top shows where you are.

Selecting paths

Check the folders you want to include in backups. Selected paths appear as removable chips above the browser. Click the X on any chip to deselect it.

You are selecting top-level paths. Everything inside a selected folder is included recursively.

Exclude patterns

You can add exclude patterns to skip specific files or folders within your selected paths. These are regex patterns, so \.log$ would skip all log files, and /cache/ would skip any directory named cache.

Naming your profile

Give it a descriptive name. "Discord Bot" is better than "Custom 1". You will thank yourself later when looking at server cards.

What you get

Custom profiles are not second-class citizens. They get:

  • SHA256 integrity verification every backup is cryptographically hashed during upload, and verified before any restore
  • Chunked backup support large backups are automatically split into independently-verified chunks
  • Hourly automated backups same schedule system as game-detected profiles
  • Full and selective restore same restore options, same progress tracking
  • Backup comparison same diff tools to see what changed between backups

What is different

Custom profiles do not get the game-specific save coordination (pre/post backup commands) or the corruption detection loop by default. Those features require knowing how your game handles disk writes. If your game profile has custom save commands configured, Checkpoint™ will use them.

Tip

Be selective. Backing up your entire server root works but wastes storage on files you do not need (like game binaries or cache directories). Pick the folders that contain things you actually care about.

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