Pick your platform. Every file is listed with a checksum you can verify.
GWS Backup runs as a self-contained Node application. All three platforms carry the same release. Every file is listed with its size and a SHA-256, so you can check what you got before you run it.
v0.9701 BETA · published 2026-10-20
7132b38c5fd564942f9763c5d720a1c71788f07f7c082d0fcdf84227d5c483c9
6b81390468a8beef493bfed0bea8080fdf09b78f80fea0da29e46a53225c3592
d1a10ff4ecd2f11daed553b7487ece81f716b9a00c509ada12d53fcccbb2c666
SHA256SUMS.txt — verify with shasum -a 256 -c SHA256SUMS.txt
backup.yourdomain.com — bots scan the obvious names.public_html and its startup file set to app.js. The
application folder holds your encrypted credentials and recovery key; under
the web root, one misconfiguration puts them within reach of anyone.NEXTAUTH_URL to your full
https:// address, start the app, and finish setup in the browser.One installer, no terminal work. It carries its own Node.js runtime, so there is nothing to install first, and it registers GWS Backup to start with Windows before anyone signs in — a machine that reboots overnight carries on backing up rather than waiting at the lock screen for someone to log on. A notification-area icon shows whether the console is running and opens it.
v0.9701 BETA · Windows 10 / 11 / Server 2016 or newer, 64-bit
ce5114d2e27b1de9f65caaaf924d1120f0bcc2bda1e3b27f70b1ba07cc293f4b
SHA256SUMS.txt — verify with certutil -hashfile gwsbackup-windows-0.9701-setup.exe SHA256
Windows will warn you about an unrecognised publisher. That is expected: the installer is not yet code-signed. Click More info, then Run anyway. If you would rather be certain first, check the SHA-256 above against the file you downloaded — that tells you the file is exactly the one we published, which is what a signature would have told you.
.env file is. Back it up somewhere that is not that PC — it
holds the only copy of the key that decrypts your stored client
credentials.Upgrading from a build earlier than v0.9610? Run the new
installer over the top — your clients, schedules, history and encryption
key all survive. But an upgrade deliberately never rewrites .env,
because that file holds the only copy of your encryption key, so any earlier
setting is carried forward with it. A bug in those builds could leave
PORT=3001 in that file, and the console will go on using it.
If it does not answer where you expect, open
C:\Program Files\GWSBackup\.env, set the line to
PORT=3000, and restart. The tray icon, the Start Menu shortcuts and
the firewall rule all read that line and will follow it. A fresh install is
unaffected.
Read the full Windows install guide What’s in v0.9611
Run the newer installer over the top. It stops the running copy first, keeps your
.env, and leaves everything in
C:\ProgramData\GWSBackup alone — clients, schedules and history
all survive.
The image carries its own Node runtime, so there is nothing to install first and no version to check. Download the two files below into an empty directory, fill in two generated secrets, and start it.
v0.9701 BETA · ghcr.io/kikosolutions-tech/gwsbackup
docker-compose.yml. Pinned to this version.
11e668c98dde02cc69a7dff1da39660b4c920002ca2013c887139ad47aa566dc
.env and fill in the two secrets it asks for.
aa8f08a90bfdc3100f692ba1f7291f615f9486136cc4ad0c39b3c404834c3b58
864418fe4bd1b4128bdcac6255e77b6a2a06a103f9d218c6605b224f55854461
ghcr.io/kikosolutions-tech/gwsbackup:0.9700
ghcr.io/kikosolutions-tech/gwsbackup:0.9613
ghcr.io/kikosolutions-tech/gwsbackup:0.9612
ghcr.io/kikosolutions-tech/gwsbackup:0.9611
ghcr.io/kikosolutions-tech/gwsbackup:0.9610
.env:
openssl rand -hex 32 for ENCRYPTION_KEY, and
openssl rand -base64 32 for NEXTAUTH_SECRET.docker compose up -d. The image is
pulled for you; there is nothing to build.Keep .env safe, and separate from the server.
ENCRYPTION_KEY decrypts every stored client credential. If it is
lost, those credentials cannot be recovered by us or by anyone, and every
client connection has to be set up again. The container refuses to start
rather than quietly generating a replacement, so a mistake here shows up as a
container that will not boot — not as silent data loss.
Read the full Docker install guide What’s new in v0.9610
Set GWSB_VERSION in .env to the new version, then
docker compose pull && docker compose up -d. Your databases
live in a Docker volume rather than in the image, so an update does not touch
them.
Two things stop the application dead if they are missing, and it is much less annoying to find out now than halfway through:
The full list, including PHP and Google Workspace requirements, is on the minimum specs page.
backup.yourdomain.com — bots scan the obvious names.public_html and its startup file set to app.js. The
application folder holds your encrypted credentials and recovery key; under the web
root, one misconfiguration puts them within reach of anyone.php gwsbackup-cpanel-0.9613-installer.php, with whichever version you
downloaded. It
backs up any existing database before it extracts anything.NEXTAUTH_URL to your full https://
address, start the app, and finish setup in the browser.Updating an existing install? Upload the new -app.zip and its matching -installer.php, then run the installer. It refuses to extract a payload whose version does not match its own, and clears out installers from earlier releases once it has finished — so the only one left in the folder is always the current one.
Use of GWS Backup is subject to the GWS Backup Free Licence — free for up to ten client workspaces, personal and commercial use alike, including serving your own paying clients. It is not open source: no rebranding, reselling or redistribution.
You will be asked to accept the licence inside the application before you can use it, and your acceptance is recorded there with the version and date. Downloading is not acceptance; running it is.
If a download fails, a checksum does not match, or the installer stops with an error, email support@gwsbackup.com and a person will read it. Support is free, and stays free for as long as we can manage it.
It is worth a look at the development roadmap first — it carries a known issues list of the things we already know about and have not fixed yet, so you can see whether what you have hit is one of them.
The development roadmap is kept honest: what is built, what has shipped but is still being refined, what is committed before version 1.0, and the known issues alongside them. The release notes cover what changed in each version.