Defaults

Defaults are a saved copy of the rows in a project's tables: the starting data your app needs, such as its categories, plans or example content. Once they're saved, Restore defaults puts every table back to exactly those rows, whatever happened since. Your app's users and their uploaded files stay as they are.

Use it to undo a mistake (like deleting the default categories), to reset a test or demo project, or to start over while you build.

Save your defaults

1. In Studio, pick the project in the project switcher, then open Project settings from the same menu. (Or press ⌘K and type defaults.)
2. Under Defaults, click Save current data as defaults.

Keel saves the rows of every table at that moment. Do it when your tables hold the data you want to come back to: right after your app's setup or migrations have added their starting rows, before real users add their own.

Save again whenever the starting data changes, for example after adding a table with rows of its own. Studio tells you when a table was created after the defaults were saved.

Restore defaults

1. Open Project settings for the project, as above.
2. Under Defaults, click Restore defaults and confirm.

What happens:

• Every table goes back to the saved rows. Rows added since are removed, changed rows get their saved values back, and deleted rows return with the same ids, so links between tables keep working.
• Tables created after you saved are emptied. Studio lists them before you confirm.
• Id counters carry on after the restored rows, so new rows don't collide with them.
• Users, files and settings aren't touched: sign-in accounts, uploaded files and their records, policies, functions and the table structure stay as they are. If you've added a column since saving, the restored rows get the column's default value.
• Keel makes a backup first. To undo a restore, open the Backups drawer and restore the backup marked Before restoring defaults.

It all happens in one transaction: if something stops the restore, nothing changes. The most likely reason is a saved row that points at something that's gone, such as a user deleted since the defaults were saved. Studio names the table; bring those rows back, or save the defaults again without them.

Good to know

• Which tables: every table you create, in public or your own schemas. Keel's own tables (users, storage, realtime) and extensions' tables aren't included.
• Backups don't include the defaults, and restoring a backup keeps the saved defaults as they are.
• Size: the defaults are a full copy of your rows, stored in the project's database. Save them while your tables hold starting data rather than months of real data.
• Delete defaults removes the saved copy; your tables stay as they are.

From SQL

Studio uses two functions in the project's database, which you can also run in the SQL editor or with ./keel psql. They need the postgres superuser: the project's owner role, which coding agents get in KEEL_DB_URL, can't run them, so an agent asks you to save or restore defaults in Studio.

select _keel_defaults.save();     -- the current rows become the defaults
select _keel_defaults.restore();  -- every table goes back to them

restore() doesn't make a backup first; Studio does. For save() to see all tables at the same moment while your app is running, run it in a repeatable read transaction:

begin isolation level repeatable read;
select _keel_defaults.save();
commit;