Seed Files

Overview

Seed files let you bootstrap targets and storage profiles from a YAML file, providing a repeatable and shareable way to configure Clonit. Instead of running multiple targets add and storage-profile add commands, you define everything in a single file and import it.

Seed File Location

Clonit looks for a seed file named clonit-seed.yaml in the current working directory.

Seed File Format

A seed file can contain two top-level sections: storage_profiles and targets.

Full Example

storage_profiles:
  my-s3:
    provider: s3
    access_key: "AKIA..."
    secret_key: "secret..."
    region: us-east-1
    bucket: my-snapshots

targets:
  mydb:
    db_type: postgres
    src_url: "postgres://user:pass@host/db"
    dst_url: "postgres://user:pass@localhost/db_dev"
    storage_profile: my-s3
    dump_jobs: 8

Storage profiles section

Each key under storage_profiles is the profile name. Supported fields include:

Field	Description
`provider`	Storage provider (`s3`, `r2`)
`access_key`	Access key for authentication
`secret_key`	Secret key for authentication
`region`	AWS region (for S3)
`bucket`	Bucket name
`account_id`	Cloudflare account ID (for R2)
`endpoint`	Custom S3-compatible endpoint URL
`prefix`	Key prefix for organizing objects
`awscli_profile`	AWS CLI profile name (alternative to explicit keys)

Targets section

Each key under targets is the target name. Supported fields include:

Field	Description
`db_type`	Database type (`postgres`)
`src_url`	Source database connection URL
`dst_url`	Destination database connection URL
`storage_profile`	Name of a storage profile to associate with this target
`dump_jobs`	Number of parallel dump jobs
`sanitize_dst_url`	Sanitization database connection URL
`sanitize_query_file`	Path to the sanitization SQL file

Importing a Seed File

Place the clonit-seed.yaml file in your current working directory and run the seed import command:

clonit seed import

Idempotent Imports

Seed imports are idempotent – records are only created if they do not already exist. If a target or storage profile with the same name already exists, it is skipped. This means you can safely run the seed import multiple times without duplicating data or overwriting existing configuration.

Use Cases

Team onboarding

Share a clonit-seed.yaml file in your repository so new developers can quickly set up their local environment:

git clone https://github.com/your-org/your-repo.git
cd your-repo
clonit seed import

New team members get a fully configured Clonit setup with a single command.

CI/CD pipelines

Use seed files to configure targets and storage profiles in automated pipelines. Include the seed file in your CI/CD configuration and run the import as a setup step:

# Example CI step
- name: Configure Clonit
  run: |
    cp ci/clonit-seed.yaml clonit-seed.yaml
    clonit seed import
    clonit pull mydb
    clonit load mydb

Disaster recovery

Maintain a seed file as a backup of your target and storage profile configuration. If you need to set up Clonit on a new machine or recover from a configuration loss, import the seed file to restore your setup:

clonit seed import