clockula/docs/BACKUP.md

Clockula backup format

clockula-backup-v1.json is a documented, versioned JSON export of Clockula's own data, written to (and read from) a user-chosen folder via SAF (docs/PLAN.md §7). This file is the schema's source of truth; the codec (data/backup/BackupDto.kt, BackupCodec.kt) implements exactly what is written here.

Top level

{
  "format": "clockula-backup",
  "version": 2,
  "exportedAt": 1700000000000,
  "alarms": [ … ],
  "timers": [ … ],
  "worldClocks": [ … ],
  "settings": { … }
}

• format: must be exactly "clockula-backup".
• version: 2 on export. Import accepts 1 and 2; any other value rejects the whole file, since Clockula does not guess at a schema it has not implemented. Version 2 adds an alarm's scheduled_date, pause_start and pause_end; a version 1 file is a version 2 file without them, and imports with every alarm unscheduled and unpaused. The bump is what keeps an older Clockula from importing a v2 file and silently turning a dated alarm into tomorrow's, or a paused one back on. The file name stays clockula-backup-v1.json so an existing backup folder keeps working.
• exportedAt: epoch milliseconds, informational only (not re-imported).

Parsing rules

• Tolerant of unknown fields, at any level. An older or newer client's extra field is ignored, never an error.
• Strict about known fields. A malformed value in a field this schema defines (format, version, an alarm's hour/minute or dates, a world clock's zone_id, a timer's duration_millis) rejects the whole file with a specific reason. Nothing is imported half-way.
• Settings values (snooze minutes, volume ramp, …) are not range-checked at parse time; they pass through the same clamps ClockPrefs/SettingsPrefs already apply on every write, so a value from a future, more permissive version degrades to the nearest valid one instead of failing the import.
• An alarm's own snooze_minutes, snooze_limit and volume_ramp_seconds are clamped at parse time to the same ranges as the defaults they override, and a timer's duration_millis to the setup range (1 second to 24 hours). Room has no clamp of its own, so this is where it happens.
• A missing timer_presets keeps the built-in presets. An empty list is a user who removed them all, and is imported as such.
• An enum field with a name this version does not recognise (a dismiss_ challenge or theme_mode from a future version, say) degrades to that field's default, the same forgiving-read posture AlarmMapper already uses for a corrupt Room row. It does not fail the import.
• Import and export are limited to 8 MiB. Import also rejects more than 10,000 alarms, 10,000 timers, 1,000 world clocks, oversized labels or ringtone URIs, and more than 1,000 timer presets. These limits keep a picked document from exhausting memory or creating an impractical number of rows.

Import semantics

Import replaces all state: alarms, timers and world clocks are deleted and re-created from the file, and every setting the file carries is written over the current value. This is not a merge, and the backup screen says so before the user confirms. Settings are written in one DataStore transaction; the three Room tables are replaced in one database transaction. The live ring and timer services are paused while the tables change. If the database replace fails, the old rows remain, the previous settings are restored, and the ring and timer registrations are resumed. Scheduling is reconciled after either outcome. An imported timer always starts idle.

Export writes a complete temporary document before removing an older backup. If the provider refuses the final rename, the complete temporary document is kept in the chosen folder and the app reports the failure with its filename.

Every imported alarm and timer gets a fresh id and fresh timestamps. The backup carries no id and no created_at/updated_at, since those are local-database facts, not portable ones.

Alarms

One object per row of alarms, config only:

Field	Type	Notes
hour	Int	0..23. Out of range rejects the whole file.
minute	Int	0..59. Out of range rejects the whole file.
label	String
enabled	Boolean
repeat_days	Int	The 7-bit mask (RepeatDays); bit n is ISO day n+1.
skip_next_occurrence	Boolean
ringtone_uri	String?	Exported as-is. See "Ringtone URIs" below.
vibrate	Boolean?	null = inherit the app default.
snooze_minutes	Int?	null = inherit.
snooze_limit	Int?	null = inherit.
volume_ramp_seconds	Int?	null = inherit.
dismiss_challenge	String?	NONE/MATH/HOLD, or null = inherit.
delete_after_use	Boolean	A transient, contract-created alarm.
scheduled_date	String?	v2. ISO-8601 local date (2026-10-28) a one-shot alarm rings on. Ignored on a repeating alarm.
pause_start	String?	v2. First day of a repeating alarm's pause, ISO-8601. Ignored on a one-shot alarm.
pause_end	String?	v2. Last day of the pause, inclusive. Present exactly when pause_start is.

A date that does not parse, lies outside 2000-01-01..9999-12-31, a pause with only one end, or a pause ending before it starts rejects the whole file, like an out-of-range hour. A date on a repeating alarm or a pause on a one-shot is ignored unread, valid or not, which is what the editor would do with it.

Not exported: the alarm_states ring-state table (snooze/ringing/handled- occurrence bookkeeping). It is volatile, per-device state, not configuration, and docs/ARCHITECTURE.md §4/§6 are explicit that it must never appear here.

Timers

One object per row of timers, config only:

Field	Type	Notes
label	String
duration_millis	Long	≥ 0. Negative rejects the whole file.
ringtone_uri	String?
sort_order	Int
delete_after_use	Boolean

Not exported: state, remaining, the elapsed-realtime anchors, or ends_at_wall_clock. A timer's running state is meaningless on another device or after a reboot (docs/PLAN.md §5). Every imported timer lands IDLE, with remaining equal to duration.

World clocks

Field	Type	Notes
zone_id	String	Must be a zone id the exporting device's IANA tzdata knows (Zones.isValid). A bad id rejects the whole file.
label	String?
sort_order	Int

Settings

"settings": {
  "theme_mode": "SYSTEM",
  "dynamic_color": true,
  "default_snooze_minutes": 10,
  "default_snooze_limit": 3,
  "default_vibrate": true,
  "default_volume_ramp_seconds": 15,
  "default_alarm_ringtone_uri": null,
  "default_timer_ringtone_uri": null,
  "default_dismiss_challenge": "NONE",
  "home_zone_id": null,
  "timer_presets": [60000, 120000, 180000, 300000, 600000, 900000, 1800000, 3600000]
}

Field names mirror ClockPrefs'/SettingsPrefs' own on-disk keys. Older files may also carry default_timer_duration_millis, from a default timer length setting that has since been removed; it is ignored on import like any other unknown field. Every numeric/duration value is clamped on apply using the same ranges and encoding as the existing preference setters, never on parse.

Ringtone URIs

Exported exactly as stored (a content:// URI, typically). On import the URI is written back unchanged; if the importing device cannot resolve it at ring/preview time, the existing ringtone-resolution fallback already used elsewhere in the app applies (falls through to the device default). This is not special-cased in the backup path itself.