How ManaBucket works
You run one command on the machine your server lives on. From then on we take a copy of your worlds on the schedule you pick, and keep them for as long as you tell us to. Nothing else on the machine is touched.
Where we look for worlds
We only look in the folders Minecraft servers normally use, and only at folders that are actually shaped like a Minecraft world. If it doesn't look like a world, we don't read it.
Folders we check
Somewhere else? Add the folder yourself when you pick worlds. We never scan your whole machine.
How the check works
Your machine says hello every few minutes. Seen in the last 3 minutes.
Quiet for a few minutes to a day. Usually a sleeping laptop or a home internet blip.
Nothing for over a day. We tell you on the overview, because its worlds aren't being protected.
Before each backup we ask your server to pause world saving for a moment so the copy is exact, then let it run again. Players stay connected. If we can't reach the console we still take the backup, but we mark it, because it may miss the last few seconds of play.
How your connection is protected
The machine calls us, not the other way round
Nothing listens for incoming connections, so you don't open a port on your router or expose your server.
Encrypted the whole way
TLS in transit, AES-256 at rest. Each account has its own keys; your worlds are never in one shared pile.
Add a passphrase only you know
Turn this on and we can't read your worlds at all - not our staff, not anyone with a warrant for our servers. Lose it and the backups are gone too.
Read-only on your machine
We only write to your world folder during a restore you asked for, and we say so before it happens.
Common questions
Will backing up lag my server? +
The pause is normally under a second and players won't notice it. After the first backup only what changed gets sent, so later ones are much smaller and faster.
What if my machine is off when a backup is due? +
Nothing bad happens - a missed scheduled backup just doesn't run. Backups resume on their normal schedule as soon as your machine reconnects. If it stays off for a while, the Overview screen will flag it as disconnected so you know to check on it.
Can I move a world to a new machine? +
Yes. Restoring a backup onto a different machine creates a new world there with its own backup history - the original world and its backups are untouched. If the two servers differ in online mode, player inventories may reset; we'll warn you about that before you confirm.
What happens to my backups if I cancel? +
Your account enters a 30-day grace period: no new backups run, but nothing is deleted and you can still restore from what's already there. After 30 days, everything is permanently removed unless you resubscribe.
Do mods and plugins get backed up too? +
By default, yes - a backup includes your whole server folder (mods, plugins, and configs, not just the world files) so a restore brings back a fully working server. You can switch a world to world-only backups if you'd rather manage the rest yourself.
What's the difference between pausing and revoking a machine? +
Pause is temporary and reversible with one click: backups stop until you resume, and nothing else about the machine changes. Revoke is more like uninstalling - it disconnects the machine for good, and getting it backing up again means running the install command fresh with a new key, not just flipping a switch. Either way, backups you've already taken are kept and stay restorable.