# BackupDrill adds automated restore drills for Supabase PostgreSQL backups

> **Key takeaway:** BackupDrill is an open-source CLI tool that backs up Supabase PostgreSQL databases to S3-compatible storage and automatically verifies each backup by restoring it into a temporary container.

**Published:** 2026-10-22T00:00:00+00:00 
**Source:** PostgreSQL Official News 
**Category:** databases-storage 
**Canonical URL:** https://fosswire.org/news/backupdrill-adds-automated-restore-drills-for-supabase-postg.html 

## Summary
BackupDrill addresses a common operational failure: backups that were never tested and fail during actual recovery. The tool runs pg_dump against Supabase-hosted PostgreSQL 15-17 databases, streams the archive to any S3-compatible bucket with a checksummed manifest, then performs automated restore drills. The drill verifies archive integrity, pg_restore completion, presence of indexes, constraints, triggers, and non-empty data tables. The MIT-licensed CLI is available via npm and GitHub; a hosted service with scheduling and email alerts offers a free tier.

## How BackupDrill verifies backups
- Uses **pg_dump custom format** against Supabase projects, streaming to S3-compatible buckets (AWS S3, Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2, Wasabi)
- Generates a **checksummed manifest**; storage files can be included in the same snapshot
- `backupdrill drill` command restores the latest snapshot into a **throwaway PostgreSQL container** using pg_restore
- Validates: archive checksum, pg_restore exit status, post-data objects (indexes, constraints, triggers), table presence, and non-empty data tables
- Records **restore duration** for operational metrics
- Enforces pg_dump major version **≥ server version**; refuses older clients
- Produces **plain pg_dump archives** compatible with stock pg_restore without BackupDrill

## Why it matters
For teams relying on Supabase, BackupDrill closes the gap between "having backups" and "having verified recoverable backups," a common source of production outages. The open-source CLI and free hosted tier lower the barrier for smaller projects to adopt backup verification practices previously requiring custom infrastructure.