Possible SQLite data loss after deployment - need staff confirmation
nikitagrizzlie
FREEOP

a month ago

Hello,

I need help with a possible data loss incident.

I was running a Telegram bot on Railway using a SQLite database (users.db).

Timeline:

  • On June 7, 2026, the bot successfully sent a broadcast to 453 users.
  • On June 9, 2026, I made a very small change to bot.py through GitHub (only updated a Discord invite link).
  • Railway automatically triggered a new deployment.
  • After the deployment, the service continued running normally.
  • Today I discovered that the current users.db contains only 15 users.

Important details:

  • No PostgreSQL database was attached.
  • No Railway Volume was attached.
  • The database was stored as /app/users.db.
  • Current deployment ID: 6c366963-fecc-4540-ad03-df0686b4b8f1
  • Older deployment ID: 2d15a698-ca4e-4c51-9fa4-78ccd290e857
  • I have proof that the bot had 453 users before the deployment (broadcast screenshot from June 7).

I understand that old deployments are marked as REMOVED and that Railway does not officially retain container filesystems.

However, before I give up completely, I would like to know:

  1. Is there any possibility that deployment artifacts, container layers, snapshots, cached images, or internal backups still exist for the deployment before June 9?
  2. Is there any way for Railway staff to inspect old deployment storage that is not exposed through the dashboard?
  3. Is there any recovery path whatsoever for the /app/users.db file from the deployment that existed before June 9?

Even if the answer is likely no, I would appreciate a definitive confirmation from a human support engineer after checking whether any internal recovery options exist.

Thank you.

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