Rollback

HostFn provides both manual and automatic rollback capabilities. If a deployment fails, HostFn automatically restores the previous version. You can also manually roll back to any saved backup at any time.

Manual Rollback

Use the hostfn rollback command to restore a previous deployment:

hostfn rollback <environment>

For example:

hostfn rollback production

This will:

1. Connect to the server via SSH
2. List all available backups (most recent first)
3. Prompt you to select a backup to restore
4. Ask for confirmation
5. Restore the selected backup
6. Reload the PM2 process

Interactive Backup Selection

When you run hostfn rollback without the --to option, HostFn presents an interactive list of up to 10 available backups:

$ hostfn rollback production

  Rollback - production

  ✔ Connected
  ✔ Found 5 backup(s)

  ── Available Backups ──

  1. 2026-03-11T14-30-00-000Z
  2. 2026-03-10T09-15-22-000Z
  3. 2026-03-09T18-45-10-000Z
  4. 2026-03-08T12-00-05-000Z
  5. 2026-03-07T08-20-33-000Z

  ? Select backup to restore:
  > 1. 2026-03-11T14-30-00-000Z (latest)
    2. 2026-03-10T09-15-22-000Z
    3. 2026-03-09T18-45-10-000Z

After selecting a backup, HostFn asks for confirmation before proceeding:

  ⚠ This will rollback to: 2026-03-11T14-30-00-000Z
  ? Are you sure you want to rollback? (y/N)

Rolling Back to a Specific Backup

Use the --to option to skip the interactive prompt and go directly to a specific backup:

hostfn rollback production --to 2026-03-10T09-15-22-000Z

This is useful in scripts or when you already know which backup you want to restore.

Auto-Rollback on Failed Deployments

The hostfn deploy command has built-in auto-rollback. If any of the following steps fail during deployment, HostFn automatically restores the previous version:

• Build failure -- the build command returns a non-zero exit code
• PM2 start/reload failure -- the process manager fails to start the application
• Health check failure -- the application does not respond with a healthy status

When auto-rollback triggers, HostFn:

1. Restores the backup created at the start of the deployment
2. Reloads the PM2 process with the previous version
3. Reports the rollback result

  ✗ Health check failed

  ── Rolling Back ──

  ✔ Rolled back to previous deployment
  ℹ Previous deployment restored successfully

Auto-rollback only activates when there is a previous deployment to restore. On the first deployment, there is no backup to fall back to.

After a Rollback

After a successful rollback, verify the service is running correctly:

hostfn status production

Check the application logs for any issues:

hostfn logs production

What Gets Rolled Back

A rollback restores:

The rollback replaces the dist/ directory with the backup copy and reloads PM2. Environment variables, Nginx configuration, and installed dependencies are not affected.