The following is automatically fetched from github.com/DisembarkHost/disembark-cli/blob/main/changelog.md. Feel free to make suggestions or report any issues on Github: github.com/DisembarkHost/disembark-cli/issues.
Looking for the Disembark changelog?
v2.3.0 
 October 28th, 2025
Improved
- Database Download Strategy: Reversed the database download logic to attempt a fast, direct download first. If the direct download fails (e.g., due to hosting restrictions), it now automatically falls back to using the PHP streaming API. This logic is consolidated in a new 
download_db_filefunction and replaces the v2.2.0 "stream-first" approach. - Database Backup Efficiency: Refactored the database backup logic for both the 
backupandsynccommands into a new, centralizedprocessDatabaseBackupfunction. - Hybrid Batching: The new 
processDatabaseBackupfunction introduces a "hybrid batching" strategy, which groups numerous small tables into batches to be exported together while processing very large tables individually in parts. This improves reliability for complex databases. - Sync Reliability: The 
synccommand's file download step for subsequent syncs is now more robust. It processes new or changed files in chunks (of 2,500 files) and includes a retry mechanism to handle intermittent network or server errors during the download and extraction of a chunk. - Help Command: Reorganized the help output (
disembarkordisembark --help) for better readability, groupingbackupandsyncas "Primary Commands". 
Changed
- Removed Backup Confirmation: Removed the "Do you want to proceed? (yes/no)" prompt from the 
backupcommand to allow for non-interactive scripting and automation. 
v2.2.0 
 October 26th, 2025
Added
- New 
syncCommand: A newdisembark sync <site-url> [<folder>]command has been added to create and update a local mirror of a remote site.- On the first run, it performs an "initial sync" to download all database tables and file chunks.
 - On subsequent runs, it intelligently compares a local manifest with the remote one, downloading only new or changed files and removing deleted ones.
 - The 
synccommand supports--debugfor saving manifest files and--session-idto reuse a manifest from the web UI. 
 - Session Reuse for 
backup: Thebackupcommand now supports a--session-id=<id>argument. This allows you to reuse an existing backup session from the plugin's web UI, skipping the analysis step and downloading files from the pre-generated manifest. 
Improved
- Hosting Download Compatibility: The method for downloading database (
.sql) files has been re-architected. This change specifically supports restrictive hosting environments (like Flywheel) that block direct URL access to.sqlfiles.- The tool now attempts to download database files using a new 
download_file_via_streamfunction, which calls a/wp-json/disembark/v1/stream-fileAPI endpoint to stream the file content via PHP. - If this streaming method fails, it automatically falls back to the original direct download method.
 
 - The tool now attempts to download database files using a new 
 - Removed 
curlDependency: Thedownload_file_directfunction (used for file chunks and as a fallback) was rewritten to use the internalrmccue/requestsPHP library. This removes the dependency on thecurlcommand-line utility, increasing portability and reliability. - Code Refactoring: The file analysis and backup summary logic, which was previously part of the 
runPreviewfunction, was refactored into new, separate functions:runManifestGenerationanddisplayBackupSummary. This allows the logic to be reused by thebackup,backup --preview, and newsynccommands. - Build Process: The 
build-phar.phpscript was improved to manually add only the requireddisembarkscript andvendordirectory, which creates a smaller and cleaner final.pharfile. 
v2.1.0 
 October 23rd, 2025
Improved
- Backup Efficiency: The backup process has been optimized to run the file analysis and manifest generation only once. The analysis now runs during the initial preview step, and the generated file manifest is reused for the actual backup. This avoids the previous behavior of running the analysis twice (once for preview, once for the backup), significantly speeding up the operation.
 - Preview & Cleanup Logic: The 
runPreviewfunction was refactored to accept abackup_tokenand return the generated file manifest. The mainbackupfunction now correctly callscleanupTemporaryFilesif the user exits after a--previewor cancels the backup. Previously,runPreviewgenerated its own temporary token and cleaned up after itself. 
Changed
- Moved the changelog from the bottom of 
readme.mdto its own dedicatedchangelog.mdfile. 
v2.0.0 
 October 17th, 2025
Changed
- Re-architected Backup Process: The backup process is now "local-first." The CLI downloads all database tables and file chunks individually and assembles the final 
.zipfile on the user's local machine. - Removed the dependency on the remote 
disembark.host/generate-zipscript for backup finalization. 
Added
- The 
backupcommand now creates a local temporarysnapshot-<timestamp>directory to build the backup locally. - Added new local helper functions for zipping (
zip_directory), unzipping (unzip_file), and deleting directories (delete_directory) to support the new local backup process. - Added a 
download_file_directfunction usingcurlfor more reliable downloading of backup parts. - The backup process now calls a 
/cleanup-fileendpoint to delete temporary backup chunks from the server as they are downloaded. 
Improved
- File Manifest: The file manifest generation is now a more robust, multi-step process (initiate, scan, chunkify, process, finalize) to better handle large sites and complex exclusion rules.
 - Backup Preview: The 
backup --previewcommand was rewritten to use the new multi-step manifest generation, providing a much more accurate and reliable preview of the backup content before the backup runs. - Configuration: The 
connectcommand is now more resilient and can read legacy~/.disembarkconfiguration files that were stored as a single object instead of an array. - Updated the 
readme.mdinstallation URL to point to the official GitHub Releases page instead of themainbranch. 
v1.1.0 
 October 10th 2025
Added
- A new 
listcommand has been added to display all connected sites. - A new 
upgradecommand to update Disembark CLI to latest version. - The 
backupcommand now includes an--exclude-tablesoption, which allows you to exclude specific database tables from the backup. This feature supports the use of wildcards for more flexible table selection. - You can now use the 
-xargument with thebackupcommand to exclude certain files or directories from the backup. You can use this option multiple times to exclude several paths. - A new 
--previewargument has been added to thebackupcommand to display a list of files and tables that will be included in the backup without actually running the backup process. 
v1.0.0 - June 8th 2024
Initial Release
- Provides a 
connectcommand to securely save a site URL and token. - Credentials are saved to a 
.disembarkfile in the user's home directory. - The tool can add new site credentials or update the token for an existing site.
 - Verifies that the site URL format is valid before attempting to connect.
 - Includes a 
backupcommand to initiate the backup process for a specified site. - Reads the appropriate token for the site from the configuration file.
 - Performs backups by making a series of requests to the Disembark WordPress plugin API.
 - The backup process includes exporting individual database tables, zipping the full database, and processing site files in batches.
 - Finalizes the backup by executing a remote script via 
curlto generate a complete zip archive. - The script is designed to be run from the command line.
 - A 
versioncommand is included to display the current version of the tool. - A 
showHelpfunction displays usage instructions for available commands. - Provides real-time progress and status messages during the backup process.
 - Includes a utility to convert bytes into a human-readable file size format.
 
