A snapshot is a frozen copy of an application's configuration at a single point in time. It captures everything that defines how the application is wired — ports, pipelines, maps, schemas, variables, and routing — so the entire setup can be restored, shared, or moved.

Snapshots are attached to the application that produced them. Each application keeps its own list of snapshots, taken locally or imported from a file exported elsewhere. Use them to roll back after a risky change, archive a known-good configuration before a release, or hand a working setup to another environment without re-doing the configuration by hand.

Every snapshot is one of two types — the difference is whether the application's Authentication objects are included.

An Authentication in Art2link ESB is the object that holds the credentials a port's adapter uses to connect to its endpoint. Its contents depend on the adapter type - for example, a SQL Authentication holds the full connection string; an HTTP Authentication may hold an API key, OAuth client secret, or certificate reference. Because these objects contain secrets, snapshots that include them are always password-protected. See Authentications for the full picture.

Open any application and select Snapshots to see every snapshot attached to it. The list shows both snapshots taken locally and snapshots that were imported from a file.

Each row in the list displays the following columns:

The list view follows the platform's Selected Application behavior - with an Application selected, the list filters to it and the Application column is hidden; with no selection, the list spans every Application you have access to and the column is shown. Taking a new snapshot uses the same flow: with an Application selected, the snapshot is taken against that Application; without one, you choose which Application to snapshot before confirming.

From a row, the available actions are Apply, Export, and Delete. Above the list, a primary Take snapshot button creates a new entry, and an Import button brings in a snapshot file from disk.

Inside the application, open the Snapshots panel and click Take snapshot.

1. Confirm or edit the auto-generated name. Optionally add a Description to record why this snapshot was taken — both can also be edited later from the list.

2. Decide whether to Include authentications. Leave it unchecked to capture configuration only; check it to include every Authentication object the application owns.

3. If — and only if — authentications are included, the dialog reveals two password fields. Enter a password and confirm it. The same password will be required to export this snapshot, but it will not be required to apply it locally.

4. Click Take snapshot. The new snapshot appears at the top of the list, marked Taken in the Source column and tagged with your username under By.

Applying a snapshot replaces the application's current configuration with the contents of that snapshot. It does not require a password — snapshots already in the list are decrypted in place when needed.

1. Locate the snapshot in the list and click Apply on its row.

2. A confirmation dialog appears summarizing what will be replaced. Read it carefully — this action overrides the live configuration.

3. Confirm to proceed. The application is rebuilt from the snapshot.

Click Delete on the snapshot's row and confirm. The snapshot is removed from the list and cannot be recovered. Deleting a snapshot has no effect on the live application configuration — it only removes the saved point-in-time copy.

Exporting writes a snapshot to a .json file you can store, send, or import into another environment.

1. Click Export on the snapshot's row.

2. Decide whether to Include authentications in the exported file. The choice is independent of how the snapshot was originally taken — you can export a snapshot that includes authentications without them, but you cannot export authentications that were never captured in the first place.

3. If authentications are included, enter and confirm a password. This password will be required when the file is later imported.

4. Click Export. Your browser downloads the snapshot as a .json file.

Importing brings a snapshot file from disk into the current application's snapshot list. The file may have been exported from this environment or any other.

1. Open the Snapshots panel and click Import.

2. Select the .json snapshot file from your computer.

3. If the file contains encrypted authentications, Art2link ESB prompts for the password.

• Enter the password and click Import to bring the snapshot in with all of its authentications intact.
• Or click Import with the password field left empty. Art2link ESB will ask whether you want to proceed without the authentications. Confirm to import the configuration only — the encrypted Authentication objects are discarded.

4. The snapshot appears in the list, marked Imported in the Source column and tagged with your username under By. Apply it from the list whenever you are ready.