Description

When deploying Graph Explorer via Docker, users can export their configuration (connections, styles, schemas, etc.) using Settings → General → Save, which creates a graph-explorer-config.json file. Currently, this file must be manually loaded via the UI each time, even when mounted as a volume in Docker.

While defaultConnection.json is automatically loaded for connection settings, the full backup configuration file (graph-explorer-config.json) containing styles, schemas, and other customizations is not automatically loaded on startup.

I'm frustrated when I have to manually click "Load" in the Settings UI every time I access Graph Explorer, even though I've mounted the config file as a Docker volume. This makes it difficult to use infrastructure-as-code approaches and share configurations across team members.

Preferred Solution

Implement automatic loading of graph-explorer-config.json on application startup, similar to how defaultConnection.json is currently auto-loaded.

Proposed Implementation:

1. Proxy Server: Serve graph-explorer-config.json from CONFIGURATION_FOLDER_PATH (similar to defaultConnection.json)

   • Add route: GET /graph-explorer-config.json
   • Serve file from: ${CONFIGURATION_FOLDER_PATH}/graph-explorer-config.json

2. Frontend Auto-Load: Before React initializes (in storageAtoms.ts), check if:

   • No existing configuration exists in IndexedDB
   • Backup config file is available at /graph-explorer-config.json
   • If both conditions are met, automatically fetch and restore the backup using the existing restoreBackup() function

3. Safety: Only auto-load if IndexedDB is empty (no existing user data) to avoid overwriting user configurations

Expected Behavior:

• defaultConnection.json → ✅ Auto-loads (connections only) - already works
• graph-explorer-config.json → ✅ Auto-loads (full config) when IndexedDB is empty - new behavior

Additional Context

Current Behavior:

• defaultConnection.json → ✅ Auto-loads (connections only)
• graph-explorer-config.json → ❌ Manual load required (full config with styles, schemas, etc.)

Docker Compose Example:

services:
  graph-explorer:
    volumes:
      - ./config/graph-explorer:/graph-explorer-config
    environment:
      - CONFIGURATION_FOLDER_PATH=/graph-explorer-config