Wallet Backup & Recovery

Your seed phrase

When you create a Morana wallet, a 24-word BIP-39 seed phrase is generated. This phrase is the master key to all your transparent and shielded addresses. Write it down on paper and store it in a safe place.

Never store your seed phrase in plaintext on your computer, cloud service, or email.

.morbak encrypted backup files

The wallet can export a .morbak file — an Argon2id-encrypted archive of your wallet database and its key metadata.

To export: open the Backup tab and create the backup there.

The backup is encrypted with your existing vault password — the same one that unlocks the wallet. You do not choose a separate passphrase for it, and the wallet verifies that password before it will export anything. Keep that in mind: whoever knows your vault password can open your .morbak.

Store the .morbak file on an offline USB drive or another secure location separate from your seed phrase.

Restoring from seed phrase

1. Install the Morana wallet on the new machine. 2. On the welcome screen, choose Restore from Seed. 3. Enter your 24 words in order. 4. The wallet derives all your transparent addresses automatically. 5. Let the wallet sync. Shielded notes are recovered by the normal sync scan — there is no separate button to press. If the wallet has no recorded birth height, it scans from the start of the chain, which is slower but complete.

Restoring from .morbak

1. Install the Morana wallet. 2. On the welcome screen, choose Restore from File. 3. Select your .morbak file and enter the vault password that was in use when the backup was exported. 4. The wallet restores the database directly, so it does not have to rescan the chain from scratch.

What happens if I lose both?

If you lose your seed phrase AND your .morbak file, your funds are permanently unrecoverable. There is no central server, no cloud backup, no recovery service. This is by design — true self-custody.

The seed phrase is the one that matters most: it can rebuild everything, including shielded notes, given enough sync time. The .morbak file mainly saves you that time.

Best practices

• Keep the seed phrase offline (paper or metal plate) in two separate physical locations.
• Export a new .morbak after each significant transaction batch.
• Remember that the .morbak is only as strong as your vault password — choose that password accordingly.
• Test your recovery procedure on a second device before you have real funds.
• Never share your seed phrase or vault password with anyone.