I ran into this issue last night, when I needed to restore a file from a backup, just as I was about to hit the bed and had to get HA back up.
As you’ve mentioned, this is not a case that’s covered by having your config version controlled, as this is part of HA (HACS’s) internal storage files. Restoring from a backup is the only option.
Let’s talk about backups. Let’s be honest: they’re one of the most important yet often overlooked tasks. But when disaster strikes, like a hardware failure, having a reliable backup can save the day. Wouldn’t you love to be back up and running after disaster strikes?
I cannot help to emphasise the massive irony here, reading about the backup fiasco. Here is a real-life incident where less technically inclined users that have upgraded to 2025.1 with (possibly) their only backup being an encrypted one, could’ve been stuck.
I hope this is a lesson learnt.
And before this issue gets conflated by someone: This has nothing to do with the fact that it’s related to HACS. This could’ve happened to anything directly managed by HA.