diff --git a/apps/api/src/ops/ops.service.ts b/apps/api/src/ops/ops.service.ts
index 532a86d..509379a 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/ops/ops.service.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/ops/ops.service.ts
@@ -262,9 +262,26 @@ export class OpsService implements OnModuleInit {
    * deploy/scripts/pre-migrate-backup.mjs — the two write into the same volume
    * and both are listed as restore points by this same screen.
    *
-   * --set-gtid-purged=OFF: the production server is the replication SOURCE with
-   * GTID on, so without it every dump embeds SET @@GLOBAL.GTID_PURGED and is
-   * unrestorable onto the very server it came from.
+   * The dumper is probed at runtime rather than assumed. This command runs
+   * inside the API image, whose `mysql-client` is Alpine's — i.e. MariaDB's —
+   * where `mysqldump` is a deprecation-warning shim over `mariadb-dump` that
+   * rejects --set-gtid-purged outright:
+   *   mysqldump: unknown variable 'set-gtid-purged=OFF'
+   * which failed every backup, including the safety backups SYNC and REIMPORT
+   * take first. MariaDB's dumper emits no GTID state unless asked (--gtid), so
+   * there is nothing to suppress there; the flag is passed only when the dumper
+   * on PATH advertises it, and the real binary is called directly only in the
+   * MariaDB case (calling `mariadb-dump` whenever it merely exists would pick
+   * it over a MySQL `mysqldump` earlier in PATH on a host carrying both).
+   *
+   * The probe is a command substitution, not `--help | grep -q`: PIPEFAIL is in
+   * effect and grep closing the pipe early would make a supported flag look
+   * unsupported.
+   *
+   * --set-gtid-purged=OFF (MySQL only): the production server is the
+   * replication SOURCE with GTID on, so without it every dump embeds
+   * SET @@GLOBAL.GTID_PURGED and is unrestorable onto the very server it came
+   * from.
    *
    * The table-count assertion is not belt-and-braces: `gzip -t` passes on the
    * ~372-byte output of a mysqldump that died on its first statement, so a
@@ -277,8 +294,12 @@ export class OpsService implements OnModuleInit {
    */
   private dumpCommand(flags: string, db: string, out: string): string {
     return (
-      `( mysqldump ${flags} --single-transaction --routines --triggers ` +
-      `--no-tablespaces --set-gtid-purged=OFF ${db} | gzip -c > ${out} && ` +
+      `DUMP=mysqldump; GTID=; ` +
+      `case "$(mysqldump --help 2>/dev/null || true)" in ` +
+      `*set-gtid-purged*) GTID=--set-gtid-purged=OFF;; ` +
+      `*) command -v mariadb-dump >/dev/null 2>&1 && DUMP=mariadb-dump;; esac; ` +
+      `( $DUMP ${flags} --single-transaction --routines --triggers ` +
+      `--no-tablespaces $GTID ${db} | gzip -c > ${out} && ` +
       `gzip -t ${out} && ` +
       `TABLAS=$(gunzip -c ${out} | grep -c 'CREATE TABLE') && ` +
       `echo "tablas capturadas: $TABLAS" && ` +
diff --git a/docs/DEPLOY_AND_MIGRATIONS.md b/docs/DEPLOY_AND_MIGRATIONS.md
index 8298f65..396fba7 100644
--- a/docs/DEPLOY_AND_MIGRATIONS.md
+++ b/docs/DEPLOY_AND_MIGRATIONS.md
@@ -294,10 +294,19 @@ a warning, which is what local development wants.
 Two more things the panel's dumps now do, for the same reasons the pre-migrate
 backup does them (see `deploy/scripts/pre-migrate-backup.mjs`):
 
-- **`--set-gtid-purged=OFF`.** galactus is the replication *source* with GTID
-  on, so without this every dump embeds `SET @@GLOBAL.GTID_PURGED` and cannot be
-  restored onto the server it came from — which is precisely what the restore
-  screen exists to do.
+- **`--set-gtid-purged=OFF`, but only when the dumper supports it.** galactus is
+  the replication *source* with GTID on, so on a MySQL client this flag is what
+  keeps every dump from embedding `SET @@GLOBAL.GTID_PURGED` and becoming
+  unrestorable onto the server it came from — which is precisely what the
+  restore screen exists to do. The panel, however, dumps from *inside the API
+  container*, where Alpine's `mysql-client` is MariaDB's: there `mysqldump` is a
+  shim over `mariadb-dump`, the flag does not exist, and passing it failed every
+  backup with `mysqldump: unknown variable 'set-gtid-purged=OFF'`. So the panel
+  probes `mysqldump --help` and passes the flag only if it is advertised,
+  invoking `mariadb-dump` directly otherwise (MariaDB writes no GTID state
+  unless asked with `--gtid`, so there is nothing to suppress). The pre-migrate
+  backup keeps the flag unconditionally — it runs in a real `mysql:8.4` image,
+  not in the API container.
 - **`set -o pipefail` and a `CREATE TABLE` count.** `mysqldump | gzip` reports
   gzip's exit status, and a `mysqldump` that dies on its first statement still
   produces a ~372-byte perfectly valid archive that passes `gzip -t`. Without