Backupper
Free, encrypted, deduplicated backups of remote Linux servers — pulled from a Windows PC
with Restic, with zero software installed on the servers and a
built-in size VERIFY that catches silently truncated snapshots.
How it works
Restic runs on your Windows PC and streams a tar of each server over SSH straight into an
encrypted local repo. The servers only need tar + sshd (always present).
ssh root@SERVER "tar -C / -cf - ... /" | restic -r C:\backups\REPO backup --stdin
Features
- AES-256 client-side encryption — the key never leaves your PC.
- Deduplication — daily snapshots are nearly free after the first; interrupted runs
re-run cheaply (catch-up = dedup, not re-upload).
- No server-side agents — nothing to install or babysit on the servers.
- Verified by design — per-repo size thresholds flag 0-byte and truncated snapshots
that Restic silently saves as "OK" when the stream dies mid-run.
- Provable from the server side — no PC access? Confirm a pull really finished via
sshd session-duration / overlap checks, and probe the true tar size on the server.
- Free forever — Restic is BSD-2-Clause.
Quick start
npx skills add axelfreeman/backupper
Or drop this folder into any AI agent (Claude Code, Hermes, Cursor, etc.) and ask it to
"set up backups of my servers". The agent reads SKILL.md and does the rest — install,
key setup, repo init, the .bat wrapper, scheduling, and the size VERIFY.
Layout
| Path | What |
|---|
SKILL.md | The agent skill (works with any LLM) |
SKILL.lite.md | Compact version for low-context models |
llms.txt | Agent-discoverable index (when-to-use + key phrases) |
scripts/backup-server.bat | Single-server backup wrapper (template) |
scripts/backup-all.bat | Fleet wrapper: N servers, one scheduled task, [OK]/[FAIL] log, VERIFY |
scripts/verify-backups.ps1 | Per-repo size check vs thresholds |
scripts/backup_watchdog.sh | Server-side hourly freshness status (runs on any Linux box) |
scripts/measure-tar-size.sh | True-size tar probe on a server (truncation check) |
references/windows-setup.md | Install, SSH keys, Task Scheduler, catch-up, golden rules |
references/verification-and-failure-modes.md | Silent failure modes + how to catch them (PC + server side) |
references/database-dumps.md | Postgres/MySQL dump patterns |
examples/backup-demo.md | A full setup transcript |
Keywords
server backup · self-hosted backup · back up VPS · back up Linux server · automatic backup · scheduled backup · encrypted backup · deduplicated backup · free backup · no-cloud backup · restic backup · database backup · postgres backup · mysql backup · backup verification
Roadmap
Stay updated
Axel Freeman ships releases and improvements to this repo regularly. Watch + star the repo to get each new release automatically. See CHANGELOG.md.
License
Tool = Restic (BSD-2-Clause). This repo's own files = MIT.
