CLI Reference

backupd [--config <path>] <command>

Global flag: --config / -c - path to config file (default ~/.backupd.yaml).

Commands

Command	Description
list	List configured plans
status [plan]	Show the last backup status for each plan (or one plan)
history <plan>	Show all snapshots for a plan
run <plan>	Execute a backup now
run <plan> --dry-run	Report what would be uploaded without writing anything
check	Validate the configuration and print a plan summary
restore <plan> <id>	Restore a snapshot to the current directory
restore <plan> <id> --dry-run	Report what would be restored without writing anything
prune <plan>	Apply the plan's retention policy now, then garbage-collect orphaned blocks
prune <plan> --dry-run	Report what would be deleted without deleting anything
daemon	Run the scheduler daemon
verify <plan> [id]	Verify snapshot integrity (all snapshots, or one)
export-systemd [plan]	Generate systemd timer + service units
completion <shell>	Generate shell completion (bash, zsh, fish)
help	Show help

check

backupd check

Validates the whole configuration and prints a summary per plan: sources, destination, schedule, encryption, and retention. Problems are reported as warnings and make check exit non-zero:

• file source paths that are not accessible
• cron schedules that do not parse
• encryption enabled without a passphrase

run

backupd run server               # execute the plan
backupd run server --dry-run     # show what would be uploaded

With --dry-run no data is written: storage uploads, hooks, snapshot state, and retention pruning are all skipped. The reported size is what a real run would upload.

export-systemd

backupd export-systemd server -o /etc/systemd/system

Flag	Shorthand	Description
--output	-o	Output directory for the generated unit files (default: current directory)
--binary		Path to the backupd binary used in the service unit (default: resolved from os.Executable())
--config		Path to config file (overrides the global flag for unit generation)

restore

backupd restore server <snapshot-id> --target /tmp/restore
backupd restore server <snapshot-id> --dry-run   # report without writing

• --target / -t - directory to restore into (defaults to the current directory)
• --dry-run - read the manifest and report each source (file count, bytes, blocks) and whether archive objects are present, without writing anything
• File sources are reconstructed block-by-block from the manifest; other sources are written as their stored archive (.sql, .tar).

prune

backupd prune server               # apply retention now
backupd prune server --dry-run     # report what would be deleted

Pruning normally happens automatically after every successful backup run; prune applies the plan's retention policy on demand, deleting the snapshots the policy no longer keeps and then garbage-collecting orphaned blocks. With --dry-run nothing is deleted - the snapshots and orphaned blocks that would be removed are reported.

verify

backupd verify server          # verify all snapshots
backupd verify server <id>     # verify one snapshot

Checks that every object referenced by a snapshot's manifest exists and decrypts successfully.

exit codes

• 0 - success
• non-zero - error (missing args, config errors, backup/restore failures)