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

• Core pull-backup skill (v0.1)
• Size VERIFY against truncated/0-byte snapshots (v0.2)
• Fleet .bat + per-server status + log (v0.2)
• Server-side freshness watchdog (v0.2)
• Server-side "did it finish" checks + true-size tar probe (v0.3)
• Multi-server dashboard
• Self-hosted control plane

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.

Need this done for you?

The stack behind this repo runs as a service: marketing engineering, turnkey — Sprint $900 one-time, Engine $1,900/month, full build $2,900. Scope and prices are published before the first call. If you run a local or multi-site business, the countable version of the same work is here: marketing engineer for local business.