Configuration reference

Configuration file ¶

Here is a full sample borgmatic configuration file including all available options:

# Where to look for files to backup, and where to store those backups.
# See https://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/quickstart.html and
# https://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/usage/create.html
# for details.
location:
    # List of source directories to backup (required). Globs and
    # tildes are expanded. Do not backslash spaces in path names.
    source_directories:
        - /home
        - /etc
        - /var/log/syslog*
        - /home/user/path with spaces

    # Paths to local or remote repositories (required). Tildes are
    # expanded. Multiple repositories are backed up to in
    # sequence. Borg placeholders can be used. See the output of
    # "borg help placeholders" for details. See ssh_command for
    # SSH options like identity file or port. If systemd service
    # is used, then add local repository paths in the systemd
    # service file to the ReadWritePaths list.
    repositories:
        - user@backupserver:sourcehostname.borg
        - user@backupserver:{fqdn}

    # Stay in same file system (do not cross mount points).
    # Defaults to false. But when a database hook is used, the
    # setting here is ignored and one_file_system is considered
    # true.
    # one_file_system: true

    # Only store/extract numeric user and group identifiers.
    # Defaults to false.
    # numeric_owner: true

    # Store atime into archive. Defaults to true.
    # atime: false

    # Store ctime into archive. Defaults to true.
    # ctime: false

    # Store birthtime (creation date) into archive. Defaults to
    # true.
    # birthtime: false

    # Use Borg's --read-special flag to allow backup of block and
    # other special devices. Use with caution, as it will lead to
    # problems if used when backing up special devices such as
    # /dev/zero. Defaults to false. But when a database hook is
    # used, the setting here is ignored and read_special is
    # considered true.
    # read_special: false

    # Record bsdflags (e.g. NODUMP, IMMUTABLE) in archive.
    # Defaults to true.
    # bsd_flags: true

    # Mode in which to operate the files cache. See
    # http://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/usage/create.html
    # for details. Defaults to "ctime,size,inode".
    # files_cache: ctime,size,inode

    # Alternate Borg local executable. Defaults to "borg".
    # local_path: borg1

    # Alternate Borg remote executable. Defaults to "borg".
    # remote_path: borg1

    # Any paths matching these patterns are included/excluded from
    # backups. Globs are expanded. (Tildes are not.) Note that
    # Borg considers this option experimental. See the output of
    # "borg help patterns" for more details. Quote any value if it
    # contains leading punctuation, so it parses correctly.
    # patterns:
        # - R /
        # - '- /home/*/.cache'
        # - + /home/susan
        # - '- /home/*'

    # Read include/exclude patterns from one or more separate
    # named files, one pattern per line. Note that Borg considers
    # this option experimental. See the output of "borg help
    # patterns" for more details.
    # patterns_from:
        # - /etc/borgmatic/patterns

    # Any paths matching these patterns are excluded from backups.
    # Globs and tildes are expanded. (Note however that a glob
    # pattern must either start with a glob or be an absolute
    # path.) Do not backslash spaces in path names. See the output
    # of "borg help patterns" for more details.
    # exclude_patterns:
        # - '*.pyc'
        # - /home/*/.cache
        # - '*/.vim*.tmp'
        # - /etc/ssl
        # - /home/user/path with spaces

    # Read exclude patterns from one or more separate named files,
    # one pattern per line. See the output of "borg help patterns"
    # for more details.
    # exclude_from:
        # - /etc/borgmatic/excludes

    # Exclude directories that contain a CACHEDIR.TAG file. See
    # http://www.brynosaurus.com/cachedir/spec.html for details.
    # Defaults to false.
    # exclude_caches: true

    # Exclude directories that contain a file with the given
    # filenames. Defaults to not set.
    # exclude_if_present:
        # - .nobackup

    # If true, the exclude_if_present filename is included in
    # backups. Defaults to false, meaning that the
    # exclude_if_present filename is omitted from backups.
    # keep_exclude_tags: true

    # Exclude files with the NODUMP flag. Defaults to false.
    # exclude_nodump: true

    # Path for additional source files used for temporary internal
    # state like borgmatic database dumps. Note that changing this
    # path prevents "borgmatic restore" from finding any database
    # dumps created before the change. Defaults to ~/.borgmatic
    # borgmatic_source_directory: /tmp/borgmatic

# Repository storage options. See
# https://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/usage/create.html and
# https://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/usage/general.html for
# details.
# storage:
    # The standard output of this command is used to unlock the
    # encryption key. Only use on repositories that were
    # initialized with passcommand/repokey/keyfile encryption.
    # Note that if both encryption_passcommand and
    # encryption_passphrase are set, then encryption_passphrase
    # takes precedence. Defaults to not set.
    # encryption_passcommand: secret-tool lookup borg-repository repo-name

    # Passphrase to unlock the encryption key with. Only use on
    # repositories that were initialized with
    # passphrase/repokey/keyfile encryption. Quote the value if it
    # contains punctuation, so it parses correctly. And backslash
    # any quote or backslash literals as well. Defaults to not
    # set.
    # encryption_passphrase: "!\"#$%&'()*+,-./:;<=>?@[\\]^_`{|}~"

    # Number of seconds between each checkpoint during a
    # long-running backup. See
    # https://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/faq.html
    # for details. Defaults to checkpoints every 1800 seconds (30
    # minutes).
    # checkpoint_interval: 1800

    # Specify the parameters passed to then chunker
    # (CHUNK_MIN_EXP, CHUNK_MAX_EXP, HASH_MASK_BITS,
    # HASH_WINDOW_SIZE). See
    # https://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/internals.html
    # for details. Defaults to "19,23,21,4095".
    # chunker_params: 19,23,21,4095

    # Type of compression to use when creating archives. See
    # http://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/usage/create.html
    # for details. Defaults to "lz4".
    # compression: lz4

    # Remote network upload rate limit in kiBytes/second. Defaults
    # to unlimited.
    # remote_rate_limit: 100

    # Number of times to retry a failing backup before giving up.
    # Defaults to 0 (i.e., does not attempt retry).
    # retries: 3

    # Wait time between retries (in seconds) to allow transient
    # issues to pass. Increases after each retry as a form of
    # backoff. Defaults to 0 (no wait).
    # retry_wait: 10

    # Directory where temporary files are stored. Defaults to
    # $TMPDIR
    # temporary_directory: /path/to/tmpdir

    # Command to use instead of "ssh". This can be used to specify
    # ssh options.  Defaults to not set.
    # ssh_command: ssh -i /path/to/private/key

    # Base path used for various Borg directories. Defaults to
    # $HOME, ~$USER, or ~.
    # borg_base_directory: /path/to/base

    # Path for Borg configuration files. Defaults to
    # $borg_base_directory/.config/borg
    # borg_config_directory: /path/to/base/config

    # Path for Borg cache files. Defaults to
    # $borg_base_directory/.cache/borg
    # borg_cache_directory: /path/to/base/cache

    # Path for Borg security and encryption nonce files. Defaults
    # to $borg_base_directory/.config/borg/security
    # borg_security_directory: /path/to/base/config/security

    # Path for Borg encryption key files. Defaults to
    # $borg_base_directory/.config/borg/keys
    # borg_keys_directory: /path/to/base/config/keys

    # Umask to be used for borg create. Defaults to 0077.
    # umask: 0077

    # Maximum seconds to wait for acquiring a repository/cache
    # lock. Defaults to 1.
    # lock_wait: 5

    # Name of the archive. Borg placeholders can be used. See the
    # output of "borg help placeholders" for details. Defaults to
    # "{hostname}-{now:%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%f}". If you specify this
    # option, you must also specify a prefix in the retention
    # section to avoid accidental pruning of archives with a
    # different archive name format. And you should also specify a
    # prefix in the consistency section as well.
    # archive_name_format: '{hostname}-documents-{now}'

    # Bypass Borg error about a repository that has been moved.
    # Defaults to false.
    # relocated_repo_access_is_ok: true

    # Bypass Borg error about a previously unknown unencrypted
    # repository. Defaults to false.
    # unknown_unencrypted_repo_access_is_ok: true

    # Additional options to pass directly to particular Borg
    # commands, handy for Borg options that borgmatic does not yet
    # support natively. Note that borgmatic does not perform any
    # validation on these options. Running borgmatic with
    # "--verbosity 2" shows the exact Borg command-line
    # invocation.
    # extra_borg_options:
        # Extra command-line options to pass to "borg init".
        # init: --make-parent-dirs

        # Extra command-line options to pass to "borg prune".
        # prune: --save-space

        # Extra command-line options to pass to "borg create".
        # create: --no-files-cache

        # Extra command-line options to pass to "borg check".
        # check: --save-space

# Retention policy for how many backups to keep in each category. See
# https://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/usage/prune.html for
# details. At least one of the "keep" options is required for pruning
# to work. To skip pruning entirely, run "borgmatic create" or "check"
# without the "prune" action. See borgmatic documentation for details.
retention:
    # Keep all archives within this time interval.
    # keep_within: 3H

    # Number of secondly archives to keep.
    # keep_secondly: 60

    # Number of minutely archives to keep.
    # keep_minutely: 60

    # Number of hourly archives to keep.
    # keep_hourly: 24

    # Number of daily archives to keep.
    keep_daily: 7

    # Number of weekly archives to keep.
    # keep_weekly: 4

    # Number of monthly archives to keep.
    # keep_monthly: 6

    # Number of yearly archives to keep.
    # keep_yearly: 1

    # When pruning, only consider archive names starting with this
    # prefix.  Borg placeholders can be used. See the output of
    # "borg help placeholders" for details. Defaults to
    # "{hostname}-". Use an empty value to disable the default.
    # prefix: sourcehostname

# Consistency checks to run after backups. See
# https://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/usage/check.html and
# https://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/usage/extract.html for
# details.
# consistency:
    # List of one or more consistency checks to run: "repository",
    # "archives", "data", and/or "extract". Defaults to
    # "repository" and "archives". Set to "disabled" to disable
    # all consistency checks. "repository" checks the consistency
    # of the repository, "archives" checks all of the archives,
    # "data" verifies the integrity of the data within the
    # archives, and "extract" does an extraction dry-run of the
    # most recent archive. Note that "data" implies "archives".
    # checks:
        # - repository
        # - archives

    # Paths to a subset of the repositories in the location
    # section on which to run consistency checks. Handy in case
    # some of your repositories are very large, and so running
    # consistency checks on them would take too long. Defaults to
    # running consistency checks on all repositories configured in
    # the location section.
    # check_repositories:
        # - user@backupserver:sourcehostname.borg

    # Restrict the number of checked archives to the last n.
    # Applies only to the "archives" check. Defaults to checking
    # all archives.
    # check_last: 3

    # When performing the "archives" check, only consider archive
    # names starting with this prefix. Borg placeholders can be
    # used. See the output of "borg help placeholders" for
    # details. Defaults to "{hostname}-". Use an empty value to
    # disable the default.
    # prefix: sourcehostname

# Options for customizing borgmatic's own output and logging.
# output:
    # Apply color to console output. Can be overridden with
    # --no-color command-line flag. Defaults to true.
    # color: false

# Shell commands, scripts, or integrations to execute at various
# points during a borgmatic run. IMPORTANT: All provided commands and
# scripts are executed with user permissions of borgmatic. Do not
# forget to set secure permissions on this configuration file (chmod
# 0600) as well as on any script called from a hook (chmod 0700) to
# prevent potential shell injection or privilege escalation.
# hooks:
    # List of one or more shell commands or scripts to execute
    # before creating a backup, run once per configuration file.
    # before_backup:
        # - echo "Starting a backup."

    # List of one or more shell commands or scripts to execute
    # before pruning, run once per configuration file.
    # before_prune:
        # - echo "Starting pruning."

    # List of one or more shell commands or scripts to execute
    # before consistency checks, run once per configuration file.
    # before_check:
        # - echo "Starting checks."

    # List of one or more shell commands or scripts to execute
    # before extracting a backup, run once per configuration file.
    # before_extract:
        # - echo "Starting extracting."

    # List of one or more shell commands or scripts to execute
    # after creating a backup, run once per configuration file.
    # after_backup:
        # - echo "Finished a backup."

    # List of one or more shell commands or scripts to execute
    # after pruning, run once per configuration file.
    # after_prune:
        # - echo "Finished pruning."

    # List of one or more shell commands or scripts to execute
    # after consistency checks, run once per configuration file.
    # after_check:
        # - echo "Finished checks."

    # List of one or more shell commands or scripts to execute
    # after extracting a backup, run once per configuration file.
    # after_extract:
        # - echo "Finished extracting."

    # List of one or more shell commands or scripts to execute
    # when an exception occurs during a "prune", "create", or
    # "check" action or an associated before/after hook.
    # on_error:
        # - echo "Error during prune/create/check."

    # List of one or more shell commands or scripts to execute
    # before running all actions (if one of them is "create").
    # These are collected from all configuration files and then
    # run once before all of them (prior to all actions).
    # before_everything:
        # - echo "Starting actions."

    # List of one or more shell commands or scripts to execute
    # after running all actions (if one of them is "create").
    # These are collected from all configuration files and then
    # run once after all of them (after any action).
    # after_everything:
        # - echo "Completed actions."

    # List of one or more PostgreSQL databases to dump before
    # creating a backup, run once per configuration file. The
    # database dumps are added to your source directories at
    # runtime, backed up, and removed afterwards. Requires
    # pg_dump/pg_dumpall/pg_restore commands. See
    # https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/app-pgdump.html and
    # https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/libpq-ssl.html for
    # details.
    # postgresql_databases:
        # Database name (required if using this hook). Or
        # "all" to dump all databases on the host. Note
        # that using this database hook implicitly enables
        # both read_special and one_file_system (see
        # above) to support dump and restore streaming.
        # - name: users

          # Database hostname to connect to. Defaults to
          # connecting via local Unix socket.
          # hostname: database.example.org

          # Port to connect to. Defaults to 5432.
          # port: 5433

          # Username with which to connect to the database.
          # Defaults to the username of the current user.
          # You probably want to specify the "postgres"
          # superuser here when the database name is "all".
          # username: dbuser

          # Password with which to connect to the database.
          # Omitting a password will only work if PostgreSQL
          # is configured to trust the configured username
          # without a password or you create a ~/.pgpass
          # file.
          # password: trustsome1

          # Database dump output format. One of "plain",
          # "custom", "directory", or "tar". Defaults to
          # "custom" (unlike raw pg_dump). See pg_dump
          # documentation for details. Note that format is
          # ignored when the database name is "all".
          # format: directory

          # SSL mode to use to connect to the database
          # server. One of "disable", "allow", "prefer",
          # "require", "verify-ca" or "verify-full".
          # Defaults to "disable".
          # ssl_mode: require

          # Path to a client certificate.
          # ssl_cert: /root/.postgresql/postgresql.crt

          # Path to a private client key.
          # ssl_key: /root/.postgresql/postgresql.key

          # Path to a root certificate containing a list of
          # trusted certificate authorities.
          # ssl_root_cert: /root/.postgresql/root.crt

          # Path to a certificate revocation list.
          # ssl_crl: /root/.postgresql/root.crl

          # Additional pg_dump/pg_dumpall options to pass
          # directly to the dump command, without performing
          # any validation on them. See pg_dump
          # documentation for details.
          # options: --role=someone

    # List of one or more MySQL/MariaDB databases to dump before
    # creating a backup, run once per configuration file. The
    # database dumps are added to your source directories at
    # runtime, backed up, and removed afterwards. Requires
    # mysqldump/mysql commands (from either MySQL or MariaDB). See
    # https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/mysqldump.html or
    # https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/mysqldump/ for details.
    # mysql_databases:
        # Database name (required if using this hook). Or
        # "all" to dump all databases on the host. Note
        # that using this database hook implicitly enables
        # both read_special and one_file_system (see
        # above) to support dump and restore streaming.
        # - name: users

          # Database hostname to connect to. Defaults to
          # connecting via local Unix socket.
          # hostname: database.example.org

          # Port to connect to. Defaults to 3306.
          # port: 3307

          # Username with which to connect to the database.
          # Defaults to the username of the current user.
          # username: dbuser

          # Password with which to connect to the database.
          # Omitting a password will only work if MySQL is
          # configured to trust the configured username
          # without a password.
          # password: trustsome1

          # Additional mysql options to pass directly to
          # the mysql command that lists available
          # databases, without performing any validation on
          # them. See mysql documentation for details.
          # list_options: --defaults-extra-file=my.cnf

          # Additional mysqldump options to pass directly to
          # the dump command, without performing any
          # validation on them. See mysqldump documentation
          # for details.
          # options: --skip-comments

    # List of one or more MongoDB databases to dump before
    # creating a backup, run once per configuration file. The
    # database dumps are added to your source directories at
    # runtime, backed up, and removed afterwards. Requires
    # mongodump/mongorestore commands. See
    # https://docs.mongodb.com/database-tools/mongodump/ and
    # https://docs.mongodb.com/database-tools/mongorestore/ for
    # details.
    # mongodb_databases:
        # Database name (required if using this hook). Or
        # "all" to dump all databases on the host. Note
        # that using this database hook implicitly enables
        # both read_special and one_file_system (see
        # above) to support dump and restore streaming.
        # - name: users

          # Database hostname to connect to. Defaults to
          # connecting to localhost.
          # hostname: database.example.org

          # Port to connect to. Defaults to 27017.
          # port: 27018

          # Username with which to connect to the database.
          # Skip it if no authentication is needed.
          # username: dbuser

          # Password with which to connect to the database.
          # Skip it if no authentication is needed.
          # password: trustsome1

          # Authentication database where the specified
          # username exists. If no authentication database
          # is specified, the database provided in "name"
          # is used. If "name" is "all", the "admin"
          # database is used.
          # authentication_database: admin

          # Database dump output format. One of "archive",
          # or "directory". Defaults to "archive". See 
          # mongodump documentation for details. Note that 
          # format is ignored when the database name is
          # "all".
          # format: directory

          # Additional mongodump options to pass
          # directly to the dump command, without performing
          # any validation on them. See mongodump
          # documentation for details.
          # options: --role=someone

    # Healthchecks ping URL or UUID to notify when a backup
    # begins, ends, or errors. Create an account at
    # https://healthchecks.io if you'd like to use this service.
    # See borgmatic monitoring documentation for details.
    # healthchecks: https://hc-ping.com/your-uuid-here

    # Cronitor ping URL to notify when a backup begins, ends, or
    # errors. Create an account at https://cronitor.io if you'd
    # like to use this service. See borgmatic monitoring
    # documentation for details.
    # cronitor: https://cronitor.link/d3x0c1

    # PagerDuty integration key used to notify PagerDuty when a
    # backup errors. Create an account at
    # https://www.pagerduty.com/ if you'd like to use this
    # service. See borgmatic monitoring documentation for details.
    # pagerduty: a177cad45bd374409f78906a810a3074

    # Cronhub ping URL to notify when a backup begins, ends, or
    # errors. Create an account at https://cronhub.io if you'd
    # like to use this service. See borgmatic monitoring
    # documentation for details.
    # cronhub: https://cronhub.io/start/1f5e3410-254c-11e8-b61d-55875966d01

    # Umask used when executing hooks. Defaults to the umask that
    # borgmatic is run with.
    # umask: 0077

Note that you can also download this configuration file for use locally.

Related documentation ¶

• Set up backups with borgmatic
• borgmatic command-line reference

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