CLI Reference

All commands are run as root (they read /etc/s3dbbackup/config.json and may write systemd units and local backups).

s3dbbackup <command>

Command	What it does
setup	Interactive first-time setup wizard
backup	Run a backup now (also called by the systemd timer)
extract	Browse S3 backups and download one
status	Show config, last run, and next scheduled run
version	Print the version

setup

Runs the interactive wizard: S3 connection, folder, connection test, database selection, local copy, frequency, retention, Discord alerts, then installs the systemd timer.

sudo s3dbbackup setup

Use it the first time, or any time you want to change what is backed up, how often, retention, or notifications.

backup

Runs one full backup cycle immediately: dumps each configured database, uploads to S3, keeps a local copy, enforces retention, and sends notifications. This is exactly what the systemd timer invokes.

sudo s3dbbackup backup

Example output:

[*] Backup started for 2 database(s) at 2026-06-30_18-00-01
  - Dumping postgresql/app_production ...
    Uploading to s3://.../s3dbbackup/postgresql/app_production/2026-06-30_18-00-01.sql.gz (12.84 MiB)
    Retention removed s3://.../s3dbbackup/postgresql/app_production/2026-06-23_18-00-01.sql.gz
    [OK] app_production
  - Dumping mysql/wordpress ...
    Uploading to s3://.../s3dbbackup/mysql/wordpress/2026-06-30_18-00-02.sql.gz (3.21 MiB)
    [OK] wordpress
[*] Backup finished. 2 ok, 0 failed.

Exit code is 0 when every database succeeded, 1 if any failed.

extract

Opens the interactive extractor — connect to S3, browse a tree of every stored backup, pick one, and download it (optionally decompressing). See The Extractor for a full walkthrough.

sudo s3dbbackup extract

status

Prints your configuration, the last run result, and the next scheduled run.

sudo s3dbbackup status

Example output:

╭──────────── S3 DB Backup — Configuration ────────────╮
│ Endpoint         https://<id>.r2.cloudflarestorage.com │
│ Bucket / folder  my-vps-backups/s3dbbackup             │
│ Region           auto                                  │
│ Databases        postgresql:app_production, mysql:wordpress │
│ Schedule         Every day (midnight)                  │
│ Max copies       7                                     │
│ Local copy       /var/backups/s3dbbackup               │
│ Notifications    on: trigger,success,failure,error     │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
Last run: 2026-06-30T18:00:03  (failures: 0)

version

s3dbbackup version
# s3dbbackup 1.0.0

Running on a schedule

The wizard installs a systemd timer, but you can manage it directly:

systemctl list-timers s3dbbackup.timer      # when does it run next?
systemctl status s3dbbackup.timer           # is it active?
journalctl -u s3dbbackup.service --no-pager # run logs
sudo systemctl start s3dbbackup.service     # trigger a run via systemd