backup-manager Skill

Manage local and cloud backups — list status, create backups, restore, monitor health.

Installation

This skill is automatically available in OpenClaw. The backup-manager CLI is located at:

~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/backup-manager/backup-manager

Commands

List Backups

backup-manager list

Lists all backups including Time Machine, configured backups, and rsync snapshots.

Create Backup

backup-manager create <name> <source> <destination>

Creates a new backup from source to destination.

Examples:

# Backup home directory
backup-manager create home /Users/pp /Volumes/Backup/home

# Backup documents
backup-manager create documents ~/Documents /Volumes/Backup/docs

# Backup to network location
backup-manager create server ~/Documents /mnt/server/backup

Check Status

backup-manager status

Shows backup status including:

• Time Machine status
• Last backup times
• Disk space availability
• Configured backup destinations

Restore from Backup

backup-manager restore <source> <destination>

Restores files from a backup location to a destination.

Examples:

backup-manager restore /Volumes/Backup/home /Users/pp

Schedule Backups

# List scheduled backups
backup-manager schedule list

# Add a schedule (cron expression)
backup-manager schedule add <backup-name> "<cron>"

# Remove a schedule
backup-manager schedule remove <backup-name>

Cron Examples:

# Daily at 2 AM
backup-manager schedule add daily-home '0 2 * * *'

# Weekly on Sundays at 3 AM
backup-manager schedule add weekly-docs '0 3 * * 0'

# Every 6 hours
backup-manager schedule add frequent '0 */6 * * *'

Cloud Backup (rclone)

# Check cloud status
backup-manager cloud status

# Sync to cloud
backup-manager cloud sync <remote-name> <local-path>

Rclone Examples:

# Configure a remote (run once)
rclone config

# Sync local folder to Google Drive
backup-manager cloud sync mydrive /Users/pp/Backup

# Sync to S3
backup-manager cloud sync s3-backup /Users/pp/Backup

Configuration

The configuration file is stored at:

~/.config/openclaw/backups.json

Structure:

{
  "backups": [
    {
      "name": "home",
      "source": "/Users/pp",
      "destination": "/Volumes/Backup/home",
      "last_run": "2024-01-15T02:00:00-08:00"
    }
  ],
  "schedules": [
    {
      "name": "schedule-1",
      "backup_name": "home",
      "cron": "0 2 * * *"
    }
  ],
  "cloud": {
    "rclone": {
      "enabled": false,
      "remote": ""
    }
  }
}

Requirements

The skill uses these macOS/Unix tools (installed by default on macOS):

• rsync - File synchronization
• tmutil - Time Machine (macOS)
• diskutil - Disk management (macOS)
• jq - JSON parsing
• rclone - Cloud sync (optional, install via brew install rclone)

If a tool is missing, the skill handles it gracefully and provides warnings.

Features

1. Time Machine Integration - Detects and manages Time Machine backups
2. Rsync Backups - Efficient incremental backups using rsync
3. Cron Scheduling - Schedule recurring backups via cron
4. Cloud Support - rclone integration for cloud backups (S3, GDrive, etc.)
5. Config Management - JSON-based configuration with backup history

Notes

• Backups are incremental by default (rsync -a)
• The skill prompts for confirmation before restoring
• Use absolute paths for reliability
• Ensure backup destinations have sufficient disk space