Last reviewed: 2025-12-08 / Plakar v1.0.6
Plakar intends to provide a simple and intuitive command line interface for managing your backups.
There are two syntaxes available: the simple syntax and the rich syntax.
While the simple syntax is easier to use for basic operations, the rich syntax provides more flexibility and is required for certain integrations that need additional parameters (e.g., credentials for S3, store the passphrase, etc.).
Simple Syntax
With the simple syntax, you can directly use the path to the resource. For example:
1# List the contents of the Kloset store located at /var/backups
2plakar at /var/backups ls
3
4# Back up the directory /etc into the default Kloset store, stored at ~/.plakar
5plakar backup /etc
6
7# Back up the directory /etc into a specific Kloset store
8plakar at /var/backups backup /etc
9
10# Restore the contents of the snapshot dc60f09a located in the default Kloset store at ~/.plakar into ./restore-dir
11plakar restore -to ./restore-dir dc60f09a
12
13# Restore the contents of the snapshot dc60f09a located in the Kloset store at /var/backups into ./restore-dir
14plakar at /var/backups restore -to ./restore-dir dc60f09a
The simple syntax is not limited to the filesystem. You can, for example, specify a store exposed by plakar server (requires the package http):
1plakar at http://127.0.0.1:9876/ ls
Or back up using the SFTP integration (requires the sftp package):
1plakar at /var/backups backup sftp://myserver/etc/resolv.conf
You can also use the sftp package to access a Kloset store hosted on an SFTP server:
1plakar at sftp://myserver/var/backups backup ./myfolder
Or even back up an SFTP server to a store hosted on another SFTP server:
1plakar at sftp://myserver/var/backups backup sftp://anotherserver/etc
Rich syntax
Some integrations require additional parameters. For example, the S3 integration requires an access key and a secret key. In this case, Plakar provides a rich syntax to reference resources configured with plakar store, plakar source and plakar destination.
Let’s look at some examples by creating a configuration for a Kloset store on a local MinIO instance:
1plakar store add myminio s3://localhost:9000/mybackups access_key=minioadmin secret_access_key=minioadmin use_tls=false passphrase=mysecretpassphrase
To reference the store in Plakar commands, use the @ syntax:
1plakar at @myminio create
2plakar at @myminio backup /etc
The syntax works exactly the same to reference a source to back up:
1# Configure the source
2plakar source add mybucket s3://localhost:9000/mybucket access_key=minioadmin secret_access_key=minioadmin use_tls=false
3
4# Back up mybucket into the default Kloset store, located at ~/.plakar
5plakar backup @mybucket
Or destinations:
1# Configure the destination
2plakar destination add mybucket s3://localhost:9000/mybucket access_key=minioadmin secret_access_key=minioadmin use_tls=false
3
4# Restore the path /etc/resolv.conf of the snapshot dc60f09a located in the default Kloset store at ~/.plakar into the bucket
5plakar restore -to @mybucket dc60f09a:/etc/resolv.conf
You can also mix these parameters to back up a source specified in the configuration to a Kloset store specified in the configuration:
1plakar at @myminio backup @mybucket