nightly-backup

nightly-backup — Hermes Backup Automation

Thin wrapper around hermes backup + encryption + optional remote upload + retention.

Procedure

1. Snapshot. Run:

   STAMP=$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)
   hermes backup -o /tmp/hermes-backup-$STAMP.zip
   

   hermes backup writes a zip of the Hermes home (config, skills, sessions, memory, cron jobs, logs) per Part 16. -q/--quick takes a fast snapshot of the critical state files instead.

2. Encrypt. Non-interactively — this runs from cron, so nothing may prompt.

   Route A — age with a keyfile (preferred):

   # One-time setup (NOT in the nightly run): generate the identity, store a
   # copy somewhere that is not this host.
   age-keygen -o ~/.age-backup-key && chmod 600 ~/.age-backup-key
   
   # Nightly: encrypt to the key's recipient (public half) — no prompt, and
   # the nightly path never needs the private key at all.
   age -r "$(age-keygen -y ~/.age-backup-key)" \
       -o /tmp/hermes-backup-$STAMP.tar.age /tmp/hermes-backup-$STAMP.tar
   

   (age -p is interactive passphrase mode — it cannot run from cron.)

   Route B — gpg symmetric with a passphrase:

   BACKUP_PASSPHRASE="${BACKUP_PASSPHRASE:-}"   # exported from ~/.hermes/.env via the cron/systemd EnvironmentFile
   gpg --batch --yes --symmetric --cipher-algo AES256 \
       --passphrase "$BACKUP_PASSPHRASE" \
       /tmp/hermes-backup-$STAMP.zip
   

   (There is no hermes secrets get for plain env vars — hermes secrets only manages Bitwarden/1Password vault sources. Read the passphrase from the environment instead, or pull it from a vault at runtime.)

   Then either way:

   shred -u /tmp/hermes-backup-$STAMP.zip
   

3. Upload. Based on remote: parameter:

   • s3://… → aws s3 cp <file> s3://bucket/prefix/
   • b2://… → rclone copy <file> b2:bucket/prefix/
   • ssh://… → rsync -av <file> user@host:/path/
   • local → move to ~/.hermes/backups/