Zerobyte

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[!WARNING] Zerobyte is still in version 0.x.x and is subject to major changes from version to version. I am developing the core features and collecting feedback. Please open issues for bugs or feature requests.

Introduction

Zerobyte is a backup automation tool that helps you save your data across multiple storage backends. Built on top of Restic, it provides an modern web interface to schedule, manage, and monitor encrypted backups of your remote storage.

Documentation

The official documentation website is available at zerobyte.app.

It contains up-to-date setup guides, configuration reference, and usage documentation for running Zerobyte in production.

Features

• Automated backups with encryption, compression, and retention policies, powered by Restic
• Flexible scheduling for automated backup jobs with fine-grained retention policies
• End-to-end encryption will ensure your data is always protected
• Multi-protocol support for backup from NFS, SMB, WebDAV, SFTP, or local directories

Installation

In order to run Zerobyte, you need to have Docker and Docker Compose installed on your server. Then, you can use the provided compose.yaml file to start the application.

services:
  zerobyte:
    image: ghcr.io/nicotsx/zerobyte:v0.44
    container_name: zerobyte
    restart: unless-stopped
    cap_add:
      - SYS_ADMIN
    ports:
      - "4096:4096"
    devices:
      - /dev/fuse:/dev/fuse
    environment:
      - TZ=Europe/Zurich # Set your timezone here
      - BASE_URL=http://localhost:4096 # URL you will use to access Zerobyte
      - APP_SECRET=94bad46...c66e25d5c2b # Generate your own secret with `openssl rand -hex 32`
    volumes:
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
      - /var/lib/zerobyte:/var/lib/zerobyte

[!WARNING] It is highly discouraged to run Zerobyte on a server that is accessible from the internet (VPS or home server with port forwarding). If you do, make sure to change the port mapping to "127.0.0.1:4096:4096" and use a secure tunnel (SSH tunnel, Cloudflare Tunnel, etc.) with authentication.

[!WARNING] Do not try to point /var/lib/zerobyte to a network share. You will face permission issues and strong performance degradation.

[!NOTE] TrueNAS Users: The host path /var/lib is ephemeral on TrueNAS and will be reset during system upgrades. Instead of using /var/lib/zerobyte:/var/lib/zerobyte, create a dedicated ZFS dataset (e.g., tank/docker/zerobyte) and mount it instead:

volumes:
  - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
  - /mnt/tank/docker/zerobyte:/var/lib/zerobyte

This ensures your configuration, encryption keys, and database persist across TrueNAS upgrades.

Then, run the following command to start Zerobyte:

docker compose up -d

Once the container is running, you can access the web interface at http://<your-server-ip>:4096.

Configuration

Zerobyte can be customized using environment variables. Below are the available options:

This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗