Claude Backup

Overview

Claude Code keeps its most valuable state on one disk: per-project memories in ~/.claude/projects/<slug>/memory/, skills, CLAUDE.md files and settings. This skill gives the user a small bash script plus a scheduler job that mirror the durable parts of that state into a private git repo every week, and a documented way to put it all back on a new machine.

Three design rules make it safe to run unattended. Keep them intact:

1. 1Allowlist, not denylist. Only the paths listed in references/scope.md are copied. Whatever Claude Code adds to ~/.claude next (caches, transcripts, token files) stays out by default.
2. 2Exact mirror of four roots. dotclaude/, dotclaude-projects/, claude-mds/ and dotfiles/ are rebuilt from scratch each run and are the only paths the script ever stages. Nothing else in the repo can be swept into a backup commit. Deletions propagate; git history keeps the old file.
3. 3Snapshot, not incremental. A missed week loses nothing; the next run captures the current state.

Bundled files, relative to this skill's directory (${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}; if that is empty, use the base directory shown when this skill loaded):

Which task?

Setup

1. Confirm the inputs

Five facts decide everything. Ask only for the ones the conversation has not already supplied, and propose the default for each.

Check visibility rather than assuming: when the remote is on GitHub and gh is installed, gh repo view --json visibility -q .visibility must print PRIVATE; otherwise ask the user to confirm. If the repo is public, stop and say so. Do not continue with a public repo.

2. Copy the bundled files into the repo

Copy the scripts into the backup repo instead of running them from the skill directory. The script finds its repo with git rev-parse --show-toplevel on its own location, and a repo that carries its own tooling can be restored on a machine that does not have this skill installed. From the repo root:

mkdir -p claude-backup/bin claude-backup/launchd claude-backup/systemd
cp "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}"/scripts/claude-backup "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}"/scripts/install-launchd \
   "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}"/scripts/install-systemd "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}"/scripts/smoke-test claude-backup/bin/
cp "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}"/assets/local.claude-backup.plist claude-backup/launchd/
cp "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}"/assets/claude-backup.service "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}"/assets/claude-backup.timer claude-backup/systemd/
chmod +x claude-backup/bin/*
grep -qx '.DS_Store' .gitignore 2>/dev/null || echo '.DS_Store' >> .gitignore

3. Apply the inputs

• Non-default projects dir, shell rc or Claude dir: set PROJECTS_DIR,

SHELL_RC (and, rarely, CLAUDE_DIR) as environment variables in the scheduler definition rather than editing the script, so the script stays byte-identical to the tested one. launchd: add keys to the plist's EnvironmentVariables dict. systemd: add Environment=PROJECTS_DIR=/path lines to the service unit. For manual runs, export them in the shell or note them in the README. The script refuses to run, naming the variable, when PROJECTS_DIR or SHELL_RC does not resolve, so a manual run that forgets an export fails loudly instead of committing an empty mirror root.

• Schedule: edit StartCalendarInterval in the plist (Weekday 0 is

Sunday, 6 is Saturday) or OnCalendar= in the timer.

4. Prove it works before touching the real repo

claude-backup/bin/smoke-test

The test builds a fake HOME and a scratch repo with a bare origin, runs the backup six times and checks 33 things: what is mirrored, what is excluded, that the log reports per-root counts, that deletions propagate, that an unrelated file is never committed, that a no-op run makes no commit, that the wrong branch is refused, and that a missing projects dir or shell rc is refused rather than emptying a mirror root. Expect 33 passed, 0 failed. It works entirely inside a temporary directory under $TMPDIR and never touches the real ~/.claude or the real repo. Fix any failure before continuing: an unattended job that is wrong on day one is wrong every week.

5. Look for secrets before the first commit

The mirror is an allowlist, but a few allowed files commonly carry secrets: settings.json and settings.local.json (env blocks, MCP server configs) and the shell rc (export SOME_TOKEN=). Check the live sources:

grep -n -i -E 'sk-[a-z0-9]|ghp_|AKIA|token|secret|password|api[_-]?key' \
  ~/.claude/settings.json ~/.claude/settings.local.json <shell rc> \
  <projects dir>/*/.claude/settings.local.json 2>/dev/null

Substitute the shell rc and projects dir confirmed in step 1; with the defaults that is ~/.zshrc and ~/projects.

Show every hit and let the user decide: move the secret into a separate, unmirrored file that the rc sources, or accept it because the repo is private. Do not continue past a hit without the user's answer.

6. Commit the tooling and write the README

Render assets/REPO-README.md into the repo's README.md, filling in {{SCHEDULE}} (for example "Runs every Saturday at 12:00 local time via launchd"), {{PROJECTS_DIR}}, {{SHELL_RC}}, {{SHELL_RC_NAME}} (the rc file name without its leading dot, for example zshrc) and {{REPO_PATH}} (where the user keeps this clone). Then commit by hand, because the backup script only ever stages the four mirror roots:

git add claude-backup README.md .gitignore
git commit -m "Add claude-backup: weekly mirror of Claude Code config"
git push

7. First run, by hand

claude-backup/bin/claude-backup
git log -1 --stat
git status -sb

The script prints timestamped log lines, including how many memory files, project .claude/ directories and project CLAUDE.md files were mirrored. Expect a commit titled backup: <date> — N file(s) changed and main...origin/main in sync.

8. Install the scheduler

macOS:

claude-backup/bin/install-launchd
launchctl print "gui/$(id -u)/local.claude-backup" | grep -E 'state|last exit code'

Linux:

claude-backup/bin/install-systemd
systemctl --user list-timers claude-backup.timer
loginctl enable-linger "$USER"

Prefer these over cron. launchd's StartCalendarInterval and systemd's Persistent=true both fire a missed run when the machine wakes; cron skips it silently. The Linux installer was authored on macOS and syntax-checked only, so confirm the timer is listed.

9. Report

Tell the user what was mirrored (the script's count), the commit on origin, when the next run is, where the log lives, and the one-line command to back up by hand.

Run now

From anywhere inside the repo: claude-backup/bin/claude-backup. Safe at any time; a run with nothing new logs "nothing to back up" and exits 0. Through the scheduler: launchctl kickstart "gui/$(id -u)/local.claude-backup" or systemctl --user start claude-backup.service.

Check

• git -C <repo> log --oneline -8: expect backup: commits on schedule. A

quiet week makes no commit; that is the no-op path, not a failure.

• Log: tail -n 30 ~/Library/Logs/claude-backup.log on macOS,

journalctl --user -u claude-backup -n 30 on Linux.

• Job state: launchctl print "gui/$(id -u)/local.claude-backup" | grep -E 'state|last exit code'

or systemctl --user status claude-backup.timer.

• Failures raise a desktop notification and a log line starting ERROR:.

Causes and fixes are in references/restore.md.

Restore

Follow references/restore.md. In short: clone the backup repo, rsync dotclaude/ into ~/.claude/ (this overwrites same-named files, so say so first), copy per-project .claude/ and CLAUDE.md only for projects that exist on the new machine, copy the shell rc, then re-run the installer so the new machine keeps backing up.

Schedule

Change the time in claude-backup/launchd/local.claude-backup.plist or claude-backup/systemd/claude-backup.timer, commit, and re-run the installer; it replaces the existing job. Turn it off with install-launchd --uninstall or install-systemd --uninstall. To widen what is backed up, read the "Extending" section of references/scope.md first.

Common mistakes

Quick reference