Docker Backup

An always-on container that backs up your other Docker containers — their volumes, databases, and compose files — all from a simple web page: run backups by hand, schedule automatic ones, and restore.

• One folder holds everything. Point the tool at a backup folder; after any reinstall, point it at the same folder and every old backup is found again.
• Notices new containers on its own — nothing to set up when you add one.
• Backs up stopped containers too (their data is still saved).

Safety note: the tool needs access to Docker so it can back up your containers, so run it only on a computer you trust. The web page is only reachable from your own computer.

Docs

• Install from source — beginner-friendly, step by step.
• Using the web page — the tabs, and what gets backed up.
• Restoring & disaster recovery — roll back or rebuild from zero.

Quick start (Docker Hub)

The image is published on Docker Hub, so you don't have to build anything. Pick a folder for your backups, then run:

docker run -d --name docker-backup --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 127.0.0.1:8088:8088 \
  -e BACKUP_ROOT_CONTAINER=/backups \
  -e BACKUP_ROOT_HOST=/srv/docker-backups \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  -v /srv/docker-backups:/backups \
  mfrankovic/docker-backup:latest

Then open http://127.0.0.1:8088.

Important: BACKUP_ROOT_HOST must be the same host path as the left side of the /backups volume mount. The tool launches sibling helper containers that mount that real host path, so the two must match.

Prefer Compose? Use this compose.yaml (pulls the image instead of building):

services:
  docker-backup:
    image: mfrankovic/docker-backup:latest
    container_name: docker-backup
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      TZ: ${TZ:-UTC}
      BACKUP_ROOT_CONTAINER: /backups
      BACKUP_ROOT_HOST: ${BACKUP_ROOT_HOST}
      GUI_PORT: ${GUI_PORT:-8088}
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:${GUI_PORT:-8088}:${GUI_PORT:-8088}"
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
      - "${BACKUP_ROOT_HOST}:/backups"

Available tags: latest, plus versioned tags like 1.0.0 and 1.0. The image is multi-arch (linux/amd64 and linux/arm64), so it runs on regular servers and on ARM boards (Raspberry Pi, ARM NAS) alike.

To build from source instead (handy if you want to modify it), see docs/INSTALL.md.

Settings reference (.env)

Setting	Default	What it does
BACKUP_ROOT_HOST	(required)	Folder where all backups are saved (forward slashes on Windows)
TZ	UTC	Your timezone, used for scheduling
BACKUP_HOUR	3	Time of the first auto-created schedule
RETENTION_DAYS	7	Default "keep last N runs" for new schedules
GUI_PORT	8088	Web page port (your computer only)
HELPER_IMAGE	alpine:3.20	Helper image used to pack up volumes

Your .env file is never uploaded to GitHub, so your settings stay private.

License

MIT.