System Backup Tool

A macOS desktop app for creating complete system backups before a reset or migration. Built with Electron.

What It Does

• Backs up files and folders — copies selected directories using rsync, preserving original absolute paths
• Backs up dotfiles and configs — detects and backs up .zshrc, .gitconfig, .ssh, .aws, .kube, and more
• Captures installed software — generates a Brewfile, lists VS Code extensions, npm globals, and pip packages
• Scans git repositories — warns about uncommitted changes and unpushed commits that only exist locally
• Generates restore scripts — creates a RESTORE.sh script and step-by-step RESTORE-STEPS.md guide
• Creates compressed archives — optionally packages the entire backup as a .tar.zst archive

Prerequisites

• macOS
• Node.js (v18 or later)
• Homebrew (optional, for software capture)
• rsync (included with macOS)
• zstd (for tar compression — install via brew install zstd)

Installation

git clone git@github.com:devninja-in/mcp-system-backup.git
cd mcp-system-backup
npm install

Usage

Start the app

npm start

Steps

1. Choose a backup destination — click "Choose destination folder" and select where to save the backup (e.g., an external drive)
2. Add files and folders — click "Add folder" or "Add file" to select what you want to back up
3. Select dotfiles — the app auto-detects common dotfiles in your home directory; check/uncheck as needed
4. Configure options
   • Capture installed software list — saves Brewfile, VS Code extensions, npm/pip packages
   • Create tar archive — compresses the backup into a single .tar.zst file
5. Click "Start backup" — monitor progress in the log panel

Backup output structure

mac-backup-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS/
├── filesystem/              # Backed-up files (preserving original paths)
├── manifest/
│   ├── Brewfile             # Homebrew packages
│   ├── applications-list.txt
│   ├── vscode-extensions.txt
│   ├── npm-global.txt
│   └── pip-global.txt
├── git-status-report.txt    # Git status of all repos at backup time
├── RESTORE.sh               # Automated restore script
└── RESTORE-STEPS.md         # Manual restore guide

Restoring from a backup

Option 1: Run the restore script

cd mac-backup-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS
sudo ./RESTORE.sh

This will:

• Copy all files back to their original locations
• Install Homebrew (if missing) and restore packages from the Brewfile
• Reinstall VS Code extensions

Option 2: Extract from tar archive first

tar --zstd -xvpf mac-backup-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.tar.zst
cd mac-backup-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS
sudo ./RESTORE.sh

Option 3: Extract from password-protected archive (.enc)

If the backup was created with a password, decrypt it first, then extract:

# Decrypt the archive (will prompt for the password)
openssl enc -d -aes-256-cbc -pbkdf2 -in mac-backup-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.tar.zst.enc -out mac-backup-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.tar.zst

# Extract the decrypted archive
tar --zstd -xvpf mac-backup-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.tar.zst

# Run the restore script
cd mac-backup-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS
sudo ./RESTORE.sh

Option 4: Manual restore

# Restore files
sudo rsync -a filesystem/ /

# Install Homebrew packages
brew bundle --file=manifest/Brewfile

# Install VS Code extensions
cat manifest/vscode-extensions.txt | xargs -L 1 code --install-extension

See RESTORE-STEPS.md inside the backup for the full step-by-step guide.

Excluded from backups

The following directories are automatically excluded during file copy to save space:

node_modules, .venv, venv, env, __pycache__, .pytest_cache, .mypy_cache, .ruff_cache, dist, build, .next, .nuxt, target, .gradle, .DS_Store, *.pyc

License

MIT