How do I install the Backup Vault skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add fredoliveira/backup-vault in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Backup Vault safe to use?

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Which AI agents work with Backup Vault?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Backup Vault free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Backup Vault?

fredoliveira (@fredoliveira) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Backup Vault by fredoliveira — Agent Skill

Name: Backup Vault
Author: fredoliveira

Backup Vault

Create a dated zip backup of the Obsidian vault and rotate old backups on a grandfather-father-son schedule (14 daily, 5 weekly, 12 monthly, 5 yearly). Use when asked to back up the vault, make a snapshot, or run/prune vault backups.

fredoliveira 26c0548 2 files · 6.8 KB Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

Vault backup & rotation

Purpose

Keep a rolling set of zip snapshots of the vault in ~/Documents/obsidian/backups, pruned to a grandfather-father-son (GFS) retention schedule so the backup folder stays bounded instead of growing forever.

The actual work is done by backup.sh (next to this file) — the logic is deterministic, so run the script rather than reimplementing it by hand.

Retention schedule

A backup is kept if any tier wants it; everything else is deleted.

Tier	Rule
Daily	every backup from the last 14 days
Weekly	newest backup of each of the 5 most recent ISO weeks
Monthly	newest backup of each of the 12 most recent months
Yearly	newest backup of each of the 5 most recent years

Tunable at the top of backup.sh (DAILY_DAYS, WEEKLY_KEEP, MONTHLY_KEEP, YEARLY_KEEP).

What gets backed up

The full vault at ~/Documents/obsidian/umwelt, including .obsidian (themes, plugins, settings) so a restore reproduces the exact setup.
Excluded: .DS_Store, .Trash/, and the backup directory itself.
Archives are named umwelt-YYYY-MM-DD.zip and contain a top-level umwelt/ folder, so restoring is just unzip umwelt-<date>.zip.

Instructions

Run the script:
```
bash ~/.claude/skills/backup-vault/backup.sh
```
- Preview without changing anything: bash .../backup.sh --dry-run
- Override paths if needed: VAULT_DIR=... BACKUP_DIR=... bash .../backup.sh
Report the summary line (how many backups were created / kept / pruned) and the resulting archive size.

The script is idempotent per day: at most one backup is created per calendar date, so it's safe to run repeatedly. Running it both creates today's snapshot and applies retention in one pass.

Notes

This is local only. To replicate offsite, rsync the backups/ directory to the remote target after running the script, e.g. rsync -a --delete ~/Documents/obsidian/backups/ <remote>:obsidian-backups/. Because retention deletes files locally, use --delete so the remote mirrors the same pruned set.
For unattended daily runs, schedule the script (launchd/cron, or the /schedule skill). Nothing in the script needs an interactive session.

---name: backup-vaultdescription: Create a dated zip backup of the Obsidian vault and rotate old backups on a grandfather-father-son schedule (14 daily, 5 weekly, 12 monthly, 5 yearly). Use when asked to back up the vault, make a snapshot, or run/prune vault backups.---# Vault backup & rotation## PurposeKeep a rolling set of zip snapshots of the vault in `~/Documents/obsidian/backups`,pruned to a grandfather-father-son (GFS) retention schedule so the backup folderstays bounded instead of growing forever.The actual work is done by `backup.sh` (next to this file) — the logic isdeterministic, so run the script rather than reimplementing it by hand.## Retention scheduleA backup is **kept** if any tier wants it; everything else is deleted.| Tier | Rule || ------- | ------------------------------------------------- || Daily | every backup from the last **14 days** || Weekly | newest backup of each of the **5** most recent ISO weeks || Monthly | newest backup of each of the **12** most recent months || Yearly | newest backup of each of the **5** most recent years |Tunable at the top of `backup.sh` (`DAILY_DAYS`, `WEEKLY_KEEP`, `MONTHLY_KEEP`, `YEARLY_KEEP`).## What gets backed up- The full vault at `~/Documents/obsidian/umwelt`, **including** `.obsidian` (themes, plugins, settings) so a restore reproduces the exact setup.- Excluded: `.DS_Store`, `.Trash/`, and the backup directory itself.- Archives are named `umwelt-YYYY-MM-DD.zip` and contain a top-level `umwelt/` folder, so restoring is just `unzip umwelt-<date>.zip`.## Instructions1. Run the script: ```sh bash ~/.claude/skills/backup-vault/backup.sh ``` - Preview without changing anything: `bash .../backup.sh --dry-run` - Override paths if needed: `VAULT_DIR=... BACKUP_DIR=... bash .../backup.sh`2. Report the summary line (how many backups were created / kept / pruned) and the resulting archive size.The script is **idempotent per day**: at most one backup is created per calendardate, so it's safe to run repeatedly. Running it both creates today's snapshot**and** applies retention in one pass.## Notes- This is local only. To replicate offsite, `rsync` the `backups/` directory to the remote target after running the script, e.g. `rsync -a --delete ~/Documents/obsidian/backups/ <remote>:obsidian-backups/`. Because retention deletes files locally, use `--delete` so the remote mirrors the same pruned set.- For unattended daily runs, schedule the script (launchd/cron, or the `/schedule` skill). Nothing in the script needs an interactive session.

Frequently asked questions