I recently read a story about a developer who lost his GitHub account overnight. There was no explanation and he never figured out how to recover it. He was lucky that his most important repos were backed up on his computer, but it got me thinking. About a week ago my kids were playing on our Xbox and save for a Sonic game they had spent almost a year working on got corrupted. It was saved in the cloud and once it was corrupted it was literal game over… They had to start from scratch.
So… guess who owns GitHub? Microsoft! If something as simple as save states can easily be corrupted on their own hardware and cloud can they really be trusted with all your valuable source code?!
These stories might sound like edge cases, but for me it was a wake-up call. So many of us rely way too heavily on platforms like GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket that we often forget one simple truth: we don’t control these platforms. If they go down, if those accounts gets hacked, or if you’re banned for any reason, you might lose access to ALL your critical code repositories forever.
I figured there had to be a quick and easy way to backup all your personal and organization GitHub repos. However, after looking around for a bit I really couldn’t find anything. I wanted something as simple as running running a command line to grab it all, but I couldn’t really find anything so I was inspired to create a GitHub Backup Script that allows you to securely and reliably back up all the GitHub repositories you have access to on your local machine. After all, having your code in the cloud is convenient, but what happens when that cloud vanishes? Or worse, what happens if your code is tampered with by a malicious actor?
The Risks of Relying Solely on GitHub
While GitHub is an industry-standard platform, and it’s got some really powerful features for collaboration, CI/CD integrations, and community. However even with all this having all your code in just 1 place isn’t a great idea.
- Account Compromise: If your account is hacked, your repositories could be tampered with, deleted, or locked away from you. Without a local backup, recovering that code could be a nightmare.
- Platform Downtime or Failure: Though rare, platforms like GitHub can experience downtime. A DDoS attack, a major bug, or internal infrastructure failures could lock you out of your own code. While GitHub has an excellent uptime record, it’s not immune to failure.
- Account Bans or Suspensions: As mentioned earlier, accounts can be banned or restricted. Sometimes, bans are placed in error, and recovering access might be difficult or impossible.
- Version History Loss: GitHub maintains all your commit histories, but if an account or repository is compromised, you might lose not just the latest version but years of commit history—an invaluable asset for many projects.
- Code Integrity: Relying only on the cloud means trusting that nothing has been altered or tampered with. Without local, unaltered backups, it becomes harder to verify the integrity of your code if there are any suspicions of malicious activity.
Why Local Backups Are Critical
Local backups serve as your failsafe. If GitHub goes down or you lose access for any reason, your local backup ensures that you retain full control of your code. Moreover, local backups aren’t just a safeguard against lost access; they’re an important layer of defense in maintaining data integrity and security.
- Peace of Mind: A local backup ensures that you always have your code, no matter what happens with your GitHub account or the platform itself.
- Code Integrity: A local backup guarantees that you have an untouched version of your repository. If your account is compromised or a collaborator introduces bad code, you can always refer to your local backup for an unaltered version.
- Version Control and History: With a local backup, you retain full commit history, branches, and tags. This is invaluable for audits or rollbacks, especially when projects span several years.
- Work Offline: With a local backup, you can continue to develop and work even when you’re offline or GitHub is unavailable. This is particularly helpful if you work in areas with limited or unreliable internet access.
The GitHub Backup Script
Inspired by my need for robust, reliable backups, I developed a GitHub Backup Script that allows you to download all your GitHub repositories (both personal and organizational) to a local machine. It ensures you get a full copy of all branches and tags, keeps track of any duplicates, and even marks orphaned repositories—those no longer available on GitHub—without deleting them.
Key Features:
- Handles All Repositories: Back up all your GitHub repositories, including organizational repos, and capture all branches and tags.
- Non-destructive: The script doesn’t overwrite existing repositories. Instead, it appends “DUPLICATE” to folders if a conflict arises and labels orphaned repositories for manual review.
- Automated and Reliable: The script automatically retries if a failure occurs and logs both successful and failed operations.
- Orphan Management: Orphaned repositories are preserved and renamed, so you don’t lose anything, even if a repository is deleted from GitHub.
Use Cases for the GitHub Backup Script
Whether you’re an independent developer, part of a team, or managing an organization’s repositories, there are plenty of scenarios where this backup script can save you:
- Freelancers and Contractors: You might hand over access to repositories upon completing projects, but keeping a local backup ensures that you have your full development history even after transferring ownership.
- Small Teams and Startups: In the fast-moving world of startups, repos get shared, forked, and updated frequently. Local backups ensure that any critical projects are always safe from unexpected account bans, access issues, or platform problems.
- Enterprise Use: Large organizations with many GitHub users and teams often need to ensure data redundancy and integrity. This script can ensure that a backup exists for all repositories across multiple GitHub organizations.
- Open-Source Projects: Open-source maintainers can ensure they have full copies of their repositories locally. This can be essential if a repo is taken down or suspended for any reason.
How to Get Started
The GitHub Backup Script is available for anyone to use. You can find it on GitHub here. The setup is straightforward, and all you need is Git, the GitHub CLI, and SSH set up for authentication. Once installed, the script can be scheduled to run regularly, ensuring that your backups are always up to date without any manual intervention.
Where the Script Can Help You:
- Backing up personal repositories automatically.
- Ensuring that organizational repos are safe from access issues.
- Scheduling backups for hands-off operation (perfect for cron jobs or other automation tools).
- Marking and managing orphaned or deleted repositories without losing data.
Don’t Wait for Disaster!
This script is open source and FREE. If like me you have ever thought, “I really should back up my GitHub repos,” now is the time to take action. Don’t wait until it’s too late and you’re locked out of your own code. Sure you most likely have the repos scattered around various locations and drives, but having them all in sync in a single folder can make a night and day difference. By using the GitHub Backup Script, you’re taking an important step in safeguarding your projects, preserving your commit history, and ensuring that you always have a reliable version of your code.