# anyback
[](https://github.com/stevelr/anytype/releases?q=anyback-v&expanded=true)
[](https://docs.rs/anyback)
[](https://crates.io/crates/anyback)
`anyback` is a command-line tool for backing up and restoring Anytype spaces.
See `anyback.1.md` for detailed CLI documentation.
**Alpha Release**
- This is an alpha version - Testing is still in progress. If you're adventurous, please give it a try. File any issues on github.
## Features
- Backup Anytype spaces (full or selective)
- incremental backup using `--since` (timestamp)
- selective backup using `--objects` (object list)
- optional: `--include-files`, `--include-nested`, `--include-archived`
- Restore backups to original or new space
- optional `--replace` to overwrite existing objects
- `--dry-run` to validate without importing
- Browse archives with an interactive TUI (`inspect`)
- view object properties, metadata, and markdown preview
- export files and simplified object markdown
- configurable preview cache budget with `--max-cache` (default `200 MiB`)
- List archive contents, compare archives, extract objects
## Commands
```
anyback backup --space NAME_OR_ID [OPTIONS]
anyback restore ARCHIVE --space NAME_OR_ID [OPTIONS]
anyback list ARCHIVE [--brief|--expanded|--files]
anyback manifest ARCHIVE
anyback diff ARCHIVE1 ARCHIVE2
anyback extract ARCHIVE ID OUTPUT
anyback inspect ARCHIVE [--max-cache SIZE]
anyback auth ...
```
`export` and `import` are aliases for `backup` and `restore`.
## Usage Notes
- **Object lists**: `--objects FILE` reads one object ID per line (blank lines and `#` comments ignored). Use `--objects -` for stdin.
- **Backup output**:
- `--dir DIR` creates a timestamped archive in an existing directory.
- `--dest PATH` creates an archive at a specific path.
- `--prefix PREFIX` sets the archive name prefix (with `--dir` or default `.`).
- Backup produces `.zip` archives.
- **Import modes**:
- `--import-mode ignore-errors` (default): continue after errors.
- `--import-mode all-or-nothing`: stop on first error (not transactional; already-imported objects are not rolled back).
- **Restore reports**: `--log REPORT.json` writes a JSON report with success/failure details.
- **Archive formats**: `list`, `diff`, `inspect`, and `restore` accept both `.zip` archives and unpacked archive directories.
- **Manifest**: anyback writes manifest metadata to `<archive>.manifest.json`. Archives without manifests (e.g. desktop-generated backups) are still supported.
---
## Development
### Library Crate
This package also exposes a reusable Rust library crate, `anyback_reader`, for archive traversal and snapshot file inspection. Library consumers can use `default-features = false` to exclude CLI-only dependencies.
### Restore Transport
- Default restore transport is path-based (`PbParams.path`).
- Snapshot transport is compiled behind the opt-in `snapshot-import` cargo feature and used for selective restore (`--objects`).
- Snapshot transport supports `*.pb` archives; `*.pb.json` restore is not yet supported.
- Snapshot chunk limits (env overrides):
- `ANYBACK_IMPORT_MAX_SINGLE_SNAPSHOT_BYTES` (default 2 MiB)
- `ANYBACK_IMPORT_MAX_BATCH_BYTES` (default 3 MiB)
- `ANYBACK_IMPORT_MAX_BATCH_SNAPSHOTS` (default 128)
### Integrity Testing
Fuzz testing for backup/restore roundtrips:
```
cargo test -p anyback --test integrity_nightly -- --ignored --nocapture
```
Environment controls:
| `ANYBACK_INTEGRITY_PROFILE` | `tiny`, `small`, `medium`, `large` |
| `ANYBACK_INTEGRITY_ITERATIONS` | number of iterations |
| `ANYBACK_INTEGRITY_MAX_OBJECTS_PER_ITERATION` | max objects per iteration |
| `ANYBACK_INTEGRITY_MAX_BODY_BYTES` | max body bytes per object |
| `ANYBACK_INTEGRITY_MAX_SECONDS` | time limit |
| `ANYBACK_INTEGRITY_MAX_TOTAL_OBJECTS` | total object cap |
| `ANYBACK_INTEGRITY_MAX_TOTAL_BODY_BYTES` | total byte cap |
| `ANYBACK_INTEGRITY_SEED` | RNG seed for reproducibility |
| `ANYBACK_INTEGRITY_TYPES` | `page,note,task,...` |
| `ANYBACK_INTEGRITY_FORMAT` | `pb` or `pb-json` |