canic-cli

Operator CLI for Canic backup and restore workflows.

The initial command focuses on snapshot capture/download planning and execution for a canister plus its registry-discovered children.

canic snapshot download \
  --canister <canister-id> \
  --root <root-canister-id> \
  --include-children \
  --out backups/<run-id> \
  --dry-run

Use --recursive instead of --include-children to include all descendants. Use --registry-json <file> to plan from a saved canic_subnet_registry response instead of querying a live root. Non-dry-run captures recompute the selection topology immediately before snapshot creation and fail if the hash changed since discovery.

DFX only creates snapshots for stopped canisters. Pass --stop-before-snapshot --resume-after-snapshot when the CLI should perform that local lifecycle step around each captured artifact.

Successful non-dry-run captures write the canonical backup layout: manifest, download journal, and durable artifact directories. Generated manifests include each durable artifact checksum so verification can detect manifest/journal drift before restore planning.

Validate a captured manifest before restore planning:

canic manifest validate \
  --manifest backups/<run-id>/manifest.json \
  --out manifest-validation.json

Inspect resumable journal status:

canic backup status \
  --dir backups/<run-id> \
  --out backup-status.json \
  --require-complete

--require-complete still writes the JSON status report, then exits with an error when any artifact has resume work remaining.

Inspect manifest and journal agreement without reading artifact bytes:

canic backup inspect \
  --dir backups/<run-id> \
  --out backup-inspection.json \
  --require-ready

--require-ready still writes the JSON inspection report, then exits with an error when manifest and journal metadata, including topology receipts, are not ready for full verification.

Emit a provenance report for audit/review workflows:

canic backup provenance \
  --dir backups/<run-id> \
  --out backup-provenance.json \
  --require-consistent

The report records source/tool metadata, topology receipts, declared backup units, and each member's snapshot/code/artifact provenance without reading artifact bytes. --require-consistent still writes the JSON report, then exits with an error when manifest and journal backup IDs or topology receipts drift.

Verify the backup layout and durable artifact checksums:

canic backup verify \
  --dir backups/<run-id> \
  --out backup-integrity.json

Run the standard no-mutation preflight bundle:

canic backup preflight \
  --dir backups/<run-id> \
  --out-dir preflight/<run-id> \
  --mapping restore-map.json

Preflight writes manifest-validation.json, backup-status.json, backup-inspection.json, backup-provenance.json, backup-integrity.json, restore-plan.json, and preflight-summary.json. The summary records the backup ID, source root, environment, topology hash, readiness statuses, provenance consistency status, topology mismatch count, member counts, and paths to the generated reports.

Restore planning is manifest-driven and performs no mutations:

canic restore plan \
  --backup-dir backups/<run-id> \
  --mapping restore-map.json \
  --out restore-plan.json \
  --require-verified

--require-verified runs the same manifest, journal, durable artifact, and checksum checks as canic backup verify before emitting the plan.