GitHub Org Backup

Script to backup all repos in a GitHub Organisation

Clone or update every repository in a GitHub organization. Supports passing a custom SSH key, logs to a timestamped file, and rotates old logs (keeps N days).

NOTE: If using ssh, make sure ssh key is chmod 400

Usage:

python github_org_backup.py --org ORG_NAME [options]

Example:

python github_org_backup.py --org my-org --ssh-key ~/.ssh/id_backup --log-dir /var/log/github-backups --retention-days 30

With GITHUB_TOKEN:

export GITHUB_TOKEN="github_pat_xxx"; python3 /home/backup/code/github_org_backup.py --org <org-name> --token $GITHUB_TOKEN --ssh-key /home/backup/code/key --log-dir /home/backup/code/logs/ --retention-days 30

Nightly backups with systemd

Put the script somewhere permanent and make it executable:

mkdir -p /opt/github-backups/
mv github_org_backup.py /opt/github-backups/github_org_backup.py
chmod +x /opt/github-backups/github_org_backup.py

Create a systemd service file, e.g. /etc/systemd/system/github-org-backup.service

[Unit]
Description=GitHub Organization Backup

[Service]
Type=oneshot
# Run as backup user (change as needed)
User=backup
Group=backup

# Working directory where repos are stored
WorkingDirectory=/home/backup/code

# Command to run the script
ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /opt/github-backups/github_org_backup.py \
    --org my-org \
    --mode ssh \
    --ssh-key /home/backup/.ssh/id_backup \
    --update-submodules \
    --log-dir /var/log/github-backups \
    --retention-days 30

# Make sure environment is clean
Environment="PATH=/usr/bin:/bin"

Create a systemd timer, e.g. /etc/systemd/system/github-org-backup.timer

[Unit]
Description=Run GitHub Organization Backup nightly

[Timer]
OnCalendar=*-*-* 02:30:00
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

This runs the backup every day at 02:30.

Persistent=true means if the machine was off at 02:30, the job runs as soon as possible after boot.

Enable and start the timer

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now github-org-backup.timer

Check it is enabled:

systemctl list-timers --all

And after it has run, check the logs:

journalctl -u github-org-backup.service