GitLab API Backup Script

A bash script that backs up all repositories from a self-hosted GitLab instance via the GitLab API as compressed git bundles.

Features

• Backs up all repositories (including archived ones)
• Uses bare clones for efficient disk usage
• Creates verified git bundles
• Compresses bundles with gzip
• Organizes backups by group and repository name
• Handles nested groups (flattened with underscores)
• Summary statistics

Requirements

• bash
• curl
• jq
• git
• gzip

Installation

1. Clone or download this repository

2. Make the script executable:

   chmod +x gitlab-backup.sh
   

Usage

The script accepts configuration via command line arguments or environment variables.

Command Line Arguments

./gitlab-backup.sh [gitlab_url] [api_token] [backup_dir]

• gitlab_url: Your GitLab instance URL (e.g., https://gitlab.example.com)
• api_token: GitLab API token with read access to all repositories
• backup_dir: Directory where backups will be stored

Environment Variables

Alternatively, you can set these environment variables:

• GITLAB_URL: GitLab instance URL
• GITLAB_TOKEN: GitLab API token
• BACKUP_DIR: Backup directory path

Note: Command line arguments take precedence over environment variables.

Examples

Using command line arguments:

./gitlab-backup.sh https://gitlab.example.com glpat-xxxxxxxxxxxx /backups/gitlab

Using environment variables:

export GITLAB_URL="https://gitlab.example.com"
export GITLAB_TOKEN="glpat-xxxxxxxxxxxx"
export BACKUP_DIR="/backups/gitlab"
./gitlab-backup.sh

Creating GitLab API Token

1. Log in to your GitLab instance
2. Go to User Settings > Access Tokens
3. Create a token with read_api and read_repository scopes
4. Copy the token (it won't be shown again)

Restoring from Backup

To restore a repository from a backup:

# Decompress
gunzip group_name/repo_name.gz

# Clone from bundle
git clone group_name/repo_name.bundle restored_repo

# Or verify bundle contents
git bundle verify group_name/repo_name.bundle