# How to Automatically Back Up and Restore Your Home Assistant Configuration to GitHub or GitLab (with Zero Downtime)

Easily automate Home Assistant config backups to GitHub or GitLab with step-by-step scripts and instant restore tips.

Author: Ruhani Rabin
Canonical: https://rabin.blog/how-to-automatically-backup-restore-home-assistant-github-gitlab/
Published: 2025-09-01T05:44:34.000Z
Updated: 2026-10-18T16:06:45.000Z

Home Assistant is the brains of your smart home, but even the most seasoned tinkerers have experienced the frustration of a corrupted SD card, accidental misconfiguration, or a failed upgrade. What if you could instantly roll back to a working state or migrate your entire setup to a new server with just one script? That’s the power of automated versioned backups with GitHub or GitLab.

In this guide, you’ll learn **how to fully automate Home Assistant configuration backups** to a private Git repository (GitHub or GitLab), with a built-in safety net for easy restoration—no more manual copying or guesswork.

***

## Why Should You Back Up Your Home Assistant Configuration?

* **Protect Against Data Loss:** Hardware failure, power loss, or SD card corruption can wipe out months (or years) of tweaks and automations.
* **Safe Experimentation:** Easily roll back breaking changes, failed updates, or botched YAML edits.
* **Portability:** Instantly migrate your Home Assistant to new hardware, a fresh install, or another location.
* **Version History:** See exactly when and how your setup changed, and who changed it (if you collaborate).
* **Peace of Mind:** Sleep better knowing your smart home is always just a `git pull` away from full recovery.

***

## Prerequisites

* **Home Assistant installed** (Home Assistant OS, Supervised, Container, or Core).
* **Access to the Home Assistant file system** (via SSH & Terminal add-on or host SSH).
* **A GitHub or GitLab account** with a private repository created for backups.
* **Basic Git knowledge** (cloning, committing, pushing).
* **(Optional but recommended) A private SSH key set up for authentication**.

***

## Step 1: Prepare Your Home Assistant for Git Backups

### 1. Access Your Home Assistant Terminal

* Use the official **Terminal & SSH add-on** in Home Assistant, or SSH into your host (for advanced installations).

### 2. Generate or Place Your SSH Key

* If you don’t have an SSH key, generate one: `ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your-email@example.com"`
  * Save it to `/config/ssh/id_ed25519` for persistence.
* Add the **public key** ( `id_ed25519.pub`) to your GitHub or GitLab account under SSH Keys.

### 3. Initialize a Git Repo (If Not Already Initialized)

In your Home Assistant config directory:

```bash
cd /config
git init
```

### 4. Add Your Remote Repo

* **For GitHub:** `git remote add origin git@github.com:YourUsername/your-ha-repo.git`
* **For GitLab:** `git remote add origin git@gitlab.com:YourUsername/your-ha-backup.git`

### 5. Set Your Git User Info (Local)

```bash
git config user.name "Your Name"
git config user.email "your@email.com"
```

***

## Step 2: Create the Backup Script

Place this as `/config/git-auto-backup.sh`:

/config/git-auto-backup.sh

```bash
#!/bin/bash


LOGFILE="/config/git-auto-backup.log"


{
    echo ""
    echo "===== Backup run at $(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') ====="
    cd /config || { echo "Failed to cd /config"; exit 1; }


    # Set Git user info (change as needed)
    git config user.name "Your Name"
    git config user.email "your@email.com"


    # Add all changes
    git add .


    # Commit and push only if there are staged changes
    if ! git diff --cached --quiet; then
        git commit -m "Auto-backup: $(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')" &&
        GIT_SSH_COMMAND="ssh -i /config/ssh/id_ed25519 -o UserKnownHostsFile=/config/ssh/known_hosts" git push origin main
        STATUS=$?
        if [ $STATUS -eq 0 ]; then
            echo "Backup and push succeeded."
        else
            echo "Push failed with exit code $STATUS."
        fi
    else
        echo "No changes to commit."
    fi


    echo "===== End run ====="
} >> "$LOGFILE" 2>&1
```

**Make the script executable:**

```bash
chmod +x /config/git-auto-backup.sh
```

***

## Step 3: Automate Backups with Home Assistant (No Cron Needed!)

Cron is not available on Home Assistant OS by default.\
Instead, use a [Shell Command](https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/shell_command/) and a time-based Automation.

### A. Add Shell Command

In your `configuration.yaml`:

```bash
shell_command:
  git_auto_backup: /bin/bash /config/git-auto-backup.sh
```

**Looks like this, it may have multiple entries.**

![Home Assistant Configuration Yaml file 'Shell Command' Section](https://rabin.blog/_astro/how-to-automatically-back-up-and-restore-your-home.CQCfgNLn_Z2kyC4o.webp)

### B. Create a Time-Based Automation

Add this automation (via UI or in YAML):

```yaml
alias: Home Assistant Nightly Git Backup
trigger:
  - platform: time
    at: '03:00:00'
action:
  - service: shell_command.git_auto_backup
mode: single
```

Now, every night at 3am, your config is safely backed up to your Git repo!

You can also do the above using HA UI.

![Home Assistant Sample Automation](https://rabin.blog/_astro/how-to-automatically-back-up-and-restore-your-home-2.gPI-ohCl_Z16etXh.webp)

***

## Step 4: Restore from Backup (Disaster Recovery)

Here’s a safe restore script that will **backup your current config before restoring**:

/config/git-restore-backup.sh

```bash
#!/bin/bash


# Restore script: /config/git-restore-backup.sh


BACKUP_DIR="/config_backup_$(date '+%Y%m%d-%H%M%S')"


echo "Backing up current /config to $BACKUP_DIR"
cp -a /config "$BACKUP_DIR"


cd /config || exit 1


# Set git user info
git config user.name "Your Name"
git config user.email "your@email.com"


# Fetch latest from main branch
GIT_SSH_COMMAND="ssh -i /config/ssh/id_ed25519" git fetch origin main


# Hard reset to remote main branch
GIT_SSH_COMMAND="ssh -i /config/ssh/id_ed25519" git reset --hard origin/main


echo "Restore complete. Your /config now matches the remote backup."
```

**Don’t forget to make it executable:**

```bash
chmod +x /config/git-restore-backup.sh
```

Run it manually when you need to restore.

***

## **Best Practices & Tips**

* **Use a “ file** to exclude secrets, database files, and cache: `secrets.yaml *.db .cloud/ .storage/` *(Customize for your setup.)*
* **Always use private repositories** for Home Assistant config backups.
* **Regularly check your backup log** ( `/config/git-auto-backup.log`) to ensure successful runs.
* **Test your restore process** on a test system before disaster strikes.

***

## **Conclusion**

Automating Home Assistant config backups with GitHub or GitLab ensures your smart home brain is always safe and portable, no matter what happens. With just a few scripts and Home Assistant’s built-in automation, you get versioned, remote, restorable backups—completely hands-off.

**Stay smart, stay backed up, and never fear a Home Assistant experiment again!**

***

*Did this guide help you? Share it with other smart home fans or leave a comment with your own backup tips!*

## Related reading

* [Back up Dockerized n8n to GitHub or GitLab](https://rabin.blog/automated-backups-dockerized-n8n-sqlite-gitlab-github/)
* [Version-control Proxmox configuration](https://rabin.blog/proxmox-config-backup-git-version-control-pve-nodes/)