Last reviewed: 2025-12-23 / Plakar v1.0.6
Plakar exposes several types of commands, depending on the resources they operate on (stores, sources, and/or destinations).
Commands operating on a Kloset store
Many commands operate directly on a Kloset store, such as backup, restore, ls, create, check, and locate.
To specify the Kloset store, use the at keyword followed by the path to the store:
1# Using a store located on the filesystem
2plakar at /path/to/kloset store-command [options]
3
4# Using a store located on a SFTP server (requires the sftp package)
5plakar at sftp://myserver/path/to/kloset store-command [options]
If no at is provided, Plakar uses the default Kloset store located at ~/.plakar.
Instead of a path, you can also reference a store using an alias configured with plakar store add:
1# Configure the store using the S3 integration (requires the s3 package)
2plakar store add mystore s3://localhost:9000/mybucket passphrase='S3cR3tP4sSwPhr@53' access_key=minioadmin secret_access_key=minioadmin use_tls=false
3
4# Use the configured store via its alias
5plakar at @mystore store-command [options]
Using an alias is required for stores that need additional parameters (for example, credentials), but aliases may also be used for stores that do not require them.
Commands operating on sources and destinations
Some commands operate on a source (for example, backup) or on a destination (for example, restore). In these cases, the source or destination is provided as a command argument.
To specify a source or destination, provide its path as an argument to the command:
1# Referencing a source located on the filesystem
2plakar at @mystore backup /path/to/directory
3
4# Or on a SFTP server (requires the sftp package)
5plakar at @mystore backup sftp://myserver/path/to/directory
1# Referencing a destination located on the filesystem
2plakar at @mystore restore -to /path/to/directory snapshot-id
3
4# Or on a SFTP server (requires the sftp package)
5plakar at @mystore restore -to sftp://myserver/path/to/directory snapshot-id
As with stores, sources and destinations can also be referenced using aliases configured with plakar source add and plakar destination add:
1# Configure the source using the S3 integration (requires the s3 package)
2plakar source add mybucket s3://localhost:9000/mybucket access_key=minioadmin secret_access_key=minioadmin use_tls=false
3
4# Back up the configured source using its alias
5plakar at @mystore backup @mybucket
1# Configure the destination using the S3 integration (requires the s3 package)
2plakar destination add mybucket s3://localhost:9000/mybucket access_key=minioadmin secret_access_key=minioadmin use_tls=false
3
4# Restore to the configured destination using its alias
5plakar at @mystore restore -to @mybucket snapshot-id
Argument order
Argument order is important in Plakar commands. The general command syntax is:
plakar [at <store>] <command> [command options] [source/destination]
For example, the backup command accepts a -check option to perform a full check after a successful backup. This option must appear before the path to back up:
1# ❌ Incorrect order
2plakar at /path/to/kloset backup /path/to/directory -check
3
4# ✅ Correct order
5plakar at /path/to/kloset backup -check /path/to/directory
Getting help
Plakar offers two levels of help.
To display the list of parameters for a specific command, use -h or --help after the command name, for example:
1$ plakar backup -h
2Usage: backup [OPTIONS] path
3 backup [OPTIONS] @LOCATION
4
5OPTIONS:
6[…]
For more detailed documentation, including explanations and examples, use plakar help <command> to display the manual page for a command.
At the bottom of each manual page, the SEE ALSO section lists related commands that may be useful.
For example, plakar help backup references plakar-source(1), which you can view with plakar help source to learn more about configuring sources.