Restic Studio
Free and open source backup app for Linux

Restic backups, without the command line.

Restic Studio is a native Linux app that backs up your folders to an encrypted Restic repository, including one on an external drive, then lets you browse every snapshot and restore what you need into a fresh folder.

Install on Linux Latest release
  • MIT licensed
  • Encrypted by Restic
  • Works offline
  • Rust, GTK 4 and libadwaita
  • Development preview
Restic Studio in the dark theme: the Documents profile is loaded with its repository on an external drive, a masked password and the Back Up Now button
The Backup tab with a saved profile, shown with sample data.

Everything you need to back up and get it back

Restic Studio wraps the Restic you already trust in a calm desktop app, and never takes a destructive step on your behalf.

Back up in one click

Pick a folder and a repository, then choose Back Up Now. A progress window shows Restic's file and byte counts as it works.

Preview first

A dry run shows what a backup would include without uploading anything or creating a snapshot.

restic backup --dry-run

Saved profiles

Save a repository, sources, exclusions and options under a name and load them in one click. Passwords are never saved.

External drives

Choose a folder on a mounted drive. Restic Studio refuses to write to the system disk when the drive is missing.

Browse snapshots

List every snapshot in a repository and walk its folders to find the file or directory you want back.

Restore safely

Restores are verified, staged privately and published into a new folder, so nothing you already have is overwritten.

Check your repository

Run Restic's structure check from the app, because a finished backup alone does not prove the repository is healthy.

Headless runner

The restic-studio command runs the same backups, checks and restores from scripts, with the password on standard input.

Command line

Light and dark themes

Follow your system theme, or pick one from the header.

Restic Studio Backup tab in the dark theme
Backup, dark theme (sample data).
Restic Studio Restore tab in the light theme listing four snapshots with one selected
Restore, light theme (sample data).

Supported platforms

Platform Status
Debian sid (forky/sid), amd64 Signed APT repository below. Needs Restic 0.19, GTK 4.24, libadwaita 1.10 and glibc 2.43 or newer.
Debian 13 and Ubuntu Not yet. Their GTK, libadwaita and glibc versions are too old for this build.
Repositories Local folders and mounted external drives. Cloud and network repositories such as S3 or SFTP are not supported yet.

Install with APT

Add the signed repository once and APT keeps Restic Studio updated with your other packages. Verify the signing key before you trust it.

  1. Install the prerequisites

    sudo apt update
sudo apt install ca-certificates curl gnupg

  2. Download the key and check its fingerprint

    The fingerprint printed by gpg must be exactly this:

    E4C2 92E5 08CB 8700 6F7C 904E 7F08 D91D 3A1D 8F76 
    curl -fsSLo /tmp/mikeholp87-apt.asc https://mikeholp87.github.io/apt/apt.asc
gpg --show-keys --with-fingerprint /tmp/mikeholp87-apt.asc

  3. Add the repository

    sudo install -D -m 0644 /tmp/mikeholp87-apt.asc /etc/apt/keyrings/mikeholp87-apt.asc
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/mikeholp87-apt.asc] https://mikeholp87.github.io/apt/ ./" \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mikeholp87-apt.list >/dev/null

  4. Install Restic Studio

    sudo apt update
sudo apt install restic-studio

    Launch it from the application menu or run restic-studio-gui. Update later with sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade. Remove with sudo apt remove restic-studio; your repositories and snapshots are left untouched. Prefer a single file? Download the .deb and its SHA-256 checksums from GitHub Releases.

Safe by design

Never overwrites

Restores always create a new folder. Restoring into /, /etc, /usr or /boot is blocked.

Knows your drive

Backups, restores and checks remember the repository and drive identity, and stop if a different one appears at the same place.

Your password stays with you

You enter the repository password for each operation. It is never written to disk, and nothing leaves your machine.

Questions

Is Restic Studio ready for my only backup?

Not yet. It is a development preview. Restic does the backing up, but the app has not finished its recovery acceptance testing. Keep another backup, and practice restoring a file to a new folder before you rely on it.

Where is my password stored?

Nowhere. The app asks for it for each operation and passes it to Restic through a private pipe. Saved profiles hold settings only. If you lose the password, Restic cannot decrypt the repository, so keep it somewhere safe.

What happens if I plug in a different drive?

Restic Studio remembers each repository's ID and, when the system reports one, the drive's hardware identifier. If they change, it stops instead of backing up to the wrong place or creating a new repository on your system disk.

Can I back up my whole system?

You can choose / as the source. The repository and virtual or temporary folders such as /proc, /tmp and /media are skipped automatically. The app runs as your user, so files you cannot read are reported as a partial backup rather than hidden.

Where do I report a bug?

Open an issue on GitHub.