Restore

A restore updates the target in place and downloads only the data the target doesn’t already have. With goback cloud, set GOBACK_STORAGE and GOBACK_PASSPHRASE as in the quick start and leave out --store-key.

A whole snapshot

goback --store-key store.key --set home commit restore ~/restored          # the latest
goback --store-key store.key --set home commit restore ~/restored 24h      # as it was a day ago
goback --store-key store.key --set home commit restore --at 2026-10-01T00:00:00Z ~/restored

Flag	Does
--dry-run	report what would change without writing
--delete	also remove files the commit does not contain
--verify	rehash every written file before it replaces the destination
--ref <hex>	restore exactly this commit
--from <path>	restore only the subtree at this path of the commit
--salvage	write what can be read when parts are missing, leaving holes, and report them

A restore works into read-only directories and sets each directory’s mode from the snapshot. A directory that isn’t in the snapshot keeps its own mode.

One file

Paths are relative to the directory the set backs up:

goback --store-key store.key --set home file ls projects 7d
goback --store-key store.key --set home file restore projects/notes.md ./notes.md 7d

With goback cloud, you can also browse the snapshot in the console, which decrypts names in your browser.

Download less

Flag	Does
--seed <path>	use chunks from a local file or directory instead of downloading them
--overwrite if-changed	trust a size and mtime match instead of hashing every part
--rechunk	file restore only: find parts that moved inside the existing file instead of downloading them

With the global flag --cache-dir <dir> (or GOBACK_CACHE_DIR), a restore reuses data this machine already downloaded or uploaded.

When the index is gone

A restore on a new machine needs only the store and the key. Run goback fix to rebuild the index from the store, then restore as above. See Self-contained backups.