Research Backup

Research Backup

Backs up the report/output directories that research projects keep outside git (outputs/, results/, report/, reports/) into the locally synced Dropbox folder. The Dropbox daemon handles the actual upload; this skill only writes files under BACKUP_ROOT with rsync, so backups are incremental and need no API credentials.

Which Dropbox skill?

• research-backup (this skill): bulk, recurring backup of whole report directories into the local ~/Dropbox sync folder. Requires the Dropbox client to be syncing this machine.
• dropbox: one-off upload/download/share of individual files through the Dropbox HTTP API. Works without a local sync client.

How projects are separated

Sources are mirrored relative to SCAN_ROOT (default $HOME/Documents/Project), so the Dropbox side keeps the full // layout:

~/Documents/Project/Research/MyProject/results -> ~/Dropbox/ResearchBackup/Research/MyProject/results

Same-named projects in different categories (e.g. two pytorch_template checkouts) never collide because the category directory is part of the destination path.

Prerequisites (check before any operation)

1. rsync on PATH.
2. A locally synced Dropbox folder. Verify the parent of BACKUP_ROOT exists (default check: test -d ~/Dropbox). If it does not exist, tell the user the Dropbox client is not syncing this machine and stop; do not fall back to the API.

Config and registry

Both live under ~/.config/research-backup/ (override the directory with the RESEARCH_BACKUP_CONFIG_DIR env var; both files are auto-created with defaults on first run):

• config: shell KEY="value" lines. SCAN_ROOT (project root), BACKUP_ROOT (destination inside Dropbox, default $HOME/Dropbox/ResearchBackup), DIR_NAMES (basenames discover looks for, default outputs results report reports), RSYNC_EXCLUDES (optional space-separated rsync exclude patterns such as *.ckpt wandb).
• registry: one absolute source directory per line, # comments allowed. Backups run only over this file, never over a live scan, so the set of backed-up directories is always explicit. To stop backing a directory up, delete its line (already-uploaded files stay in Dropbox).

Workflow

1. Discover (scan for new candidates)

bash scripts/discover.sh

Scans SCAN_ROOT for DIR_NAMES directories and prints a STATE GIT PATH table:

• NEW: not in the registry and git does not track it (ignored, untracked, or no-git). Candidate for registration.
• REGISTERED: already in the registry.
• TRACKED: contains git-tracked files, so git already backs it up. Skipped, never registered.
• MISSING: registry entry whose directory no longer exists on disk.

Show the user the NEW rows and ask which to register (default: all of them). Then run:

bash scripts/discover.sh --register

which appends every NEW path to the registry. To register a subset instead, append the chosen paths to ~/.config/research-backup/registry directly, one per line.

2. Status (preview before syncing)

bash scripts/backup.sh --dry-run --all

Same matching as a real backup but passes -n to rsync, printing PEND N item(s) would sync per directory. Use this when the user asks "what changed" or before a first large sync.

3. Backup

bash scripts/backup.sh --all # everything in the registry bash scripts/backup.sh MyProject # entries whose path contains "MyProject" (case-insensitive) bash scripts/backup.sh Research/ AI_Project/ # multiple filters, OR-matched

Per-directory output is OK N item(s) synced -> or up to date, with a one-line summary at the end. Missing sources are warned and skipped, never fatal.

Safety rules

• Backups are additive: rsync runs without --delete, so deleting or renaming files locally leaves the old copies in Dropbox. This is intentional (the backup protects against accidental deletion). If the user explicitly wants the Dropbox side pruned to match local, do not add --delete yourself; tell them to clean the Dropbox folder manually or get their confirmation first and run a one-off rsync -a --delete for the specific directory they name.
• Never register a TRACKED directory; git already preserves it.
• Do not run discover.sh --register without showing the user the NEW list first, unless they asked for a fully automatic run.

Exit codes

• 0: success
• 2: config invalid, SCAN_ROOT missing, or Dropbox sync folder absent
• 3: no registry entry matched the filter
• 5: at least one rsync invocation failed (stderr shows which)
• 64: usage error
• 127: rsync not installed

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: Axect
• Source: Axect/skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.