Command Reference

pgBackRest command reference with all options for backup, restore, archive, and management operations.

Source: https://pgbackrest.org/command.html

Introduction

Commands are used to execute the various pgBackRest functions. Here the command options are listed exhaustively, that is, each option applicable to a command is listed with that command even if it applies to one or more other commands. This includes all the options that may also be configured in pgbackrest.conf.

Non-boolean options configured in pgbackrest.conf can be reset to default on the command-line by using the reset- prefix. This feature may be used to restore a backup directly on a repository host. Normally, pgBackRest will error because it can see that the database host is remote and restores cannot be done remotely. By adding --reset-pg1-host on the command-line, pgBackRest will ignore the remote database host and restore locally. It may be necessary to pass a new --pg1-path to force the restore to happen in a specific path, i.e. not the path used on the database host.

The no- prefix may be used to set a boolean option to false on the command-line.

Any option may be set in an environment variable using the PGBACKREST_ prefix and the option name in all caps replacing - with _, e.g. pg1-path becomes PGBACKREST_PG1_PATH and stanza becomes PGBACKREST_STANZA. Boolean options are represented as they would be in a configuration file, e.g. PGBACKREST_COMPRESS="n", and reset-* variants are not allowed. Options that can be specified multiple times on the command-line or in a config file can be represented by separating the values with colons, e.g. PGBACKREST_DB_INCLUDE="db1:db2".

Command-line options override environment options which override config file options.

See Configuration Introduction for information on option types

Commands

Command Summary
annotate Add, modify, or remove backup annotations after the backup is created.
archive-get Fetch archived WAL segments for restore, PITR, or replica recovery.
archive-push Accept WAL segments from PostgreSQL and push them to configured repositories.
backup Create backups to the target repository (defaults to highest priority repository).
check Validate stanza backup/archive configuration and WAL archiving health.
expire Expire backups and archived WAL based on configured retention policies.
help Show command and option help at general, command, or option level.
info Display stanza and backup status/metadata in text or JSON format.
repo-get Read repository files (like cat) for administration, investigation, and testing.
repo-ls List repository files/paths (like ls) for administration, investigation, and testing.
restore Restore from backup (latest by default) with optional point-in-time recovery.
server Run the pgBackRest TLS server for remote host access without SSH.
server-ping Ping a pgBackRest TLS server to verify it is accepting connections.
stanza-create Create stanza metadata in all configured repositories.
stanza-delete Permanently remove all backups and archives for a stanza.
stanza-upgrade Upgrade stanza metadata after a PostgreSQL major version upgrade.
start Re-allow pgBackRest processes to run after a previous stop.
stop Prevent new pgBackRest processes and optionally force-stop running ones.
verify Verify that backup and archive data in the repository is valid.
version Display the installed pgBackRest version.

Reference for pgBackRest annotate command options and behavior.

Reference for pgBackRest archive-get command options and behavior.

Reference for pgBackRest archive-push command options and behavior.

Reference for pgBackRest backup command options and behavior.

Reference for pgBackRest check command options and behavior.

Reference for pgBackRest expire command options and behavior.

Reference for pgBackRest help command options and behavior.

Reference for pgBackRest info command options and behavior.

Reference for pgBackRest repo-get command options and behavior.

Reference for pgBackRest repo-ls command options and behavior.

Reference for pgBackRest restore command options and behavior.

Reference for pgBackRest server command options and behavior.

Reference for pgBackRest server-ping command options and behavior.

Reference for pgBackRest stanza-create command options and behavior.

Reference for pgBackRest stanza-delete command options and behavior.

Reference for pgBackRest stanza-upgrade command options and behavior.

Reference for pgBackRest start command options and behavior.

Reference for pgBackRest stop command options and behavior.

Reference for pgBackRest verify command options and behavior.

Reference for pgBackRest version command options and behavior.