Quick Start

Quick Start is the fastest way to a working backup. It asks a few plain questions and then creates everything for you: the repository, and a backup plan with a schedule and automatic cleanup.

Open it from New backup at the top of the sidebar. On a fresh install with no repositories and no backup plans, it also opens once by itself on the Dashboard. You can also start it from the empty Repositories and Backup Plans pages.

Quick Start needs an account that can create repositories. Accounts without that permission do not see the button.

The steps

1. App: pick the app you are backing up, such as Immich, or Something else for plain folders. See Backing up an app.
2. What: choose where the data lives. Pick Files on this server for folders on the machine running Borg UI, Files on another computer for a server, NAS or PC that Borg UI can reach over SSH, or Another computer with the Borg UI agent (Pro or Enterprise) for a machine that runs the agent and connects out to Borg UI, for example a laptop behind a firewall.
3. Connect (another computer only): for SSH, pick a computer Borg UI already knows, or add one with its host name, username and password. Borg UI installs its SSH key there with that password once; the password is not saved. Adding a computer needs an account that can manage SSH; otherwise you can only pick an existing one. For the agent, pick an enrolled computer or choose Add a computer, which shows the install command; Quick Start selects the computer as soon as its agent connects.
4. Folders: add one or more folders. In Docker, your server's disk usually appears under /local (see Understand Container Paths). For another computer, the folder button browses that computer.
5. Where: a disk on this server, or another server over SSH (Borg must be installed there; see Remote Machines). With the agent, backups go to a disk on that same computer. Borg UI suggests a folder, /local/borg-backups/<name> on this server. The location cannot be inside a folder you are backing up.
6. Protect: name the backup and set a passphrase. Save the passphrase somewhere outside this server (the Download button gives you a text file). Without it, the backups cannot be restored.
7. When: every day at 02:00 by default (an app brings its own time), or every 6 hours, weekly, or a custom schedule.
8. Review: check the summary and press Create backup.

When it finishes you can run the first backup right away or leave it to the schedule.

Backing up an app

When you pick an app, Quick Start looks for its Docker container on the chosen machine and fills in its data folder. It also:

• lists what is inside that folder in plain words, with the size of each part and, for the app's database dumps, when the latest one was written,
• gives every folder a Back up box: ticked, except folders the app can rebuild by itself (untick the database dumps and the dump check is dropped too),
• schedules the backup after the app's own maintenance, and
• adds a check that runs before each backup, where the app needs one.

Each app lists what it does, and the app version it was checked against, on the Folders step.

If Borg UI runs in Docker and cannot see the app's folder, Quick Start shows the line to add to the volumes of Borg UI in docker-compose.yml. Add it, restart Borg UI, and press Scan again. If the container is not found, for example on an agent, type the folder yourself.

In Quick Start the check runs on the Borg UI server, so it is only added when the app runs on this server. The Backup Plans Apps tab runs it on the app's own machine.

In the Backup Plans wizard, the Apps tab of the source chooser adds an app to a plan the same way, on this server or an SSH machine. A plan can hold several apps. Each app's check runs on the machine the app is on, and removing the app from the plan removes its excludes and check too.

Some apps need to write their own database copy before the backup (Vaultwarden, Paperless-ngx, Jellyfin). Their check runs docker exec in the app's container, so it needs the container Quick Start found. If Borg UI reaches Docker through a socket proxy, allow exec (and, for Jellyfin, stop and start) there. If you typed the folder yourself, make the copy on your own schedule: the check only looks for a fresh one.

Immich

Borg UI backs up Immich's UPLOAD_LOCATION folder, which holds your photos and the database dumps Immich writes every night at 02:00. The backup runs at 03:00. It skips thumbs and encoded-video; after a restore, run the Generate Thumbnails and Transcode Videos jobs in Immich to rebuild them.

Older installs that still mount their media at /usr/src/app/upload are found too. Folders the container mounts as external libraries are listed as External library and backed up by default; Immich only indexes those, so they are not in its own folder.

Keep Administration > Settings > Backup turned on in Immich. The check stops the backup when no database dump is newer than 26 hours, so an archive never holds your photos without the database that organizes them. See Immich's backup guide.

Vaultwarden

Borg UI backs up the folder mounted at /data. Before each backup it runs /vaultwarden backup in the container (Vaultwarden 1.32.1 or newer, SQLite), which writes a consistent db_<date>.sqlite3 next to the live database, and keeps the newest three. icon_cache is skipped; Vaultwarden fetches the icons again. To restore, stop Vaultwarden, rename the newest copy to db.sqlite3, and delete any db.sqlite3-wal next to it. See Vaultwarden's backup guide.

Plex

Borg UI backs up the Plex Media Server folder (/config; the official and linuxserver images keep it under Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server) and skips Cache. Plex copies its own database every three days into Plug-in Support/Databases; the check stops the backup when no copy is newer than 100 hours, so keep Settings > Scheduled Tasks > Backup database every three days turned on. Your media folders are not included. See restoring a Plex database backup.

Paperless-ngx

Borg UI backs up the export folder (/usr/src/paperless/export, ./export in the official compose file). Before each backup it runs Paperless's document_exporter there, which writes your documents and database as one set, whichever database Paperless uses. The exporter deletes files in that folder that are not part of the export, so use it only for this. Restore with document_importer into the same Paperless version. See Paperless's backup docs.

Nginx Proxy Manager

Borg UI backs up /data and offers your Let's Encrypt folder (/etc/letsencrypt) as an extra folder, ticked by default. The SQLite database is copied as is: it only changes when you edit hosts or a certificate renews. If you use MySQL or MariaDB instead, add that database with Scan for databases.

Jellyfin

Borg UI backs up /config (not /cache). Jellyfin's docs say to stop the server before copying its database, so before each backup Borg UI stops the container, copies data/jellyfin.db, starts it again (even if the copy fails) and stores the copy in borg-ui-db-backup/, keeping the newest three. Anyone watching at that moment is interrupted for a few seconds. To restore, stop Jellyfin, put the newest copy back as data/jellyfin.db, and delete any jellyfin.db-wal. See Jellyfin's backup guide.

What it sets up

Setting	Default
Encryption	On (repokey), protected by your passphrase
Compression	zstd,3
Keep	7 daily, 4 weekly, 6 monthly, 1 yearly
After each backup	Delete old backups (prune), free up space (compact), check integrity for up to an hour
Schedule	On

Open Customize on the review step to change any of these. Everything Quick Start creates is a normal repository and backup plan, so you can edit it later from Repositories and Backup Plans.

If something fails

The progress list shows which step stopped and why. Retry continues from that step and does not create the repository twice. Edit answers takes you back to the form; once the repository exists, changes to its location, passphrase or encryption no longer apply, but the plan name, folders and schedule do.

When to use the full wizards

Quick Start covers the common case. Use Repositories and Backup Plans directly for cloud storage, database and container sources, several repositories in one plan, or scripts.