Zerobyte Restic GUI: Self-Hosted Backup Automation

If you run a VPS, homelab, or any Linux server, backups are the only insurance that matters. Disks fail, updates break, and mistakes happen. Zerobyte gives you the reliability of Restic with a clean web UI, so you can automate backups without living in the terminal.

What is Zerobyte?

Zerobyte is an open-source backup automation platform that wraps the Restic engine with a modern dashboard. It lets you create repositories, schedule jobs, and monitor snapshots from a web interface instead of managing everything by hand.

Why Restic plus Zerobyte works

Layer	Responsibility	What you get
Restic	Encryption, deduplication, compression, repo format	Secure and efficient backups
Zerobyte	Web UI, scheduling, retention, logs	A usable control plane

Together they deliver fast, encrypted backups with a workflow you can revisit months later and still understand.

Key features

Zerobyte UI tour

The UI is simple and task-focused. Here is what the main sections look like and how to use them.

Volumes: connect data sources

Volumes define the data you want to back up. Add local directories, NFS, SMB, or WebDAV sources, then reference them when creating backup jobs.

Repositories: choose storage backends

Repositories are the encrypted destinations for your snapshots. Configure local paths, S3-compatible storage, or rclone remotes depending on where you want backups to live.

Backups: monitor jobs and snapshots

This is your operational view. Track job status, verify recent runs, and confirm snapshots are being created on schedule.

Notifications: avoid silent failures

Notifications let you control how Zerobyte reports job events. Set them up early so failed backups never go unnoticed.

Prerequisites

Option 1: Deploy with Dokploy

Dokploy is an easy way to deploy Docker apps with managed domains and SSL. If you do not have it yet, start here: Dokploy install guide.

Step 1: Create the service

1. Open your Dokploy project
2. Click Add Service and choose Compose
3. Name it zerobyte

Step 2: Paste the compose file

services:
  zerobyte:
    image: ghcr.io/nicotsx/zerobyte:v0.19
    networks:
      - dokploy-network
    restart: unless-stopped
    cap_add:
      - SYS_ADMIN
    devices:
      - /dev/fuse:/dev/fuse
    environment:
      - TZ=UTC
    volumes:
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
      - zerobyte-data:/var/lib/zerobyte
      - /srv/backups:/backups
      - /srv/data:/data:ro
      - /etc/rclone:/root/.config/rclone:ro

networks:
  dokploy-network:
    external: true

volumes:
  zerobyte-data:

Step 3: Domain and port

Create a domain in Dokploy and map it to port 4096. After deploy, open https://your-domain.com to access the UI.

Notes about the compose file

• /srv/backups is a sample local repository path. Change it to your storage location.
• /srv/data is the source data to back up. Mount it read-only when possible.
• /etc/rclone is optional. Remove it if you do not use rclone remotes.
• The UI listens on port 4096 by default.

Option 2: Docker Compose (standalone)

Full setup (remote mounts enabled)

Use this if you need Zerobyte to mount NFS, SMB, or WebDAV shares inside the container.

services:
  zerobyte:
    image: ghcr.io/nicotsx/zerobyte:v0.19
    container_name: zerobyte
    restart: unless-stopped
    cap_add:
      - SYS_ADMIN
    ports:
      - "4096:4096"
    devices:
      - /dev/fuse:/dev/fuse
    environment:
      - TZ=UTC
    volumes:
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
      - /var/lib/zerobyte:/var/lib/zerobyte

Start it:

docker compose up -d

Simplified setup (local folders only)

If you only back up local directories, drop the FUSE device and extra capabilities:

services:
  zerobyte:
    image: ghcr.io/nicotsx/zerobyte:v0.19
    container_name: zerobyte
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "4096:4096"
    environment:
      - TZ=UTC
    volumes:
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
      - /var/lib/zerobyte:/var/lib/zerobyte
      - /srv/data:/data:ro

Trade-offs

• Pros: Better security with fewer privileges
• Pros: Works for local directories
• Cons: No direct NFS, SMB, or WebDAV mounts

Add your first volume

Zerobyte backs up data from volumes (source locations). To back up a local directory, mount it into the container and then pick it from the UI.

Example host path:

services:
  zerobyte:
    volumes:
      - /var/lib/zerobyte:/var/lib/zerobyte
+     - /srv/projects:/projects:ro

Then go to Volumes in Zerobyte and create a new “Directory” volume that points to /projects.

Create a repository

Repositories are where your encrypted backups live. Zerobyte supports multiple backends:

Repository type	Example
Local directory	/var/lib/zerobyte/repositories/myrepo
S3 compatible	AWS S3, MinIO, Wasabi, Backblaze
Google Cloud Storage	GCS buckets
Azure Blob Storage	Azure containers
rclone remotes	Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc

Using rclone for cloud storage

1. Install rclone on your host: curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash
2. Configure a remote: rclone config
3. Mount the config into the container:

services:
  zerobyte:
    volumes:
      - /var/lib/zerobyte:/var/lib/zerobyte
+     - ~/.config/rclone:/root/.config/rclone

After restarting the container, choose rclone as the repository type and select your remote.

Create your first backup job

1. Pick a source volume and a repository
2. Set a schedule (daily, weekly, or custom)
3. Add include and exclude paths
4. Configure retention (keep daily, weekly, monthly, yearly)
5. Run the job once manually to verify credentials and performance

Restore data

Open Backups, select a snapshot, and restore files back to their original paths. For partial restores, pick only the files you need and Zerobyte will pull them from Restic.

Post-deploy checklist

Restic CLI commands you should know

# initialize a local repo
export RESTIC_REPOSITORY=/srv/backups/restic-repo
export RESTIC_PASSWORD="strong-password"
restic init

# create a backup
restic -r $RESTIC_REPOSITORY backup /home /etc

# list snapshots
restic -r $RESTIC_REPOSITORY snapshots

# forget and prune with a retention policy
restic -r $RESTIC_REPOSITORY forget --prune \
  --keep-daily 7 --keep-weekly 4 --keep-monthly 12 --keep-yearly 3

Practical retention tips

• Test restores regularly. A backup you cannot restore is useless.
• Keep Zerobyte metadata on local disk for performance and permissions.
• Expect the first backup to be heavy on I/O and bandwidth.
• Keep at least one independent offline copy for critical data.
• Use restic check and inspect logs when a job fails.

FAQ

Do I need SYS_ADMIN and /dev/fuse?

Only if you want Zerobyte to mount NFS, SMB, or WebDAV shares inside the container. For local folders, remove the capability and device for a safer setup.

Where does Zerobyte store repositories?

Local repositories live under /var/lib/zerobyte/repositories by default. Cloud repositories are stored in the backend you configure.

Final thoughts

Restic gives you trustworthy, encrypted backups. Zerobyte adds the convenience of a modern dashboard and scheduling layer. If you want a low-maintenance, self-hosted backup system, this combo is hard to beat.

View Zerobyte on GitHub