Zerobyte is a backup automation tool designed for self-hosters that provides a modern web interface for managing encrypted backups across multiple storage backends. Built on top of Restic, it enables users to schedule, monitor, and manage backups with end-to-end encryption and compression. The project is written in TypeScript and is actively maintained by nicotsx, who has logged 1017 events across the repository according to GitGenius tracking data.
The tool supports flexible scheduling for automated backup jobs with fine-grained retention policies. It offers multi-protocol support for backing up data from NFS, SMB, WebDAV, SFTP, or local directories. Zerobyte handles encryption, compression, and retention policies through Restic integration, allowing users to protect their data across various remote storage backends including S3, Google Cloud Storage, Azure, and rclone-compatible services. The web interface provides backup management with scheduling and monitoring capabilities, as shown in the repository's demo screenshots.
Installation requires Docker and Docker Compose. The application runs on port 4096 by default and can be deployed using the provided compose.yaml file. The documentation emphasizes security considerations, particularly warning against exposing Zerobyte directly to the internet without proper authentication and secure tunneling mechanisms. For TrueNAS users, the documentation provides specific guidance about using ZFS datasets instead of ephemeral storage to ensure configuration and encryption keys persist across system upgrades.
Configuration is handled through environment variables including BASE_URL, APP_SECRET, PORT, timezone settings, and various performance tuning options. The GOMAXPROCS variable allows limiting CPU scheduler threads to reduce CPU pressure during backups. Zerobyte includes webhook and notification network policies controlled by WEBHOOK_ALLOWED_ORIGINS, restricting backup webhooks and outbound notifications to specified origins. The tool supports provisioned resources, allowing operator-managed repositories and volumes to be synced from JSON files at startup, useful for keeping credentials in deployment-time configuration rather than the UI.
According to GitGenius activity tracking, the repository has grown from 6647 to 6649 stargazers since July 4, 2026. Issue and pull request response latency shows a median of 0.0 hours with a mean of 25.1 hours across 429 tracked items. The most active issue labels are enhancement with 119 items, bug with 109 items, and question with 33 items. Beyond nicotsx's primary contribution of 1017 events, FurkanVG and Rajdave69 have contributed 40 and 35 events respectively. GitGenius identifies overlapping contributors with opendatahub-io/notebooks, getsentry/sentry, and projectdiscovery/nuclei.
The project is currently in version 0.x.x and subject to major changes between versions. The README explicitly warns that the core features are still under development and encourages users to open issues for bugs or feature requests. The tool supports simplified setup for users who only need local directory backups without remote mount capabilities, allowing removal of the SYS_ADMIN capability for improved security. Comprehensive documentation is available at zerobyte.app, including setup guides, configuration references, performance tuning guidance, and provisioning documentation.
