Moraine — snapshot backup over SSH, rsync and rclone

How it works

Full trees. A fraction of the disk.

Every run creates a new <timestamp>/ folder. Files that haven't changed since last time become hard links — the same data on disk, but visible in every snapshot. A latest symlink always points to the newest one.

/volume1/backups/nas/ — five snapshots, one latest symlink 2026-06-19T… · 06-22 · 06-24 · 06-25 · 06-26

01 — run

rsync mirrors the source

The client runs rsync -aAX --delete over SSH into a new <timestamp>/ folder. Permissions, ACLs and xattrs come along.

02 — linking

Unchanged files are hard-linked

--link-dest=../latest lets files that haven't changed point at the previous snapshot. New disk is only used for what actually differs.

03 — pruning

latest is repointed, old is pruned

latest moves to the new snapshot. Auto-prune keeps the N most recent plus daily/weekly/monthly according to your policy.

Features

Everything a home server needs — nothing more.

A shared engine powers both the CLI and the desktop app. Same config, same snapshots, same log.

Hard-linked snapshots

Every backup is a complete, browsable tree. Unchanged files share disk via hard links — so history costs almost nothing.

rsync --link-dest

GFS retention & auto-prune

Keep the N most recent plus the newest per day, week and month. Pruning runs automatically after every successful backup.

keep_last · daily · weekly · monthly

Selective restore

Browse a snapshot's file tree and pick exactly what you want back — or the whole tree. Nothing in the destination folder is ever deleted.

browse · pick · restore

Scheduling

Create multiple schedules — hourly, daily or weekly — and install them straight into your crontab with one click.

→ crontab

Run history

Every backup, restore and prune is written to history.jsonl and shown in a History tab — with time, target and outcome.

history.jsonl

Verification

Test the SSH key, the connection, that all sources exist and that the destination is writable — before you trust a backup.

moraine verify

Dry-run everywhere

See exactly what would be transferred or deleted before anything happens. Applies to backup, restore and prune.

--dry-run

Two backends

rsync over SSH for your NAS, or rclone for cloud and object storage. Same snapshot model, same flow.

ssh · rclone

A polished desktop UI

The desktop app (built with GTK 4) has a clean dark design system — cards, a teal accent and soft shadows — with native file pickers and dialogs.

GTK 4

The desktop app

Four tabs. The whole workflow.

The same engine as the CLI, with a graphical interface for editing targets, scheduling, restoring and tracking runs. Click around below.

Moraine

Snapshot backups over SSH · v0.2.2

Quick BackupScheduleRestoreHistorySettingsHelp

Targets

nas 14

offsite ·

+ New target

Connection

Name

nas

Host / IP

192.168.1.50

User

backup

Port

Destination on target

/volume1/backups

Retention — 0 = keep all

Last

Daily

Weekly

Monthly

Save Delete Test connection Dry run Run backup

# snapshot 2026-06-26T08-30-12

sending incremental file list ...

✓ 24,910 files · 312.4M sent · snapshot done

Quick Backup

Edit a target and run it right away — with a live-streamed rsync log at the bottom.

Host, user, port, SSH key and destination in one form
Sources and exclude patterns as editable lists
Retention per target + Prune now
Test connection, Dry run and Run backup

Moraine

Snapshot backups over SSH · v0.2.2

Quick BackupScheduleRestoreHistorySettingsHelp

Schedules

nightly-nas 14 snaps

hourly-docs ·

weekly-offsite (off)

Refresh counts

+ New schedule

Install to crontab

Name

nightly-nas

Target

nas ▾

Frequency

Daily ▾

Hour (0-23)

Minute (0-59)

Enabled

cron: 0 2 * * *

Click “Install to crontab” to activate all enabled schedules.

SaveDelete

Installed 2 schedule(s) to crontab

Schedule

Build up multiple schedules and write them to your crontab — the app shows the cron expression as you set it up.

Hourly, daily or weekly per target
Live preview of the cron expression
Enable/disable without deleting the schedule
Install to crontab activates everything at once

Moraine

Snapshot backups over SSH · v0.2.2

Quick BackupScheduleRestoreHistorySettingsHelp

Restore

Target

nas ▾

List snapshots

2026-06-26T08-30 newest

2026-06-25T02-00

2026-06-24T02-00

Restore snapshot

Snapshot

2026-06-26T08-30-12

Restore into this local folder

~/restore/nas/2026-06-26T08-30-12

snapshot / documents

📁 projects▸

report-q2.pdf

budget.xlsx

notes.md

2 selected — none = whole snapshotDry runRestore

2 item(s) selected in documents/

Restore

List snapshots, browse the tree and pick exactly what you want back. Files are copied — nothing is deleted.

Snapshots newest first, the latest marked newest
Browse folder by folder with breadcrumbs
Tick individual files, or leave empty for the whole snapshot
A suggested restore folder so live data is never overwritten

Moraine

Snapshot backups over SSH · v0.2.2

Quick BackupScheduleRestoreHistorySettingsHelp

Run history

Refresh

backupnassnapshot 2026-06-26T08-30-1208:30:14✓

prunenasdeleted 1, kept 1308:30:15✓

restorenas2026-06-25T02-00 → ~/restoreYesterday 21:12✓

backupoffsitessh: connection timed outYesterday 03:00✗

backupnassnapshot 2026-06-25T02-00-032 days ago✓

5 log entries

History

Every run becomes a row in the log — so you can see after the fact what happened, and when.

Backup, restore and prune with color-coded badges
Time, target and a short detail (snapshot id, count, or error)
A clear ✓ / ✗ for the outcome
Saved as history.jsonl next to your config

The command line

Five commands, all scriptable.

Prefer the terminal? The moraine binary does exactly the same job — perfect for cron and remote servers.

moraine init

Writes a commented example config to start from.

moraine verify --target nas

Tests the SSH key, the connection, that the sources exist and that the destination is writable.

moraine run --dry-run

Runs backup for all targets (or a chosen one). Auto-prune after a successful run.

moraine list --target nas

Lists all snapshots on the target, newest first.

moraine prune --dry-run

Shows which snapshots the retention policy would prune — before anything is deleted.

moraine --version

Version string with embedded git hash and build date from build.rs.

Download

Download Moraine 0.2.2

The desktop app + CLI on Linux and Windows; the CLI on macOS (the desktop app lands there next). Same engine and config everywhere.

Debian / Ubuntu in Debian

Now in official Debian. apt install moraine works on testing and unstable — it has migrated into testing on every architecture Debian builds (amd64, arm64, armhf, i386, ppc64el, riscv64, s390x, loong64) — and reaches Ubuntu/Mint as they sync. For stable — or auto-updating everywhere today — add the thern.io APT repo:

curl -fsSL https://cdn.thern.io/keys/thern-cdn-keyring.gpg | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/thern-cdn-keyring.gpg >/dev/null
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/thern-cdn-keyring.gpg] https://cdn.thern.io/deb stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/thern-cdn.list
sudo apt update && sudo apt install moraine

↓ .deb (x86-64) tar.gz

official Debian · thern.io APT repo · GTK app · rsync · ssh

Arch Linux app + CLI

On the AUR — paru -S moraine (or yay) builds it from source like any other AUR package, and picks up new releases with your regular upgrade.

paru -S moraine

For a prebuilt binary instead — no compile step — add the thern.io pacman repo once:

curl -fsSL https://cdn.thern.io/keys/thern-cdn-pacman.conf | sudo tee -a /etc/pacman.conf
sudo pacman -Sy moraine

↓ pkg.tar.zst AUR PKGBUILD

AUR · pacman repo · GTK app · rsync · ssh · rclone

Fedora / RPM app + CLI

The thern.io DNF repo — dnf install moraine, GPG-signed, for Fedora and RHEL. On Fedora there is also a Copr, rebuilt from this repository on every release:

sudo curl -fsSL -o /etc/yum.repos.d/thern-cdn.repo https://cdn.thern.io/keys/thern-cdn.repo
sudo dnf install moraine

sudo dnf copr enable jonaz/moraine && sudo dnf install moraine

↓ .rpm (x86-64) spec

DNF repo · Copr · GTK app · rsync · ssh · rclone

openSUSE app + CLI

Built for Tumbleweed on the openSUSE Build Service. Add the repo once and zypper keeps Moraine updated with the rest of the system.

sudo zypper ar https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/TheJonaz/openSUSE_Tumbleweed/home:TheJonaz.repo
sudo zypper in moraine

Browse the repo

Build Service · Tumbleweed · GTK app · rsync · ssh · rclone

Gentoo app + CLI

From our own overlay — add it once and emerge builds Moraine from source like everything else on the system. USE="-gui" gives you the CLI without pulling in GTK.

sudo eselect repository add moraine git https://github.com/TheJonaz/moraine-overlay.git
sudo emaint sync -r moraine
sudo emerge -av app-backup/moraine

Overlay ebuild

overlay · USE=gui · rsync · ssh · rclone

Alpine Linux app + CLI

Build the package from the APKBUILD with abuild, then install it with apk. Both the desktop app and the CLI, on musl.

APKBUILD

GTK app · rsync · ssh · rclone · musl

Flatpak App + CLI

The desktop app on any distro, sandboxed, with rsync, ssh and rclone bundled inside it — nothing to match against your system. Served from our own repo on the thern.io CDN, signed with the same GPG key as the APT and DNF repos.

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists moraine https://cdn.thern.io/moraine.flatpakrepo

flatpak install moraine io.thern.moraine

x86-64 & arm64 · GTK app · signed repo · sandboxed

AppImage any distro

One file, no install, no package manager — download it, make it executable, run it. GTK is bundled, so the desktop app works the same on any distribution. It needs glibc 2.39 or newer (Ubuntu 24.04+, Debian 13+, Fedora 40+, Arch and the rolling distros). On something older, take the Flatpak or the .deb instead. A native aarch64 build (for arm64 desktops) arrives with the next release.

chmod +x moraine-x86_64.AppImage && ./moraine-x86_64.AppImage

↓ AppImage (x86-64)

GTK app · portable · x86-64 today · arm64 soon

Snap CLI

The command-line client on any distro with snapd, with rsync, ssh and rclone bundled. Strictly confined: your home folder, external drives and every remote backend work straight away. Backing up top-level dotfiles (~/.ssh, ~/.config, ~/.gnupg) needs a permission that's still awaiting store approval — until then use the .deb, Flatpak or AppImage if those matter to you.

sudo snap install moraine

sudo snap connect moraine:ssh-keys

CLI · strict confinement · rsync · ssh · rclone

Raspberry Pi CLI

A perfect always-on backup box. These builds are statically linked, so one file runs on any Raspberry Pi OS — no dependencies to match, nothing to compile. Pick arm64 for a Pi 3/4/5 on a 64-bit system, armv7 for a 32-bit one.

uname -m # aarch64 → arm64 · armv7l → armv7

↓ tar.gz (arm64) armv7

CLI · rsync · ssh · rclone · static

macOS CLI

The command-line client — best via Homebrew, which also pulls a modern rsync (macOS ships an old one). Or the Apple-Silicon tarball. A universal .pkg installer (Apple Silicon + Intel, into /usr/local) arrives with the next release. The GTK desktop app is coming to macOS.

brew install TheJonaz/moraine/moraine

tarball (arm64)

arm64 · Homebrew · .pkg installer soon · rclone

Windows App + CLI

The x64 desktop app — a one-click installer with the full GTK app, native window controls and the Moraine icon. Or the command-line client (installer that adds moraine to your PATH, winget / Scoop, or the plain zip). Scheduling via Task Scheduler; for rsync/SSH use WSL, or the rclone backend (SFTP/FTP/SMB/cloud).

winget install TheJonaz.Moraine

scoop install moraine

↓ Desktop app (.exe) CLI installer zip (x64)

Desktop app · Task Scheduler · winget · Scoop · rclone

Source code

Build it yourself with cargo build --release. Pure Rust, MIT license — it's all open on GitHub.

↓ Source code (tar.gz) GitHub

Rust · MIT

Coming soon packaging ready · awaiting store review

Built and in the repo — these light up here once they're live in their stores.

macOS installer .pkg · universal AppImage arm64 · GTK FreeBSD port · CLI OpenBSD ports · CLI NetBSD pkgsrc · CLI Nix / NixOS app + CLI Chocolatey Windows CLI Docker container · CLI

Packages are served from the thern.io CDN (GPG-signed APT/DNF/pacman/Flatpak repos) · every build is also on GitHub Releases, verified in CI. Gentoo ships from our own overlay and openSUSE from the openSUSE Build Service; the macOS .pkg, FreeBSD, OpenBSD and NetBSD recipes live in packaging/.

Get started

One TOML file. One block per target.

Run moraine init, fill in host, sources and retention — and run a --dry-run before your first real backup.

↓ Download Moraine Open the app instead

moraine.toml

# One or more [[target]] blocks.
[[target]]
name   = "nas"
host   = "192.168.1.50"
user   = "backup"
port   = 22
key    = "~/.ssh/backup_ed25519"
dest   = "/volume1/backups"
sources = [
  "/home/jonaz/dokument",
  "/home/jonaz/bilder",
]
exclude = [ "*.tmp", "node_modules" ]

# Keep 5 most recent + GFS
[target.retention]
keep_last    = 5
keep_daily   = 7
keep_weekly  = 4
keep_monthly = 6

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Answers to what people ask before trusting a backup tool with their files.

Is Moraine free?

Yes. Moraine is free and open source under the MIT licence — no paid tier, no account required and no feature held back for one. The complete source is on GitHub.

How do hard-linked snapshots save disk space?

Every run creates a new timestamped folder that looks like a complete copy of your files. Files that have not changed since the previous run are stored as hard links to it (rsync's --link-dest), so they take up no additional space. Only what actually changed costs anything.

Can I restore a single file instead of everything?

Yes. In the desktop app's Restore tab you browse any snapshot's file tree and tick individual files or folders. From the command line a snapshot is an ordinary directory, so plain rsync or cp works. A restore never deletes anything at the destination — it only adds and overwrites.

Which operating systems does Moraine run on?

The desktop app and the command-line client both run on Linux and Windows. macOS has the CLI today, with the desktop app in progress. There are also native Raspberry Pi builds for arm64 and armv7.

Do I need a NAS, or does it work with cloud storage?

Either. The SSH/rsync backend backs up to anything you can SSH into — a NAS, a VPS or another PC. The rclone backend covers cloud and object storage, including S3, Backblaze B2, Google Drive, WebDAV, SMB and FTP.

How is Moraine different from Borg or restic?

Moraine stores plain directory trees rather than a repository format. You can open a snapshot in any file manager, copy files out with ordinary tools, and read it on a machine that has never had Moraine installed. Borg and restic deduplicate and encrypt into their own repository, which is more space-efficient and encrypted at rest, but readable only through their own tooling.

What happens if a backup is interrupted?

Nothing half-finished ever becomes a snapshot. Each run is assembled in a hidden work area and made visible only once every file has transferred, so listing, verifying, restoring and pruning all ignore incomplete runs. An aborted backup cannot become “the latest snapshot”, and cannot trick retention into deleting a good one.

Is my backup encrypted?

In transit, yes — the SSH backend runs over SSH. At rest it depends on the destination: the rclone and FTP backends can encrypt with rclone's crypt, using a password and optional salt per target. The SSH backend writes ordinary files, so encrypt the destination volume if that matters to you.

How do I run backups automatically?

The app's Schedule tab writes crontab entries on Linux and macOS, and Task Scheduler jobs on Windows. From the command line, point cron or a systemd timer at moraine run. A successful run prunes the target afterwards, so a single scheduled line both backs up and cleans up.

Full trees. A fraction of the disk.

rsync mirrors the source

Unchanged files are hard-linked

latest is repointed, old is pruned

Everything a home server needs — nothing more.

Hard-linked snapshots

GFS retention & auto-prune

Selective restore

Scheduling

Run history

Verification

Dry-run everywhere

Two backends

A polished desktop UI

Four tabs. The whole workflow.

Quick Backup

Schedule

Restore

History

Five commands, all scriptable.

Download Moraine 0.2.2

Debian / Ubuntu in Debian

Arch Linux app + CLI

Fedora / RPM app + CLI

openSUSE app + CLI

Gentoo app + CLI

Alpine Linux app + CLI

Flatpak App + CLI

AppImage any distro

Snap CLI

Raspberry Pi CLI

macOS CLI

Windows App + CLI

Source code

Coming soon packaging ready · awaiting store review

One TOML file. One block per target.

Frequently asked questions

Is Moraine free?

How do hard-linked snapshots save disk space?

Can I restore a single file instead of everything?

Which operating systems does Moraine run on?

Do I need a NAS, or does it work with cloud storage?

How is Moraine different from Borg or restic?

What happens if a backup is interrupted?

Is my backup encrypted?

How do I run backups automatically?

Ready to protect your home server?