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Mnemosynce

Mnemosynce is a backup orchestrator for Linux home servers. It runs a set of rsync tasks defined in a YAML config file, applies a tiered retention policy, syncs everything to a remote machine, and emails you a status report after every run — all from a self-hosted web interface.

  • User guide

    Install, configure, and operate Mnemosynce from the web UI. No prior Python knowledge needed.

    Get started

  • Developer guide

    Understand the architecture, extend the code, and contribute. Covers every module, the test suite, and deployment.

    Architecture overview

How a backup run works

Each run executes three steps per configured task, in order:

flowchart LR
    A([Source]) -->|rsync| B[Backup\nsnapshot]
    B -->|retention\npolicy| C[Prune old\nsnapshots]
    C -->|rsync over SSH| D([Remote\nstore])
    D --> E{All tasks\ndone?}
    E -->|yes| F[Email\nreport]
    E -->|no| A
Step What happens
Backup rsync from source to a dated snapshot directory, using hard links so unchanged files cost no extra space
Retention Removes snapshots outside the configured window (daily × 7, weekly × 4, monthly × 12, yearly × 5)
Sync rsync the local backup directory to a remote machine over SSH

After all tasks finish, an HTML email report summarises what succeeded and what failed, with log files attached for any failed steps.

Serving the docs locally

Install the docs extra from the project root, then start the live-reload server:

uv sync --extra docs
cd docs-site
python -m zensical serve

The site is served at http://127.0.0.1:8000 and reloads automatically whenever you save a Markdown file. To produce a static build instead:

python -m zensical build --clean

Output goes to docs-site/site/.