BackupSentry

Lightweight self-hosted backup verifier that detects missing critical data

Problem

A developer lost code from his self-hosted Gitea after a disk failure. He thought his workspace and repositories were on different disks, but they were on the same one. Such incidents are common among self-hosters who manage backups manually and often miss key directories or wrongly assume coverage. Existing backup tools are either heavy or lack visualization and verification.

Solution

A self-hostable lightweight service that uses a simple config to declare directories and databases to back up. It periodically checks whether these are actually written to backup targets (another disk, NAS, cloud storage) and generates a visual coverage report. If a directory is missing or inconsistent, it sends immediate alerts.

Users

Self-hosting enthusiasts, small teams, indie developers running critical services like Gitea, Nextcloud, databases, but lacking professional backup management.

MVP

Monitor local directories and common databases (SQLite, MySQL); configurable backup target paths; periodic comparison of file lists and modification times; web dashboard showing coverage; email or webhook alerts.

Revenue

Open-source core with paid cloud-synced alerts and report storage, or advanced monitoring rules (e.g., database consistency checks).

Why now

Self-hosting and home labs are popular, but backup awareness is low; recent real data loss case sparked discussion. Indie developers can quickly build a lightweight tool for this niche.