Install borgmatic with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• borgmatic
• generate-borgmatic-config
• validate-borgmatic-config

Project history

The project grew as a wrapper and automation layer around BorgBackup. Its own documentation now presents borgmatic as the canonical project at torsion.org and the source repository as the official development home.

borgmatic grew from a small wrapper script into a backup orchestrator with configuration validation, repository creation, pruning, checks, database dumps, hooks, monitoring integrations, and upgrade-aware command changes. The documentation's compatibility notes, such as the move from the older init action to repo-create, show an actively maintained tool tracking Borg's evolution.

Adoption history

borgmatic is packaged across mainstream Unix package managers, including Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, openSUSE, Alpine, MacPorts, and Nix according to the batch input. Its presence in both Linux distribution repositories and macOS package managers reflects a practical role in personal server, workstation, and self-hosting backup setups.

The project also appears in the Borg hosting ecosystem: borgmatic's README and site point users toward providers that explicitly support Borg or borgmatic workflows, making it a familiar layer for off-site encrypted backups.

How it is used

Typical use starts with a YAML configuration listing source directories, repositories, retention, checks, hooks, and optional database backup settings. Operators run borgmatic manually, from cron, or from systemd timers to create and prune Borg archives without hand-writing long Borg command lines.

borgmatic relies on Borg being installed separately, then wraps Borg operations such as repository creation, archive creation, pruning, checks, extraction, and passphrase handling. Its docs describe both configuration-file passphrases and Borg environment variables such as BORG_PASSPHRASE and BORG_PASSCOMMAND.

Why package nerds care

For package maintainers, borgmatic is a useful example of a Python CLI that deliberately avoids bundling its core external engine, Borg, so distro packages must express the Borg relationship cleanly instead of hiding it inside the wrapper.

For CLI users, it sits in the sweet spot between raw Borg commands and a full backup appliance: declarative config, Unix-friendly scheduling, and enough hooks to integrate with monitoring without requiring a daemon.

Timeline

• 2017: Official source repository metadata shows the borgmatic repository created on projects.torsion.org.
• 2023: Official release metadata includes borgmatic 1.8.1, part of the mature 1.x series.
• 2025: Documentation records the repo-create action replacing the older init action in borgmatic 1.9.0.
• 2026: Project metadata and package-manager input show borgmatic maintained as a cross-distro backup CLI.

Related projects

• BorgBackup is the underlying deduplicating, encrypted backup tool that borgmatic automates.
• BorgBase is a related hosting provider named by the borgmatic site as supporting Borg and borgmatic workflows.
• systemd, Docker, Podman, database engines, and monitoring services are adjacent integrations documented by borgmatic.

Sources

• https://projects.torsion.org/api/v1/repos/borgmatic-collective/borgmatic
• https://torsion.org/borgmatic/
• https://torsion.org/borgmatic/how-to/install-borgmatic/
• https://torsion.org/borgmatic/how-to/set-up-backups/
• source_facts.package-manager