gitlab-backup2s3: Encrypted GitLab Backups to S3, with Kubernetes Support

Source code: github.com/sgaunet/gitlab-backup2s3 Helm chart: github.com/sgaunet/helm-gitlab-backup2s3

In the previous article, I covered gitlab-backup, a CLI tool for exporting GitLab projects and groups as portable archives. It handles the export, the restore, and supports both local and S3 storage natively.

But for production backup workflows — especially in a Kubernetes environment — you often want more: scheduled execution, optional encryption at rest, and a container image that bundles everything together. That’s exactly what gitlab-backup2s3 brings to the table.

When your Go project depends on an internal library living in a private GitLab repository, a plain go get will fail — GitLab doesn’t know who is asking, and Go doesn’t know the repository is private. Fortunately, a handful of configuration steps sorts everything out, both locally and in CI.

gitlab-backup: Back Up and Restore GitLab Projects from the Command Line

Source code: github.com/sgaunet/gitlab-backup

When you self-host GitLab or rely heavily on gitlab.com for your projects, having an independent backup strategy is essential. GitLab’s own backup mechanism works well at the instance level, but sometimes you need something more surgical: back up a single project, or an entire group, on demand, and store the result locally or in S3. That’s what gitlab-backup does.

We are beginning to use Swarm at work and I wanted to make a complete CI/CD in the Swarm. So I have tried to run my own gitlab-runner in the Swarm (connected to https://gitlab.com).