Pahest

Run it your way

Commands

The forms of the pahest command, the options at the question, profiles, rebuild and exit codes.

Pahest is one command, pahest. Without an option, it asks one question and then makes a backup.

The commands

Command Result
pahest Shows the start screen, asks one question, makes a backup and writes a report.
pahest --profile Makes a backup without questions, with the answers that you saved as default.
pahest --profile NAME The same, with the answers that you saved as NAME.
pahest --regenerate Rebuilds the pages of the newest backup. Makes no new backup.
pahest --regenerate FOLDER Rebuilds the pages of the backup in FOLDER.
pahest --templates Shows the folder with the templates of the pages. You can edit the templates, then rebuild the pages.
pahest --version Shows the version of Pahest.
pahest --help Shows the help text.

The options at the question

A run without --profile asks Make a backup now?. If you press o and Enter, Pahest shows three options:

  ? Make a backup now? [Y/n]  (o = options) o
  Options:
    r  Rebuild the web pages and reports of the last backup (2026-11-11-19-23-42). No new backup is made.
    f  Choose another backups folder.
    s  Save these answers, for runs without questions (pahest --profile).
  ? Your choice (Enter = go back):
Key Result
r Rebuilds the pages of the last backup. This option shows only when you have a backup.
f Asks for another backups folder. See Use another folder or disk.
s Saves your answers as a profile.
Enter Goes back to the question.

Run without questions

A profile is a file that holds your answers. With a profile, Pahest makes a backup without a question, so a script can start it. Pahest has no scheduler.

  1. Start Pahest

    Run pahest and wait for the question.

  2. Choose the folder

    If you want another backups folder, choose it first. See Use another folder or disk.

  3. Save the answers

    Press o, then Enter. Then press s, then Enter.

  4. Give the profile a name

    Press Enter to use the name default, or type a name.

Pahest saves the profile and asks the question again:

  ? Your choice (Enter = go back): s
  ? Profile name [default]:
  ✓ Saved /Users/you/pahest-backups/profiles/default.json
      Run it later with:  pahest --profile
  ? Make a backup now? [Y/n]  (o = options) n

• Cancelled. Nothing was backed up.

To make a backup with the profile, run one of these commands:

pahest --profile
pahest --profile nightly

The start screen then has a line for the profile, and the backup starts immediately:

Pahest 0.1.3  ·  local backup for AI apps  ·  https://github.com/pahest/pahest
Backups folder: /Users/you/Documents/pahest-backups
Last backups: none yet.
Profile: default (/Users/you/pahest-backups/profiles/default.json)

A run with a profile stops before the backup if it cannot use the backups folder, or if the disk has too little free space. The exit code is then 2.

Rebuild the pages

A rebuild makes the pages of a backup again with your version of Pahest. It makes no new backup. Use it after an update of Pahest, or after you change a template.

You have two ways to start a rebuild:

  • At the question of pahest, press o, then Enter. Then press r, then Enter.
  • Run pahest --regenerate. To rebuild an older backup, add its folder: pahest --regenerate ~/pahest-backups/2026-11-09-17-29-11.

This is the output of a rebuild of a backup with about 1,050 sessions:

Pahest 0.1.3  ·  local backup for AI apps  ·  https://github.com/pahest/pahest
Rebuilding the pages of a backup.
Backup: /Users/you/pahest-backups/2026-11-11-19-23-42
  made 2026-11-11 19:23:42 with pahest 0.1.3; status: completed

── Rebuild the pages ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  • Claude Code sessions…
  • Claude desktop local sessions…
  • Codex sessions…
  • Web pages (index.html)…

── Verification ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  ✓ 20,905 files written and read back (20,905 the same as before, they take no new disk space); checksums.sha256 updated

── Done ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
✓ Pages rebuilt in 3:27.
  Open:    /Users/you/pahest-backups/2026-11-11-19-23-42/index.html
  Report:  /Users/you/pahest-backups/2026-11-11-19-23-42/report.html

A rebuild does not read the apps, and it does not change the files that Pahest copied from them.

Exit codes

A script that runs Pahest can read its exit code:

Code Meaning
0 The backup is completed and has no problems.
1 The backup is completed, but it has problems. The report lists them.
2 You cancelled, or Pahest did not start.
130 You stopped the backup with Ctrl+C.

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