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Command line syntax

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Every Plakar invocation follows this pattern:

$ plakar [OPTIONS] [at REPOSITORY] COMMAND [COMMAND_OPTIONS]...
Component Required Description
OPTIONS No Global options that apply to all commands (see below)
at REPOSITORY No Target repository; defaults to $PLAKAR_REPOSITORY or ~/.plakar if omitted
COMMAND Yes The operation to perform (e.g. backup, restore, check)
COMMAND_OPTIONS No Options and arguments specific to the command (documented under each command reference)

A few examples to make the structure concrete:

# Simplest form: just a command
$ plakar version

# Operating on a repository
$ plakar at /backup ls

# Global option + repository + command + command options
$ plakar -time at /backup ls -tag daily-backups

Global options

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Global options appear before the at clause and apply to every command. Options that come after the command are command-specific and are documented in each command reference page.

Option Description
-concurrency int Maximum number of parallel tasks (default: CPU count)
-configdir dir Alternate configuration directory (default: ~/.config/plakar)
-cachedir dir Alternate cache directory (default: ~/.cache/plakar)
-datadir dir Alternate data directory (default: ~/.local/share/plakar)
-cpu int Limit the number of usable CPU cores (default: CPU count)
-disable-security-check Disable update check
-enable-security-check Enable update check
-json Use newline-delimited JSON output for supported subcommands
-keyfile path Read passphrase from file at path (overrides PLAKAR_PASSPHRASE)
-profile-cpu string Profile CPU usage
-profile-mem string Profile memory usage
-quiet Suppress all output except errors
-silent Suppress all output
-stdio Use plain text line output instead of ncurses (default when stdout is not a terminal)
-time Report command execution time
-trace string Display trace logs; comma-separated: all, trace, repository, snapshot, server

Option order matters

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Options must appear in the correct position. Global options go before at, command options go after the command.

# Correct: -tag is a command option for ls
$ plakar -time at /backup ls -tag daily-backups

# Wrong: -tag is placed before the command, plakar sees it as the command name
$ plakar -time at /backup -tag daily-backups ls
# command not found: -tag

A misplaced option will either be ignored or cause an error. When something doesn’t work as expected, check option placement first.

Getting help

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Plakar has built-in help at every level.

# Show global usage, all options and available commands
$ plakar -h
$ plakar help

# Show the manual page for a specific command
$ plakar help <command>

The built-in help is always in sync with the version of Plakar you have installed, making it the most reliable reference for available options and commands.

Environment variables

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Variable Description
PLAKAR_PASSPHRASE Supply the encryption passphrase non-interactively, useful in scripts, CI pipelines, or other non-interactive contexts
PLAKAR_REPOSITORY Set the default repository path, avoiding the need to specify at REPOSITORY on every command (falls back to ~/.plakar if unset)
PLAKAR_TOKEN Token to authenticate for Plakar services (e.g. for non interactive login)

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