Logging In to Plakar

Plakar works without an account by default. Logging in is optional but it unlocks additional features such as installing pre-built packages hosted on Plakar’s servers (so you don’t have to build them from source) and alerting service which can notify you by email on important issues like when a backup fail.

Logging In

Using GitHub

$ plakar login -github

Using Email

$ plakar login -email myemail@domain.com

Enabling Alerting

After logging in, enable alerting to send backup metadata to Plakar’s servers for reporting:

$ plakar service enable alerting

Enable email notifications:

$ plakar service set alerting report.email=true

Alerting sends non-sensitive metadata (backup status, timestamps, sizes) to power the reporting dashboard and email notifications. Your backup data never leaves your system.

Non-Interactive Login

For CI pipelines, remote servers, or automated jobs where interactive login isn’t possible, use token-based authentication.

Generate a Token

On a machine where you can log in interactively:

$ plakar login
$ plakar token create

This outputs a token:

eyJhbGc......

Use the Token

On the non-interactive system, set the environment variable:

$ export PLAKAR_TOKEN=eyJhbGc......

Plakar automatically uses this token for authentication.

Persist the Token

To save the token in the local configuration:

$ plakar login -env

This reads PLAKAR_TOKEN from the environment and stores it in Plakar’s configuration file.

Installing Pre-Built Packages

Once logged in, you install pre-built integration packages hosted on Plakar’s servers:

$ plakar pkg add s3
$ plakar pkg add sftp
$ plakar pkg add rclone

Without logging in, you can still build these integrations from source.

Verify Login Status

Check if you’re logged in:

$ plakar login --status

This displays your login status.