DC restic-home-backup
Design, implement, and operate encrypted restic backups for Linux home directories with encryption, deduplication, automated scheduling, and restore testing. Use when a user asks to back up ~/, set up daily/weekly/monthly backup jobs, harden backup security, troubleshoot restore/integrity issues, or roll out backup automation across multiple workstations.
Design, implement, and operate encrypted restic backups for Linux home directories with encryption, deduplication, automated scheduling, and restore testing.
As a process C 62/100 · Has gaps — weak spots: when it triggers, inputs and preconditions, consistency
What is at stake
The skill contains fragments that, in the wrong hands, cost money or data. Below: what the installer risks and what the author should do.
The skill contains commands that delete files, rewrite disks or execute code fetched from the network. The agent may run them without asking if it believes the instructions require it.
Replace destructive commands with safe equivalents that ask for confirmation, scope them to one folder, and stop piping curl into a shell: pin a version and a checksum.
How to improve
- Address the high-severity findings: each costs 18 safety points. If one is a false positive, add the rule id to guard.allow in spec.yaml.
- Your own cases (evals/evals.json, 4–6 real requests with expected answers): the full check would then run those instead of a model-drafted suite.
- A spec.yaml with trigger phrases and assertions — a behaviour contract for CI; `skilltest init` writes a template.
Guard findings · 11
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high Dangerous commands
cmd-persistencescripts/bootstrap_restic_home.sh:650Persistence mechanism (cron / launchd / scheduled task / autorun registry)CLEANED=$(crontab -l 2>/dev/null | grep -v '/usr/local/bin/home-backup' || true)
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high Dangerous commands
cmd-persistencescripts/bootstrap_restic_home.sh:651Persistence mechanism (cron / launchd / scheduled task / autorun registry)echo "${CLEANED}" | crontab -
Medium and low: 9
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low Dangerous commands
cmd-background-processreferences/runbook.md:322Starts a background / autostarted process (documentation of a security skill)systemctl daemon-reload && systemctl enable --now restic-home-audit.timer
security skill -
low Dangerous commands
cmd-privilegescripts/bootstrap_restic_home.sh:19Privilege escalation / world-writable permissions (code comment)# sudo bash bootstrap_restic_home.sh \
comment -
low Dangerous commands
cmd-cron-mentionscripts/bootstrap_restic_home.sh:645Mentions editing / listing crontabif crontab -l >/dev/null 2>&1; then
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low Dangerous commands
cmd-cron-mentionscripts/bootstrap_restic_home.sh:646Mentions editing / listing crontabcrontab -l > "${ARCHIVE_FILE}" 2>/dev/null || true -
low Dangerous commands
cmd-cron-mentionscripts/bootstrap_restic_home.sh:650Mentions editing / listing crontabCLEANED=$(crontab -l 2>/dev/null | grep -v '/usr/local/bin/home-backup' || true)
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low Dangerous commands
cmd-background-processscripts/bootstrap_restic_home.sh:663Starts a background / autostarted processsystemctl enable --now \
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low Dangerous commands
cmd-privilegescripts/validate_restic_setup.sh:9Privilege escalation / world-writable permissions (code comment)# sudo bash validate_restic_setup.sh [--env-file /etc/home-backup/env]
comment -
low Dangerous commands
cmd-privilegeSKILL.md:72Privilege escalation / world-writable permissions (documentation of a security skill)sudo bash scripts/bootstrap_restic_home.sh \
security skill -
low Dangerous commands
cmd-privilegeSKILL.md:124Privilege escalation / world-writable permissions (documentation of a security skill)sudo bash scripts/validate_restic_setup.sh
security skill
Files scanned: 8. Evidence is masked. Grey chips explain why severity was lowered.
Against the Agent Skills spec
- note
edit-residuethe text marks something as outdated (lines 63, 81, 92): check that old rules are not kept next to new ones — the full check reads the text for contradictions
Process rating: all ten parameters 62/100
- 0Inputs and preconditions. Does not say what the process needs to start
- 20When it triggers. No condition that starts the skill
- 40Consistency. Frontmatter name (restic-home-backup) differs from the folder (restic-workstation-backup)
- 50Failures and branches. 0 branches, has a failure section
- 60Result and completion. Output format stated, no completion criterion
- 85Steps. 53 steps, 1 vague phrases
- 100Tools and files. No external tools needed
- 100Execution cost. Instruction body is 1566 tokens
- 100Running it twice. Mutating operations check current state
- 100Progress reporting. Reports progress
- medium Safety rules and hard prohibitions inside a skill: they belong in the system prompt, here they protect nothing
Everything here is measured from the skill text rather than judged by a model, so the numbers are checkable. A parameter weighs more when it is a more common reason for the process to stall.
Quality signals
- +5Description has no quoted example phrases that should trigger the skill
- +4Description does not say when NOT to use the skill (false activations)
- +1No license
- +2Single-language instructions
- +3Description length 357: enough signal without eating the budget
- +4Structure: 12 headings
- +3Step-by-step instructions: 53 items
- +3Output format is stated explicitly
- +4Has examples (7 code blocks)
- +4Reference files are cited in the instructions (2 of 2)
- +3All 3 scripts are documented
Quality base 70; lint remarks subtract, signals add up to 100. Result: 94.