Jul 10, 2025
Imagine this: spending late nights chasing bugs, sketching diagrams on draw.io, and finally shipping a feature that has been long overdue on the backlog, only to have it all disappear with one accidental deletion or an unexpected outage.
Your GitHub repositories are more than code; they’re a history of your hard work, creativity, and countless late-night.
Losing even a single repo can mean rewriting weeks or months of progress from scratch, erasing not just code but context, discussions, and docs you built along the way.
A plan B (a backup strategy) isn’t about distrusting GitHub; it’s about making sure you stay in control of your own work no matter what happens. Whether your account is compromised, you hit GitHub rate limits, or the platform experiences downtime, having an independent copy of every repo guarantees you can pick up right where you left off.
Backup Strategies For GitHub Repos
Download the ZIP file
Every couple of weeks, take a few clicks to download a ZIP snapshot of each repository via the GitHub and put it on your local drive, an external HDD, or a shared network folder. This manual routine is quick to start and gives you a recent restore point whenever you need it.
Mirror your project
If clicking “Download ZIP” feels too hands-on, mirror your projects on a second Git host. Create matching empty repos on GitLab or Bitbucket, then push your commits to both services on a regular schedule. This redundant copy lives safe in another cloud corner if GitHub ever hiccups.
Set up automatic daily backups
For true set-and-forget backup method, sign up on an automated backup service. These platforms quietly run every day to capture commits, issues, pull requests, comments, wikis then encrypting it end-to-end. It just works behind the scenes while you focus on coding.
Take Cloudback for example. In a few minutes you link to your GitHub account, select where to store your backups (your own AWS S3 bucket, Google Cloud, or Azure) and know your repo is safe. Large files, full metadata, SOC 2 compliance, and a free starter tier mean even the biggest, most complex repos are safe without you having to manually mirror your project or download the latest git.
Wrapping up
With manual snapshots, mirrored hosts, or a managed service like Cloudback, you build your safety net once and let it catch every new commit and conversation. The next time disaster looms, you’ll simply restore and carry on.
