explaingit

blackstorm/tinygb

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

1GoAudience · ops devopsComplexity · 3/5LicenseSetup · moderate

TLDR

A stripped-down fork of GoBackup that only backs up a PostgreSQL database to S3-compatible storage, with a much smaller web UI.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((TinyGB))
    What it does
      PostgreSQL backups
      S3 upload
      Scheduled daemon
    Tech stack
      Go
      PostgreSQL
      Preact
    Use cases
      Automated DB backups
      Encrypted archives
      Backup monitoring UI
    Audience
      Ops DevOps
      Developers
    License
      MIT

Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Automatically back up a PostgreSQL database to S3-compatible storage on a schedule.

USE CASE 2

Encrypt and split large backup archives before uploading them to cloud storage.

USE CASE 3

Monitor and manually trigger backups through a lightweight web dashboard.

USE CASE 4

Get webhook notifications before or after each backup runs.

What is it built with?

GoPostgreSQLPreactOpenSSL

How does it compare?

blackstorm/tinygbaegrail/aegrail-engineanas727189/message-broker-system
Stars111
LanguageGoGoGo
Setup difficultymoderatehardmoderate
Complexity3/55/53/5
Audienceops devopsops devopsdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Requires an S3-compatible bucket and PostgreSQL credentials configured in a YAML file.

Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

In plain English

TinyGB is a deliberately stripped-down fork of GoBackup, a backup automation tool. Where GoBackup supports many databases, storage providers, and notification channels, TinyGB removes nearly all of that and keeps only what is needed for a single workflow: backing up a PostgreSQL database to S3-compatible storage. The tool handles the full backup lifecycle. It connects to a PostgreSQL database, dumps it, optionally archives additional files and directories, compresses the result using tar or tgz, encrypts it with OpenSSL, splits large archives into parts if needed, and uploads everything to an S3 bucket. Webhook notifications can be sent before or after the process. All credentials and settings are read from a YAML configuration file, and environment variables can be referenced directly in that file to keep secrets out of the config. TinyGB runs as a background daemon with a built-in scheduler, so backups happen automatically on a defined schedule. It also includes a web interface for monitoring and manually triggering backups. The original GoBackup web UI relied on large front-end libraries, TinyGB replaces those with a much smaller implementation using Preact, cutting the compressed JavaScript bundle to around 13 KB. It can be installed from source or run as a Docker container built from a multi-stage Dockerfile. The binary is still named gobackup for compatibility with existing configurations and scripts. The project is written in Go and released under the MIT license.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Help me write a gobackup.yml config for TinyGB to back up my PostgreSQL database to S3.
Prompt 2
Explain how TinyGB's before_script and after_script hooks work in its config file.
Prompt 3
Show me how to build and run TinyGB as a Docker container.
Prompt 4
Walk me through setting up webhook notifications for a TinyGB backup job.

Frequently asked questions

What is tinygb?

A stripped-down fork of GoBackup that only backs up a PostgreSQL database to S3-compatible storage, with a much smaller web UI.

What language is tinygb written in?

Mainly Go. The stack also includes Go, PostgreSQL, Preact.

What license does tinygb use?

Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

How hard is tinygb to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is tinygb for?

Mainly ops devops.

Open on GitHub → Explain another repo

This repo across BitVibe Labs

Verify against the repo before relying on details.