Datashelter Introduces Agent Mode

Blog written by Datashleter published Apr. 16, 2026

If you’ve been using Snaper for a while, you know the drill: install the binary, edit config.yaml by hand, set up cron entries, and hope everything lines up. It works – but it’s a lot of little steps, and if something goes wrong you often have to SSH into the server to figure out what.

Agent Mode changes all of that. It turns Snaper into a small background service on your server that the dashboard can talk to directly. You don’t touch config files, you don’t write cron lines, and you can see what’s happening in real time from the dashboard.

Here’s what’s new, and what it means for you day-to-day.

Simplified server setup

Adding a new server is now a five-step wizard right in the dashboard. You run one command on your server to install the agent, then the wizard guides you: browse the filesystem to pick the folders to back up, select your databases, set the schedule and retention, and launch. A few minutes, without leaving the browser.

Run a backup on demand
There’s now a Run backup button on each server’s details page. Pick which backups to run and watch the execution log scroll by in real time in the dashboard. No more waiting for the next scheduled slot or SSH-ing in to run a command – it’s all in the interface.

Browse your backup execution logs
Every backup run by the agent generates a detailed execution log, saved alongside the snapshot. If a backup took longer than usual or ran into trouble, open the log right from the snapshot list to see what happened.

Add new backups directly from the dashboard
Need to add a folder or database to back up? The wizard browses your server’s filesystem and lets you visually select what you want to protect. For databases, it auto-detects the ones running on your server. No more typing paths or editing config files.

Scheduled backups run themselves
When Agent Mode is on, Snaper schedules its own backups without using crontabs. You set the schedule in the wizard (or later in the server settings) and the agent takes care of running them on time.

If your server was already using Snaper via cron, you don’t need to clean anything up. The agent takes over the existing cron entries automatically, and your schedule keeps working exactly the same – just managed by the agent. If you ever turn Agent Mode off, the old cron entries are restored.

Error logs surface automatically on your dashboard
With plain Snaper, if a backup crashed mid-way you’d have to SSH into your server to understand what happened. Agent Mode keeps track of every run: if the agent is restarted while a backup was running, that backup is clearly marked as crashed in the history.

Security: nothing new to open up

The agent doesn’t listen on any port (push-only). No new inbound connections
It only uses the same S3 bucket already in place to communicate with Datashelter. No extra credentials
The dashboard never touches your server directly. It drops a request in your bucket; the agent picks it up next time it checks

What you get, in one line
You set up servers faster, see their status at a glance, trigger backups from the dashboard, watch logs live, browse files and databases visually, and no longer have to type snaper commands manually.

A few other minor improvements

You can now choose a backup execution time window as well as a retention policy for your backups. This policy will be automatically applied to your newly configured services
Snaper can now update itself automatically from the dashboard

How to migrate an existing server to Agent Mode
For your existing servers, we invite you to follow this procedure to migrate to Agent Mode. It’s quick and non-destructive – you can always turn Agent Mode off and go back to the previous setup if you wish.

1. Update Snaper on your server
Make sure you’re on the latest version of Snaper. From your server:

snaper update

2. Install the agent as a background service
Still on your server, run:

snaper agent install

This sets up the agent to run in the background automatically (as a system service). No ports to open, no extra config needed.

You can confirm it’s running with:

snaper agent status

3. Open the dashboard
Go to your server’s detail page. Within a few seconds you should see the new status pill appear next to the server name. Green means the dashboard and your agent are talking to each other correctly. That’s it – your server is now in Agent Mode.

4. What happens to your existing backups

Your existing schedule keeps running. The agent picks up your current cron entries automatically. Nothing stops, nothing duplicates
Your existing snapshots stay exactly where they are. Agent Mode doesn’t touch them
New features become available immediately. You can use Run Backup, watch live logs, see the status pill, and trigger updates from the dashboard right away
Execution logs start getting captured for every new backup the agent runs. Older snapshots (from before you enabled Agent Mode) won’t have an execution log to show – that’s normal, and the dashboard will tell you so if you try to open one

5. Turning Agent Mode off (if you ever need to)
If you want to go back to the old cron-based setup, uninstall the agent service: