borg-key-add(1)

📦 version 2.0.0b25, in ubuntu stonking

💖 borg-key-add(1) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to borg-key-add — the little command that lets you add a brand new borg key (protected by its own independent passphrase) to your repository. yes, more than one key. yes, it's iconic. let's get into it 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

borg-key-add — add a new borg key (protected by an independent passphrase) to the repository.

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

borg [common options] key add [options]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So here's the vibe: one repository can be protected by more than one borg key. Every single borg key holds the same secret key material, but each one is wrapped in its own independent passphrase (and yeah, they can totally be different passphrases). Any one of them can unlock the same repository. it's giving shared custody but make it cryptography 🔐

Why would you want this? Say you wanna give each individual user their own passphrase, while keeping a separate admin/recovery passphrase just for you. Slay. That's exactly the use case.

This command adds an additional borg key. It does not re-encrypt any repository data, and it does not change the existing borg keys. Your new passphrase gets read from BORG_NEW_PASSPHRASE, or if that's not around, it's queried interactively. 👑

Every borg key has a label. The very first borg key — the one created at repository creation time — has the reserved label admin, and it is protected from deletion. Keys you add later need a unique, user-defined --label. no duplicates, bestie, we don't do that here.

💅 OPTIONS 💅

See borg-common(1) for common options of Borg commands.

🌈 options 🌈

  • --label LABEL — label for the new borg key (must be unique)

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

borg-common(1)

🫶 AUTHOR 🫶

The Borg Collective

and that's the whole page, bestie 💖 this one came to you from the borg backup tool, dated 2026-10-07 — go forth and add keys, you absolute main character 👑✨

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