Pilot Backup

Automated backup of agent state to trusted peers with encryption and versioning. Use this skill when: 1. You need to backup agent configuration and state fil...

Security Scan

The skill's backup workflow is broadly consistent with its stated purpose, but there are a few mismatches and missing safety measures (notably a claim of encrypted backups without any encryption steps and undeclared required binaries).

Purpose & Capability

The skill claims to back up agent state to trusted peers using the pilot protocol. It only declares pilotctl as a required binary, which is appropriate for sending files via the protocol, but the instructions also rely on tar/gzip, jq, cp, rm and filesystem layout ($HOME/.pilot) which are not declared in the registry metadata. Overall capability matches purpose, but the manifest is incomplete about dependencies.

Instruction Scope

Instructions explicitly archive and transmit $HOME/.pilot/*.json to remote peer IDs via pilotctl and restore by extracting into $HOME/.pilot. That is within a backup scope, but the SKILL.md claims encryption and versioning while showing no explicit encryption (e.g., gpg or passphrase-based encrypt) or key-management steps. The skill also does not require or document verification of the destination peer identity — sending full agent state (likely including keys) to a remote peer without explicit, demonstrated encryption or verification is a potential data-exposure risk.

Install Mechanism

Instruction-only skill with no install spec: low surface area. Nothing is written to disk by an installer and there are no remote download URLs in the manifest.

Credentials

No environment variables or credentials are requested in the registry metadata, which matches the examples. However, the workflow archives and sends potentially sensitive agent state files (likely containing keys/tokens). That sensitivity is expected for a backup skill, but users must ensure destination peers are trusted and that transport/encryption guarantees exist (the SKILL.md does not make those guarantees explicit).

Persistence & Privilege

The skill is not always-enabled and does not request elevated or persistent platform privileges. It does not modify other skills or global agent configs per the provided instructions.

What to consider before installing

This skill appears to do what it says — archive and send your agent state to a peer — but there are notable gaps you should address before using it with real data: (1) The README claims encrypted backups but the example commands do not perform encryption; confirm whether pilotctl provides end-to-end encryption or add explicit encryption (e.g., gpg symmetric/asymmetric) before sending. (2) The manifest omits utilities used in the examples (tar/gzip, jq); ensure those binaries exist and behave as expected. (3) Be cautious: the commands archive $HOME/.pilot which may include private keys or tokens; only send to peers you trust and consider excluding private-key files or encrypting the archive and verifying destination identity. (4) The restore commands extract directly into $HOME/.pilot — test restores in a safe environment and consider creating backups of the target dir before overwriting. If you want higher assurance, ask the author to (a) document where confidentiality and integrity are provided (pilotctl/protocol specifics), (b) add explicit encryption steps and verification of peer identity, and (c) update the skill metadata to declare all required binaries.

Automated backup of agent configuration and state files to trusted peers with encryption and versioning.

Commands

Backup Agent State

BACKUP_DEST="1:0001.AAAA.BBBB"
BACKUP_FILE="/tmp/pilot-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S).tar.gz"

tar czf "$BACKUP_FILE" "$HOME/.pilot"/*.json
pilotctl --json send-file "$BACKUP_DEST" "$BACKUP_FILE"
rm "$BACKUP_FILE"

Restore from Backup

pilotctl --json send-message "$BACKUP_PEER" --data '{"type":"backup_request","date":"latest"}'
sleep 3

BACKUP_FILE=$(pilotctl --json received | jq -r '.received[0].filename')
tar xzf "$HOME/.pilot/received/$BACKUP_FILE" -C "$HOME/.pilot/"

Backup Rotation

BACKUP_STORAGE="$HOME/.pilot/backup-storage"
MAX_BACKUPS=7

ls -1t "$BACKUP_STORAGE"/pilot-backup-*.tar.gz | tail -n +$((MAX_BACKUPS + 1)) | xargs rm -f

Workflow Example

#!/bin/bash
# Automated backup management

BACKUP_STORAGE="$HOME/.pilot/backup-storage"
MAX_BACKUPS=7

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_STORAGE"

create_backup() {
  local dest="$1"
  local backup_file="/tmp/pilot-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S).tar.gz"

  tar czf "$backup_file" "$HOME/.pilot"/*.json

  pilotctl --json send-file "$dest" "$backup_file"
  cp "$backup_file" "$BACKUP_STORAGE/"
  rm "$backup_file"

  # Rotate old backups
  ls -1t "$BACKUP_STORAGE"/pilot-backup-*.tar.gz | tail -n +$((MAX_BACKUPS + 1)) | xargs rm -f
}

create_backup "1:0001.AAAA.BBBB"

Dependencies

Requires pilot-protocol, pilotctl, jq, and tar/gzip.