GitHub Copilot CLI — Backup Setup Procedure

Looking for the full restore guide?

See the Disaster Recovery & Device Migration Guide for complete step-by-step instructions on restoring to a new device or migrating GitHub accounts.

What This Guide Covers

This guide explains how to set up automated dual backups for your GitHub Copilot CLI configuration — keeping copies in both Personal OneDrive and Personal Google Drive.

Why two backups?

☕ Cloud Café analogy: Imagine you keep all your café recipes, training manuals, and staff records in the office safe (Personal OneDrive). But what if you move to a new kitchen (new device)? By keeping a second copy in your personal safe (Google Drive), you can set up a new device in minutes — no rebuilding from scratch.

Why Personal OneDrive, not Corp?

We originally backed up to Corp OneDrive (OneDrive - Microsoft). But Purview DLP scans detected mcp-config.json containing Microsoft Entra Client Secrets and blocked the file. Moved to Personal OneDrive on 2026-04-04 to avoid DLP alerts while keeping full backups including secrets.

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What Gets Backed Up

Item	Description	Location
Custom instructions	Your personalised Copilot CLI behaviour rules	~\.copilot\ config files
MCP config	MCP server definitions (includes Entra credentials)	~\.copilot\mcp-config.json
Secrets	GitHub PAT and other credentials	~\.copilot\secrets\
Session history	Past session states and context	~\.copilot\session-state\
Session search index	Searchable database of all past sessions	~\.copilot\session-store.db
Learning docs source	MkDocs Markdown files (your learning portal content)	C:\ssClawy\learning-docs\docs\

What is NOT backed up (on purpose)

• mcp-servers/ — Installed packages, not config (can be reinstalled)
• logs/ — Temporary session logs (not needed for restore)
• backups/, restart/ — Temporary working directories
• session-store.db-shm, session-store.db-wal — SQLite runtime temp files (regenerated automatically)
• site/ — The built website (regenerated from source with mkdocs build)

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Architecture Overview

┌─────────────────────────────┐
│  Your PC (~\.copilot\)      │
│  + learning-docs\           │
└─────────┬───────────────────┘
          │  Daily at 9 AM (Scheduled Task)
          ▼
┌─────────────────────────────┐
│  Personal OneDrive          │   ← PRIMARY
│  ~/OneDrive/                │
│    CopilotCLI_Backups/      │
│    ├── backup_2026-04-04_*  │  ← timestamped snapshots (last 30 kept)
│    ├── backup_2026-04-03_*  │
│    └── learning-docs-backup │  ← latest copy of learning docs
└─────────┬───────────────────┘
          │  Automatic mirror (robocopy /MIR)
          ▼
┌─────────────────────────────┐
│  Google Drive               │   ← SECONDARY (mirror)
│  G:\My Drive\               │
│    CopilotCLI_Backups\      │  ← exact mirror of Personal OneDrive backup
└─────────────────────────────┘

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Setup Steps

Step 1 — Create the Backup Script

This PowerShell script does three things:

1. Copies your .copilot config (including secrets) to Personal OneDrive (timestamped folder)
2. Copies your learning-docs source to Personal OneDrive
3. Mirrors everything to Google Drive

Create the file at ~\.copilot\backup-instructions.ps1:

# === COPILOT CLI BACKUP SCRIPT ===
# Runs daily via Windows Scheduled Task
# Backs up config to Personal OneDrive, then mirrors to Google Drive
# Note: Uses Personal OneDrive (not Corp) to avoid Purview DLP alerts on secrets

$copilotDir = "$env:USERPROFILE\.copilot"
$backupDir = "$env:USERPROFILE\OneDrive\CopilotCLI_Backups"
$timestamp = Get-Date -Format 'yyyy-MM-dd_HHmmss'
$backupFolder = "$backupDir\backup_$timestamp"

if (Test-Path $copilotDir) {
    if (!(Test-Path $backupDir)) {
        New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $backupDir -Force | Out-Null
    }

    # Keep only last 30 backups (cleanup old ones)
    $existing = Get-ChildItem "$backupDir\backup_*" -Directory -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
        Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending | Select-Object -Skip 30
    $existing | Remove-Item -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

    # Folders and files to exclude (large or temporary)
    $excludeDirs = @('mcp-servers', 'logs', 'backups', 'restart')
    $excludeFiles = @('session-store.db-shm', 'session-store.db-wal')

    # Create timestamped backup folder
    New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $backupFolder -Force | Out-Null

    # Copy config files (top-level files, excluding large DBs)
    Get-ChildItem "$copilotDir\*" -File | Where-Object {
        $_.Name -notin $excludeFiles
    } | ForEach-Object {
        Copy-Item $_.FullName "$backupFolder\" -Force
    }

    # Copy config folders (excluding large/temporary ones)
    Get-ChildItem "$copilotDir" -Directory | Where-Object {
        $_.Name -notin $excludeDirs
    } | ForEach-Object {
        Copy-Item $_.FullName "$backupFolder\$($_.Name)" -Recurse -Force
    }
}

# Backup learning-docs (Markdown source only, not the built site/)
$learningDocsDir = "C:\ssClawy\learning-docs"
if (Test-Path $learningDocsDir) {
    $docsBackup = "$backupDir\learning-docs-backup"

    # Replace with latest copy each time
    if (Test-Path $docsBackup) { Remove-Item $docsBackup -Recurse -Force }
    New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $docsBackup -Force | Out-Null

    # Copy mkdocs.yml config
    Copy-Item "$learningDocsDir\mkdocs.yml" "$docsBackup\" -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

    # Copy docs/ folder (all Markdown content)
    if (Test-Path "$learningDocsDir\docs") {
        Copy-Item "$learningDocsDir\docs" "$docsBackup\docs" -Recurse -Force
    }
}

# --- Google Drive Mirror ---
# Mirrors the entire Personal OneDrive backup to personal Google Drive
$googleDriveBackup = "G:\My Drive\CopilotCLI_Backups"
if (Test-Path "G:\My Drive") {
    if (!(Test-Path $googleDriveBackup)) {
        New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $googleDriveBackup -Force | Out-Null
    }
    # /MIR = exact mirror, /R:2 /W:1 = retry settings
    robocopy $backupDir $googleDriveBackup /MIR /R:2 /W:1 /NJH /NJS /NP /NFL /NDL | Out-Null
}

---

Step 2 — Create the Windows Scheduled Task

This makes the backup run automatically every day at 9:00 AM.

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

# Define the scheduled task
$action = New-ScheduledTaskAction `
    -Execute "pwsh.exe" `
    -Argument '-NoProfile -WindowStyle Hidden -File "C:\Users\ssutheesh\.copilot\backup-instructions.ps1"'

$trigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -Daily -At "09:00"

$settings = New-ScheduledTaskSettingsSet `
    -AllowStartIfOnBatteries `
    -DontStopIfGoingOnBatteries `
    -StartWhenAvailable

# Register the task
Register-ScheduledTask `
    -TaskName "CopilotCLI_BackupInstructions" `
    -Action $action `
    -Trigger $trigger `
    -Settings $settings `
    -Description "Daily backup of Copilot CLI custom instructions to Personal OneDrive"

What each flag means

Flag	Plain English
-NoProfile	Don't load your PowerShell profile (faster startup)
-WindowStyle Hidden	Run silently in the background (no popup window)
-Daily -At "09:00"	Run every day at 9 AM
-AllowStartIfOnBatteries	Still runs on laptop battery
-StartWhenAvailable	If you were offline at 9 AM, runs when you're back

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Step 3 — Set Up Google Drive (One-Time)

Prerequisites:

• Google Drive for Desktop installed and signed in
• Google Drive should mount as the G:\ drive

Create the Google Drive backup folder:

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path "G:\My Drive\CopilotCLI_Backups" -Force

Do an initial sync:

robocopy "$env:USERPROFILE\OneDrive\CopilotCLI_Backups" "G:\My Drive\CopilotCLI_Backups" /MIR /R:2 /W:1

After this, the daily scheduled task handles everything automatically.

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How to Verify It's Working

Check the scheduled task is running

Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName "CopilotCLI_BackupInstructions" | Select-Object TaskName, State

Expected output: State = Ready

Check backup folder contents

# Personal OneDrive backups
Get-ChildItem "$env:USERPROFILE\OneDrive\CopilotCLI_Backups\backup_*" -Directory |
    Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending | Select-Object Name, LastWriteTime -First 5

# Google Drive mirror
Get-ChildItem "G:\My Drive\CopilotCLI_Backups\backup_*" -Directory |
    Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending | Select-Object Name, LastWriteTime -First 5

Compare file counts (should match)

$personal = (Get-ChildItem "$env:USERPROFILE\OneDrive\CopilotCLI_Backups" -Recurse -File).Count
$google = (Get-ChildItem "G:\My Drive\CopilotCLI_Backups" -Recurse -File).Count
Write-Host "Personal OneDrive: $personal files | Google Drive: $google files"

Verify secrets are included

$latest = Get-ChildItem "$env:USERPROFILE\OneDrive\CopilotCLI_Backups\backup_*" -Directory |
    Sort-Object Name -Descending | Select-Object -First 1
Write-Host "mcp-config.json: $(Test-Path (Join-Path $latest.FullName 'mcp-config.json'))"
Write-Host "secrets/: $(Test-Path (Join-Path $latest.FullName 'secrets'))"

Expected: Both True

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How to Restore on a New Device

If you get a new device (personal or corp), follow these steps to restore everything:

1. Install Google Drive for Desktop

Download from google.com/drive/download and sign in. Your backup will sync to G:\My Drive\CopilotCLI_Backups\.

2. Install GitHub Copilot CLI

# Install GitHub Copilot CLI (requires Node.js)
npm install -g @githubnext/github-copilot-cli

3. Restore your config

# Find the latest backup snapshot
$latestBackup = Get-ChildItem "G:\My Drive\CopilotCLI_Backups\backup_*" -Directory |
    Sort-Object Name -Descending | Select-Object -First 1

# Copy it back to .copilot (includes mcp-config.json and secrets/)
Copy-Item "$($latestBackup.FullName)\*" "$env:USERPROFILE\.copilot\" -Recurse -Force

Write-Host "Restored from: $($latestBackup.Name)"

4. Restore learning docs

# Copy learning docs source back
$docsBackup = "G:\My Drive\CopilotCLI_Backups\learning-docs-backup"
Copy-Item "$docsBackup\*" "C:\ssClawy\learning-docs\" -Recurse -Force

5. Rebuild the learning portal site

cd C:\ssClawy\learning-docs
pip install mkdocs-material
mkdocs build

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Change Log

Date	Change
2026-03-27	Initial setup — Corp OneDrive + Google Drive
2026-04-04	Moved from Corp to Personal OneDrive — Purview DLP flagged mcp-config.json (Entra client secrets). Added secrets/ and mcp-config.json to backup. Removed manual sync script.

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Key Concepts Explained

Term	What it means
robocopy /MIR	"Mirror" — makes the destination an exact copy of the source. Adds new files, updates changed files, and removes files that no longer exist in the source
Scheduled Task	A Windows feature that runs a script automatically at a set time — like an alarm clock for your computer
Timestamped backup	Each backup is saved in a folder named with the date/time (e.g., backup_2026-04-04_150519), so you can go back to any point in time
30-backup retention	Only the last 30 backups are kept — older ones are automatically deleted to save space
Purview DLP	Microsoft's Data Loss Prevention — scans Corp OneDrive for sensitive data (passwords, secrets, API keys) and blocks/alerts when found

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Summary

Your Copilot CLI config (including secrets) is backed up automatically every day to two personal cloud locations. If you ever switch devices, you can restore everything in under 5 minutes using the steps above.