> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cloudstic.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Sources Overview

> Overview of all supported backup sources in Cloudstic CLI

A **source** is the origin of files during a backup. Cloudstic supports multiple source types, allowing you to back up data from local filesystems, remote servers, and cloud storage providers.

<Tip>
  Setting up a new workstation? [`cloudstic setup workstation`](/commands/setup-workstation) discovers local folders and portable drives on this machine and scaffolds profiles for you, instead of configuring each local source by hand.
</Tip>

## Available Sources

Cloudstic supports the following source types:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Local Directory" icon="folder" href="/sources/local">
    Back up files from your local filesystem
  </Card>

  <Card title="SFTP Server" icon="server" href="/sources/sftp">
    Back up files from a remote SFTP server
  </Card>

  <Card title="Google Drive" icon="google" href="/sources/google-drive">
    Back up files from Google Drive (My Drive or Shared Drives)
  </Card>

  <Card title="OneDrive" icon="microsoft" href="/sources/onedrive">
    Back up files from Microsoft OneDrive
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## How Sources Work

All sources implement a common interface that provides:

* **File enumeration**: Walk through all files and folders
* **File streaming**: Read file content for backup
* **Metadata**: Collect file attributes (size, modified time, owner)
* **Incremental support**: Some sources support delta-based backups

### Full vs. Incremental Backups

**Full scan sources** enumerate all files on every backup:

* `local`: Local filesystem
* `sftp`: SFTP server
* `gdrive`: Google Drive
* `onedrive`: OneDrive

**Incremental sources** use provider APIs to fetch only changed files:

* `gdrive-changes`: Google Drive with Changes API (recommended)
* `onedrive-changes`: OneDrive with Delta API

<Note>
  Incremental sources are significantly faster for subsequent backups because they only fetch changes since the last backup, rather than scanning the entire source.
</Note>

## Common Configuration

### Exclude Patterns

All sources support exclude patterns using gitignore syntax:

```bash theme={null}
cloudstic backup -source local:./documents \
  -exclude "*.tmp" \
  -exclude ".git/" \
  -exclude "node_modules/"
```

You can also load patterns from a file:

```bash theme={null}
cloudstic backup -source local:./documents \
  -exclude-file .backupignore
```

**Example `.backupignore` file:**

```gitignore theme={null}
# Temporary files
*.tmp
*.log
*.cache

# System files
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db

# Development
node_modules/
.git/
__pycache__/
*.pyc

# Build artifacts
dist/
build/
target/
```

### Environment Variables

Common source-related environment variables:

| Variable                | Description                                                 |
| ----------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| `CLOUDSTIC_SOURCE`      | Default source (URI for local/SFTP, bare keyword for cloud) |
| `CLOUDSTIC_DRIVE_ID`    | Google Drive shared drive ID                                |
| `CLOUDSTIC_ROOT_FOLDER` | Google Drive root folder ID                                 |

## Source Information

Each backup snapshot stores source metadata that identifies where the data came from:

* **Type**: Source type (e.g., `local`, `gdrive`, `onedrive`)
* **Account**: Account identifier (hostname, email, user\@host)
* **Path**: Source-specific path or location

This information is used to:

* Find the previous snapshot from the same source for incremental comparison
* Group snapshots in retention policies
* Display backup history

## Choosing a Source Type

### Use Local when:

* Backing up files on the same machine as Cloudstic
* You want the fastest backup performance
* Files are on directly mounted storage

### Use SFTP when:

* Backing up files from a remote server
* You have SSH access to the server
* You want to avoid installing Cloudstic on the remote machine

### Use Google Drive when:

* Backing up cloud files from Google Drive
* You want to preserve Google Drive's folder structure
* You need to back up Shared Drives
* Use `gdrive-changes` for faster incremental backups

### Use OneDrive when:

* Backing up cloud files from Microsoft OneDrive
* You want to preserve OneDrive's folder structure
* Use `onedrive-changes` for faster incremental backups

## Next Steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Local Source" icon="folder" href="/sources/local">
    Learn about backing up local directories
  </Card>

  <Card title="SFTP Source" icon="server" href="/sources/sftp">
    Learn about backing up remote servers
  </Card>

  <Card title="Google Drive" icon="google" href="/sources/google-drive">
    Learn about backing up Google Drive
  </Card>

  <Card title="OneDrive" icon="microsoft" href="/sources/onedrive">
    Learn about backing up OneDrive
  </Card>
</CardGroup>