Getting Started

Connect your Hetzner Cloud account and have your first automated snapshot running in under five minutes. No agents to install, no configuration files.

Prerequisites

Before you begin you will need:

A Hetzner Cloud account with at least one server.
A HetGuard account — sign up free, no credit card required.
A Hetzner Cloud API token with read and write permissions (see below).

Step 1 — Generate a Hetzner API Token

HetGuard connects to Hetzner Cloud via an API token. The token needs Read & Write permissions so it can create and delete snapshots.

1

Open the Hetzner Cloud Console
Log in at console.hetzner.cloud and select the project you want to back up.
2

Go to Security → API Tokens
In the left sidebar, click Security, then the API Tokens tab.
3

Generate a new token
Click Generate API Token. Give it a descriptive name (e.g. hetguard-prod) and select Read & Write. Copy the token — it is only shown once.

Store your API token securely. If you believe a token has been compromised, revoke it immediately in the Hetzner Console and add a new one in HetGuard under Servers.

Step 2 — Connect Your Hetzner Account

1

Open HetGuard Settings
Log in to app.hetguard.com and navigate to Settings in the left sidebar.
2

Add a Hetzner account
Click Add account, paste your API token, and give the account a label (e.g. "Production"). HetGuard will immediately verify the token and load your servers.

You can connect multiple Hetzner projects — one API token per project. All accounts are managed from the same HetGuard dashboard.

Step 3 — Create Your First Backup Job

1

Go to Schedules
Click Schedules in the left sidebar, then New schedule.
2

Choose a job type
Select Server snapshot to get started quickly — no additional setup needed. Volume and database backup jobs require an SSH key and a storage provider (see below).
3

Choose a server
Select the Hetzner account and then the server you want to back up.
4

Set a schedule
Pick a preset (daily, weekly) or enter a custom cron expression. See Schedules for details.
5

Set a retention count
Choose how many backups to keep. Older ones are pruned automatically after each successful run.
6

Save
Click Create schedule. Your first backup will run at the next scheduled time. You can also trigger it immediately with Run now.

What Happens Next

Once a schedule is active, HetGuard will:

Run the backup at the scheduled time and label it with your job name and a timestamp.
Prune the oldest backups once the retention limit is reached.
Send you a notification if a run fails (once you have a notification channel configured).

You can monitor all activity on the Dashboard and browse snapshots, backup runs, and restore history from the sidebar.

Going Further

Once you are comfortable with snapshots, explore the other job types:

Volume Backups — back up any directory on your server via SSH, with optional AES-256 encryption.
Database Backups — schedule pg_dump or mysqldump runs and stream them to storage.
Storage Providers — connect S3, Wasabi, Backblaze, or Hetzner Object Storage. Pro and Agency plans include managed storage with no setup required.
Restores — restore snapshots, volumes, and databases directly from the dashboard.

Next Schedules →