ak backups verify

Recompute snapshot hashes and require a command-local integrity exit before restore.

Use ak backups verify to check whether one committed rollback snapshot is intact before restoring it. The command validates manifest restore metadata, topology, file types, file presence, and every recorded SHA-256 hash.

Syntax

ak backups verify <id>

Before you run

Find the ID with ak backups list and inspect its scope with ak backups show <id>. A valid ID has the shape YYYYMMDDTHHMMSSZ-8lowercasehex.

Verification is local and read-only. It can read every captured byte, so allow time proportional to the snapshot size. It does not require authentication or network access.

Arguments

Argument	Required	Meaning
`<id>`	Yes	One committed snapshot ID to verify.

Exactly one argument is required.

Options

There are no command-specific options. Shared --json selects structured output; the other shared flags are described in CLI conventions. The command never prompts, and --yes has no effect.

Examples

Verify one snapshot for a person:

ak backups verify 20260426T123005Z-deadbeef

Use the process status as the integrity gate:

if ak backups verify 20260426T123005Z-deadbeef --json; then
  echo 'snapshot is intact'
fi

Do not restore based only on a parsed status field; also require exit 0.

Output and streams

An intact human result on stdout has this shape:

[ok] backup intact (<files> files, <size>)

A corrupt result prints a failure block with the ID, file count, size, and the first detected mismatch. Verification stops at the first corrupt entry rather than collecting every mismatch.

JSON writes a result envelope to stdout:

{
  "schema_version": 1,
  "kind": "backups.verify",
  "data": {
    "id": "20260426T123005Z-deadbeef",
    "status": "ok"
  }
}

data.status is ok or corrupt; JSON omits the human file count, size, and mismatch path. A corrupt snapshot still gets the result envelope on stdout and then exits 1. Failures that occur before a result, such as a missing snapshot, use a structured JSON error envelope on stderr. Flag-parse errors can remain plain text.

Exit status

Exit	Meaning
`0`	Manifest metadata and every captured file passed verification.
`1`	The snapshot is corrupt, or another integrity/read/render operation failed.
`2`	The ID shape, argument count, or flags were invalid.
`5`	No readable manifest exists at the validated ID.

The command has no confirmation or backup-lock exit.

Effects, safety, and recovery

Verification opens only regular files beneath the snapshot data root, checks anchored relative paths, recomputes hashes, and leaves both the snapshot and live destinations unchanged. It does not repair corruption.

If verification exits 1, do not restore that snapshot. Preserve its directory for investigation, inspect the reported path and storage health, and choose a different verified snapshot. Create a new recovery snapshot through the lifecycle operation that owns the affected state before making further changes when practical.

The mismatch list is intentionally bounded to the first detected problem. A successful hash check proves snapshot integrity, not that restoring it is the right operational choice.

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