# 001 — Why backing up an agent is so hard

**Status:** Research
**Tags:** Technical, Backups, DevOps

## Research notes

### Real filesystem changes — from clean start through all speed-runs

#### Snapshot 1: After one week of basic work (original data)

```
504.6M  ./usr
 43.3M  ./var
448.9M  ./root
 54.0K  ./etc
996.8M  total
```

Home-dir-only backup would capture 448.9M (45%) — already missing 55% of what changed.

#### Snapshot 2: After all speed-run setups including competitor profiling (current)

```
  4.3G  ./usr       ← 8.5× growth from 504.6M
 487.0M  ./var       ← 11.2× growth from 43.3M
  2.1G  ./root       ← 4.7× growth from 448.9M
  1.9M  ./etc        ← 35× growth from 54K
  6.8G  total        ← 6.8× growth from 996.8M
```

**Home-dir-only backup now captures 2.1G (31%) — missing 69% of what changed.**

#### What accounted for the growth (drill-down)

| Location | Size | What | Speed-Run Trigger |
|----------|------|------|-------------------|
| `/usr/local/lib` | 2.3G | Hermes runtime, node_modules, python3.11 libs | Hermes Agent installation |
| `/root/.npm/_cacache` | 390M | npm package cache | Node.js tooling for Hermes |
| `/root/.hermes` | 412M | 19 skills, 1 plugin, 2 cron jobs, memories, config | All speed-runs |
| `/root/.cache/huggingface` | 142M | HuggingFace model weights | STT / model download |
| `/root/.cache/uv` | 186M | UV Python package cache | Hermes venv management |
| `/var/cache/apt` | 379M | Debian package cache | System dependencies |
| `/var/lib/apt` | 80M | APT package state | System dependencies |
| `/usr/local/bin` | 28M | Executables (hermes CLI, etc.) | Hermes Agent installation |
| `/root/.config` | 475K | App configs | Misc tools |
| `/etc` | 1.9M | System config (hostname, apt sources, etc.) | OS configuration |

**Total blog content created:** 5 posts (Odoo, Hermes setup, competitor profiling, cold email, mobile.de research)

### What this means for the post

- Agent environments are not just config files — they're full Linux systems with packages, services, and state scattered everywhere
- "Backup your home directory" is dangerously incomplete advice for AI agents
- The sprawl gets **worse** over time: after one week, 55% outside /root; after 3 speed-runs, 69% outside /root
- Each new skill, plugin, model download, or cron job adds state in a different directory
- Derez.ai's full-disk snapshot approach is the right solution — it captures everything, not just /root
- This is a strong selling point: the agent works after restore, not just the config

### Outline

1. **The sprawl problem** — why agents are harder to back up than a standard server  
   *Include the dual snapshot comparison table (Week 1 vs After Speed-Runs)*
2. **Real data from a real agent** — walk through the 6.8G of state and where it lives
3. **The 69% problem** — what you lose with a home-dir-only backup
4. **How Borg/deduplicated snapshots solve it**
5. **How Derez.ai does it automatically** (one-click restore, full-disk snapshots)
6. **Better save than sorry** — the selling point with real numbers

### References

- Borg backup docs
- Hermes Agent directory structure (~/.hermes/)
- Speed Run: Competitor Profiling (derez.ai/blog/posts/speed-run-competitor-profiling.html) — the speed-run that pushed the system past 1G
- Full filesystem analysis: `du -sch /usr /var /root /etc` before and after speed-runs