Google Backup for GKE API
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For Agents
Create backup plans, trigger backups, and restore Kubernetes workloads in GKE clusters, including persistent volume data. Built for SRE and disaster-recovery automation.
Use for: Create a backup plan for a production GKE cluster, Trigger an on-demand backup before a risky deployment, List all backups for a backup plan in the last 7 days, Restore a namespace from yesterday's backup into a recovery cluster
Not supported: Does not back up VMs, Cloud SQL, or non-GKE workloads, and does not provision clusters — use the Container API to manage clusters and Backup and DR Service for non-Kubernetes assets.
Backup for GKE is a managed service that backs up and restores Kubernetes workloads running on Google Kubernetes Engine. The API manages backup plans, individual backups, restore plans, and restore operations, including selective restores of namespaces and resources. It captures both Kubernetes object state and persistent volume data so clusters can recover from accidental deletion, region outages, or operator errors.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the Backup for GKE API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Backup for GKE API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
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Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with Backup for GKE API.
Create a backup plan that schedules cluster backups
List and inspect existing backup plans across regions
Trigger an on-demand backup of a GKE cluster
Browse volume backups produced by a cluster backup
Define a restore plan with namespace and resource selectors
Trigger a restore from a backup into a target cluster
Generate a download URL for a backup index for offline inspection
Use Cases
Patterns agents use Backup for GKE API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Scheduled Disaster Recovery for GKE
Platform teams running production GKE clusters need a managed backup that captures both Kubernetes objects and persistent volumes. The Backup for GKE API creates a backup plan with a cron schedule and retention policy, then automatically produces backups in cluster-specified regions. Operators can list backups and trigger ad-hoc captures before risky changes.
Call POST /v1/projects/{project}/locations/{location}/backupPlans with a cluster reference and a daily cron schedule, then verify the plan in GET on the same path.
Pre-Deployment Snapshots
Before applying a major change to a cluster, SREs trigger an on-demand backup so a known-good state exists if rollback is needed. The backups endpoint creates a backup tied to a backup plan, capturing both objects and PV data, and returns a long-running operation that can be polled to completion.
Call POST /v1/projects/{project}/locations/{location}/backupPlans/{backupPlan}/backups to create an on-demand backup and poll the operation until it completes.
Selective Restore After Operator Error
When a deployment accidentally deletes a namespace or modifies critical resources, operators need to restore only that namespace without overwriting unrelated workloads. The restore plan supports namespace and resource selectors, and a restore can be targeted at the original cluster or a different recovery cluster, minimising blast radius.
Call POST /v1/projects/{project}/locations/{location}/restorePlans with selectedNamespaces, then POST under that plan to start a restore from a specific backup.
Agent-Driven Backup Operations
An AI agent integrated with on-call tooling can trigger pre-deployment backups when a deployment is approved, then poll for completion before allowing the rollout. Through Jentic, the agent searches for the backup-create operation, loads its schema, and executes it without holding raw service account keys.
Use Jentic to search 'create a gke backup', load the backups create schema, and execute it before each production deploy in the rollout pipeline.
Key Endpoints
20 endpoints — backup for gke is a managed service that backs up and restores kubernetes workloads running on google kubernetes engine.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
GET
/v1/{+parent}/backupPlans
List backup plans in a location
POST
/v1/{+parent}/backupPlans
Create a backup plan
GET
/v1/{+parent}/backups
List backups for a plan
POST
/v1/{+parent}/backups
Create an on-demand backup
GET
/v1/{+parent}/restorePlans
List restore plans
POST
/v1/{+parent}/restorePlans
Create a restore plan
POST
/v1/{+parent}/restores
Start a restore from a backup
POST
/v1/{+name}:cancel
Cancel a long-running operation
GET
/v1/{+parent}/backupPlans
List backup plans in a location
POST
/v1/{+parent}/backupPlans
Create a backup plan
GET
/v1/{+parent}/backups
List backups for a plan
POST
/v1/{+parent}/backups
Create an on-demand backup
GET
/v1/{+parent}/restorePlans
List restore plans
POST
/v1/{+parent}/restorePlans
Create a restore plan
POST
/v1/{+parent}/restores
Start a restore from a backup
POST
/v1/{+name}:cancel
Cancel a long-running operation
Why Jentic?
Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.
Credential isolation
Service account credentials live encrypted in the Jentic vault. Agents receive scoped OAuth tokens for the cloud-platform scope, never raw service account keys.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search by intent (e.g., 'create a gke backup' or 'restore a kubernetes namespace') and Jentic returns the matching backup or restore operation with the request schema.
Time to first call
Direct integration: 2-4 days for IAM, plan modelling, and operation polling. Through Jentic: under an hour for the per-operation calls.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using Backup for GKE API through Jentic.
What authentication does the Backup for GKE API use?
It uses Google OAuth 2.0 with the cloud-platform scope, typically through a service account. Through Jentic, those credentials live encrypted in the vault and the agent receives scoped, short-lived bearer tokens.
Can I restore only a specific namespace with this API?
Yes. A RestorePlan supports selectedNamespaces and resource filters, and the resulting restore only applies the chosen namespaces or resources rather than the full cluster contents.
What are the rate limits for the Backup for GKE API?
Google enforces standard per-project quotas on management calls (typically several hundred requests per minute). The actual backup and restore operations are long-running and limited by cluster size and disk throughput rather than API rate.
How do I trigger a backup before a deployment through Jentic?
Search Jentic for 'create a gke backup', load the schema for POST /v1/{parent}/backups, and execute it pointing at the backup plan, then poll the returned operation for completion.
Is the Backup for GKE API free?
The API itself has no surcharge, but storage of backup data and persistent volume snapshots is billed under Backup for GKE pricing. See the GKE pricing docs for current rates.
Does this API back up Kubernetes secrets and configmaps?
Yes, by default backups capture the full set of Kubernetes resources for the targeted namespaces, including configmaps and secrets, alongside persistent volume data. RestorePlan filters can exclude specific resource kinds when restoring.
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