Omarchy Snapshots and System Recovery

Recover from a bad Omarchy update with automatic snapshots, Limine boot recovery, configuration restore, reinstall, cleanup, and independent backups.

Omarchy recovery tools operate at different layers. A snapshot rolls back the root filesystem, configuration recovery repairs managed defaults, a reinstall addresses broader system damage, and only an independent backup restores personal files. Diagnose the layer before choosing the tool.

A four-layer recovery model

Layer	Good for	Does not provide
Revert one user change	A recent theme, binding, or app edit	Package or disk recovery
Restore managed config	Damaged Omarchy defaults	Personal-file recovery
Boot and restore a snapshot	Update-related root filesystem or package failure	Deleted files in `/home`
Restore an independent backup	Deletion, disk failure, or device loss	Automatic system reconfiguration

A snapshot is not a backup

The official snapshot restores the root filesystem but not /home; ~/.config also remains. A snapshot on the same disk can disappear together with your data when that disk fails.

Automatic and manual snapshots

An update performed through Omarchy creates a pre-update snapshot automatically. Before a significant system-level experiment, the current manual documents:

omarchy-snapshot create

Check free space first and record the reason and current state. Snapshots consume Btrfs space, so creating more while the filesystem is already nearly full can make recovery harder.

Boot and restore through Limine

When a new update breaks the normal system:

Reboot into the Limine boot menu.
Select the pre-update snapshot by date and Omarchy version.
Confirm that the failure is absent inside the snapshot.
Use the notification action or the documented restore command.
Reboot after restoration and retest critical work.

omarchy-snapshot restore

This depends on Limine. The official manual says Limine has been the default since Omarchy 2.0; GRUB and systemd-boot installations do not gain this feature. With Direct Boot enabled, select Limine from firmware to reach snapshots.

Configuration recovery and reinstall

When only one managed default is damaged, prefer Update → Config in the menu. Compare any .bak file created to preserve a user change instead of copying it back blindly.

For a system with damaged packages, channel state, and several default configurations, the current CLI provides:

omarchy reinstall

The official manual says this reinstalls default packages, returns to stable, downgrades packages that are too new, and resets default configuration. Back up your differences and read current help because Omarchy-default customizations will be overwritten.

Older guides may show omarchy-reinstall or omarchy reinstall configs. The CLI has evolved; trust omarchy --help and the current manual over copied commands.

Reset, Broom, and Debug boundaries

Reset is for device handoff or a clean user state; establish its account, encryption, and data impact first.
Broom/cleanup removes caches, old packages, logs, or snapshots; inspect targets and never delete an unknown Btrfs subvolume manually.
Debug gathers versions, services, and logs. Evidence collection is not automatically a repair.

Discover current commands with:

omarchy commands
omarchy debug
omarchy <group> --help

Redact user names, host names, networks, mount paths, tokens, and serial numbers before sharing debug output.

Decision path after a bad update

One app fails: preserve logs, restart it, and revert its latest config.
Several apps fail but the system works: inspect update output and migrations.
The desktop or core packages broke after update: boot the pre-update snapshot.
The snapshot works: restore it and record the implicated package.
Snapshots also fail: use recovery media and an independent backup instead of stacking unknown commands.

See the safe update guide for prevention and the Omarchy CLI reference for command discovery.

Sources: Omarchy Updates, System Snapshots, and Troubleshooting.