$ codebyjawad/restage

Reinstall your server
with one command.

One-click OS reinstallation & rescue toolkit for VPS and bare-metal servers. No control panel. No rescue ISO. No bootloader surgery.

root@vps:~

root@vps:~$ restage linux debian 12 --ssh-key "ssh-ed25519 AAAA..." --dry-run
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
restage action plan (dry run, nothing will change)
  target disk  : /dev/vda (PTUUID 0b7f-9a21)
  install      : Debian 12 (official cloud image)
  boot entry   : one-shot, created by restage
  ssh          : public key installed, password login disabled
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
root@vps:~$ restage linux debian 12 --ssh-key "ssh-ed25519 AAAA..." --yes
  [1/4] fetching kernel + initrd ...
  [2/4] patching installer runtime  ✔
  [3/4] one-shot boot entry set    ✔
  [4/4] reboot into Debian 12      ✔

01Why restage?

Two-stage install

Host patches a kernel+initrd and installs a one-shot boot entry. After reboot, the installer finds your disk by partition-table UUID — never by device name.

Safe by design

Nothing touches disk until the action plan is shown and confirmed. Always start with --dry-run.

No control panel

Runs from SSH, as root, on any Linux VPS or bare-metal box. Everything comes from official images.

Survives renaming

Disk is selected by PTUUID, so the tool keeps working even when kernel device names change between boots.

02Quick start

# Always plan first — this changes nothing:

$ restage linux debian 12 --ssh-key "ssh-ed25519 AAAA..." --dry-run

# Then reinstall, unattended:

$ restage linux debian 12 --ssh-key "ssh-ed25519 AAAA..." --yes

Get restage on GitHub Read the README

03Everything you can do

$ restage linux debian 12 --password 'ChangeMe123!' --yes

$ restage linux ubuntu 24.04 --password 'ChangeMe123!' --yes

$ restage dd --img https://example.com/image.qcow2 --yes

$ restage windows --image-name "Windows 11 Pro" --yes

$ restage alpine # rescue environment, no disk writes

$ restage netboot # netboot.xyz menu

$ restage reset # cancel a pending reinstall

04Supported targets

Command	Installs / boots
`linux`	Debian, Ubuntu, Alpine, AlmaLinux, Rocky, openEuler from official cloud images
`dd`	Any raw or compressed disk image (gzip / xz / zstd / qcow2)
`windows`	Windows from an official ISO
`alpine`	Alpine Live rescue environment (non-destructive)
`netboot`	netboot.xyz menu (non-destructive)

05Built like a real project

Modular lib/ + flows/ + runtime/ — no 5k-line monolith
bats unit + integration tests, run on every push in CI
Strict, centralized input validation and an explicit action plan
POSIX-quoted generated config — no eval of user strings
Catalog-driven distro list — adding a distro is a data change, not a code change

Warning: linux, dd and windows erase the entire primary disk. Always run with --dry-run first and keep a rescue plan.