diff --git a/hedgebak b/hedgebak
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..2422666
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hedgebak
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# uses https://github.com/hedgedoc/cli to download notes as markdown and commit them to a
+# git repo
+#
+# mandatory files in pwd:
+#  .hedgeserver - the URL of the hedgedoc instance
+#  .hedgebak - note IDs to back up
+# optional:
+#  .hedgecookie - cookie to use (e.g. for owner-accessible notes)
+
+set -eu
+
+ID_FILE=.hedgebak
+SERVER_FILE=.hedgeserver
+COOKIE_FILE=.hedgecookie
+
+if [ ! -d ".git" ]; then
+  echo "not a git repo, exiting"
+  exit -1
+fi
+
+if [ ! -f "$SERVER_FILE" ]; then
+  echo "$SERVER_FILE does not exist, exiting"
+  exit -1
+fi
+
+SERVER=`cat "$SERVER_FILE"`
+
+HEDGEDOC_COOKIES_FILE=""
+if [ -f "$COOKIE_FILE" ]; then
+  HEDGEDOC_COOKIES_FILE="$COOKIE_FILE"
+fi
+
+if [ ! -f "$ID_FILE" ]; then
+  echo "$ID_FILE does not exist, exiting"
+  exit -1
+fi
+
+while read id; do
+  outfile=`HEDGEDOC_SERVER="$SERVER" HEDGEDOC_COOKIES_FILE="$HEDGEDOC_COOKIES_FILE" hedgedoc export --md "$id"`
+  echo "$outfile"
+  git add "$outfile"
+done < "$ID_FILE"
+
+DATE=`date --utc +"%Y%m%d_%H%M"`
+git commit -m "note backup $DATE (utc)"
+git push