diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e7f2f5d..e7777c0 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ data/.rcon-cli.yaml
 # Backup snapshots
 data.*.bak/
 *.bak/
+backups/
 
 # Port-forward runtime state
 portforward.log
diff --git a/backup.sh b/backup.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..325190c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backup.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Usage: ./backup.sh [label]
+# Creates backups/world-YYYY-MM-DD-HHMM[-label].tar.gz
+# If the minecraft container is running, flushes world via rcon first.
+set -euo pipefail
+
+cd "$(dirname "$0")"
+
+LABEL="${1:-}"
+STAMP="$(date +%Y-%m-%d-%H%M)"
+SUFFIX="${LABEL:+-$LABEL}"
+OUT="backups/world-${STAMP}${SUFFIX}.tar.gz"
+
+mkdir -p backups
+
+if docker ps --format '{{.Names}}' | grep -qx minecraft; then
+    echo "Server running — flushing world via rcon..."
+    docker exec minecraft rcon-cli save-off >/dev/null
+    docker exec minecraft rcon-cli save-all flush >/dev/null
+    trap 'docker exec minecraft rcon-cli save-on >/dev/null || true' EXIT
+else
+    echo "Server not running — archiving world as-is."
+fi
+
+echo "Archiving data/world -> ${OUT}"
+tar -czf "${OUT}" -C data world
+
+echo "Done."
+ls -lh "${OUT}"