diff --git a/code/backup_rsync_git.env.example b/code/backup_rsync_git.env.example
index 2b4428c..96e8330 100644
--- a/code/backup_rsync_git.env.example
+++ b/code/backup_rsync_git.env.example
@@ -1,11 +1,9 @@
 # Remote rsync source. Example: backup@example.com:/srv/data/project/
 RSYNC_SOURCE="user@example.com:/path/to/source/"
 
-# Local sync destination (must be a directory inside GIT_REPO_DIR)
-RSYNC_TARGET_DIR="/path/to/monorepo/backups/source"
-
-# Local monorepo path
-GIT_REPO_DIR="/path/to/monorepo"
+# Local target directory for rsync; this directory is also used as git repository
+# Must be outside the main project repository
+RSYNC_TARGET_DIR="/path/to/backup-repo"
 
 # Prefix for commit message (timestamp is appended automatically)
 COMMIT_MESSAGE_PREFIX="backup: rsync sync"
diff --git a/code/backup_rsync_git.sh b/code/backup_rsync_git.sh
index 2e5b659..76e7cfc 100755
--- a/code/backup_rsync_git.sh
+++ b/code/backup_rsync_git.sh
@@ -2,11 +2,20 @@
 set -euo pipefail
 
 if [[ $# -gt 1 ]]; then
-  echo "Usage: $0 [path/to/.env]" >&2
+  echo "Usage: $0 [path/to/env-file]" >&2
   exit 2
 fi
 
-ENV_FILE="${1:-$(dirname "$0")/.env}"
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
+
+if [[ $# -eq 1 ]]; then
+  ENV_FILE="$1"
+elif [[ -f "$SCRIPT_DIR/backup_rsync_git.env" ]]; then
+  ENV_FILE="$SCRIPT_DIR/backup_rsync_git.env"
+else
+  ENV_FILE="$SCRIPT_DIR/.env"
+fi
+
 if [[ ! -f "$ENV_FILE" ]]; then
   echo "Env file not found: $ENV_FILE" >&2
   exit 1
@@ -18,7 +27,6 @@ source "$ENV_FILE"
 required_vars=(
   RSYNC_SOURCE
   RSYNC_TARGET_DIR
-  GIT_REPO_DIR
   COMMIT_MESSAGE_PREFIX
 )
 
@@ -31,30 +39,29 @@ done
 
 mkdir -p "$RSYNC_TARGET_DIR"
 
-repo_abs="$(cd "$GIT_REPO_DIR" && pwd)"
-target_abs="$(cd "$RSYNC_TARGET_DIR" && pwd)"
+repo_abs="$(cd "$RSYNC_TARGET_DIR" && pwd)"
 
-case "$target_abs" in
-  "$repo_abs"/*) ;;
-  *)
-    echo "RSYNC_TARGET_DIR must be inside GIT_REPO_DIR" >&2
-    exit 1
-    ;;
-esac
+rel_target="."
 
-rel_target="${target_abs#"$repo_abs"/}"
-
-if [[ -n "${RSYNC_RSH:-}" ]]; then
-  rsync -az --delete -e "$RSYNC_RSH" "$RSYNC_SOURCE" "$RSYNC_TARGET_DIR/"
-else
-  rsync -az --delete "$RSYNC_SOURCE" "$RSYNC_TARGET_DIR/"
+if [[ ! -d "$repo_abs/.git" ]]; then
+  git -C "$repo_abs" init >/dev/null
 fi
 
-git -C "$GIT_REPO_DIR" add -A -- "$rel_target"
+git_target() {
+  git --git-dir="$repo_abs/.git" --work-tree="$repo_abs" "$@"
+}
 
-if git -C "$GIT_REPO_DIR" diff --cached --quiet -- "$rel_target"; then
+if [[ -n "${RSYNC_RSH:-}" ]]; then
+  rsync -az --delete -e "$RSYNC_RSH" "$RSYNC_SOURCE" "$repo_abs/"
+else
+  rsync -az --delete "$RSYNC_SOURCE" "$repo_abs/"
+fi
+
+git_target add -A -- "$rel_target"
+
+if git_target diff --cached --quiet -- "$rel_target"; then
   exit 0
 fi
 
 timestamp="$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')"
-git -C "$GIT_REPO_DIR" commit -m "$COMMIT_MESSAGE_PREFIX $timestamp" -- "$rel_target"
+git_target commit -m "$COMMIT_MESSAGE_PREFIX $timestamp" -- "$rel_target"