| name | checkpoint |
| argument-hint | [save|restore|show|list|clean] [name-or-id] |
| description | Mid-task rollback points — save/restore state before risky ops (refactors, migrations, destructive edits). For end-of-session save use `/handoff`. Triggers "checkpoint", "snapshot", "before this risky op", "rollback to", "list checkpoints", pre-refactor save. |
| context | fork |
| allowed-tools | ["Bash"] |
Checkpoint: Save & Restore Task State
Subcommands
save [label]
Save current state with an optional label.
bun ~/.claude/src/scripts/checkpoint.ts save "Completed phase 3 migration"
list
List all checkpoints for the current project.
bun ~/.claude/src/scripts/checkpoint.ts list
show [checkpoint-id]
Show details of a specific checkpoint.
bun ~/.claude/src/scripts/checkpoint.ts show chk-20240115-103000
restore [checkpoint-id] [--force]
Real, opt-in rollback — restores tracked files (working tree + index) to
exactly what they were at save time, then reapplies whatever uncommitted
changes existed at that moment (captured as a patch when the checkpoint was
saved). Untracked files are never touched or deleted; if any existed at save
time they're just listed as a warning (their content was never captured).
Scope note: restore reconstructs file content only — anything that was
staged at save time comes back as unstaged working-tree changes (the patch
reapplies to the worktree; index state is intentionally not reconstructed).
Safety rails:
- Auto safety-checkpoint first. Before anything is touched, the current
state is saved as its own checkpoint and its id is printed — restore is
itself reversible by restoring that id (with
--force).
- Branch/sha guard. If the current branch or HEAD differs from what the
checkpoint recorded, restore refuses and tells you to check out that branch
or pass
--force.
- Legacy checkpoints (saved before this patch-capture feature existed)
have no recorded diff to restore from. Restoring one prints "legacy
checkpoint: metadata only, nothing restored" and falls back to the old
print-only behavior — review the dumped JSON and continue manually.
bun ~/.claude/src/scripts/checkpoint.ts restore
bun ~/.claude/src/scripts/checkpoint.ts restore chk-20240115-103000
bun ~/.claude/src/scripts/checkpoint.ts restore chk-20240115-103000 --force
clean
Remove old checkpoints, keeping the last 10.
bun ~/.claude/src/scripts/checkpoint.ts clean
Examples
User: "save a checkpoint"
-> /checkpoint save
User: "checkpoint before this refactor"
-> /checkpoint save "Before auth refactor"
User: "list my checkpoints"
-> /checkpoint list
User: "restore from last checkpoint"
-> /checkpoint restore
User: "show checkpoint details"
-> /checkpoint show <id>
User: "clean up old checkpoints"
-> /checkpoint clean
Storage
Checkpoints are stored at ~/.claude/checkpoints/<project-name>/ as JSON files with a latest symlink pointing to the most recent. Each checkpoint with uncommitted changes at save time also gets a sibling chk-<id>.patch file (git diff HEAD output) — this is what makes restore a real rollback instead of a metadata dump. Checkpoints saved before this feature existed have no patch file and restore in metadata-only (legacy) mode.
