Checkpointing and rewind
Restore Claude Code conversation or file changes to an earlier checkpoint without confusing rewind with Git.
Claude Code creates checkpoints before its edits so you can explore a different approach without manually reconstructing the earlier state.
Open the checkpoint picker with:
/rewindYou can also press Esc twice. See Checkpointing.
Restore options
From a checkpoint you can restore:
- the conversation,
- Claude’s code changes,
- both conversation and code,
- or summarize the work from that point.
This is useful after a wrong implementation direction, a noisy debugging branch, or a change that technically works but violates the agreed design.
What checkpoints do not capture
Checkpointing is not Git
Checkpoints cover changes made through Claude’s editing tools. File writes performed by Bash commands and most edits made inside subagents may not be captured. Checkpoints are local session recovery, not durable version history, collaboration, or backup.
Use Git commits for reviewed milestones and checkpoints for short-term experimentation between those milestones.
Workshop exercise
- Ask Claude to make one small, visible UI change.
- Continue with a deliberately different layout direction.
- Open
/rewind. - Restore conversation and code to the first direction.
- Check
git diffand verify the restored application.
Good recovery sequence
Open /rewind and restore both code and conversation to the checkpoint before
the caching change. Then inspect git diff and summarize what still differs from
HEAD. Do not make new edits yet.AskUserQuestion
Claude Code’s AskUserQuestion tool for structured clarifications, what it is, how it shows up in Plan mode, and prompt patterns that invite questions instead of guesses.
Browser and computer use with Claude
Verify web and native application behavior with Claude in Chrome, computer use, or structured browser automation.