Checkpoints and Rewind

Checkpoints allow you to save conversation state and rewind to previous points in your Claude Code session. This is invaluable for exploring different approaches, recovering from mistakes, or comparing alternative solutions.

Overview

Checkpoints allow you to save conversation state and rewind to previous points, enabling safe experimentation and exploration of multiple approaches. They are snapshots of your conversation state, including:

• All messages exchanged
• File modifications made
• Tool usage history
• Session context

Checkpoints are invaluable when exploring different approaches, recovering from mistakes, or comparing alternative solutions.

Key Concepts

Accessing Checkpoints

You can access and manage checkpoints in two primary ways:

Using Keyboard Shortcut

Press Esc twice (Esc + Esc) to open the checkpoint interface and browse saved checkpoints.

Using Slash Command

Use the /rewind command (aliases: /checkpoint, /undo) for quick access:

Rewind Options

When you rewind, you are presented with a menu of six options:

1. Restore code and conversation -- Revert both files and messages to that checkpoint
2. Restore conversation -- Rewind messages only, keep your current code as-is
3. Restore code -- Revert file changes only, keep the full conversation history
4. Summarize from here -- Compress the conversation from this point forward into an AI-generated summary, freeing context window space. Messages before the selected point stay intact. No files on disk are changed. The original messages are preserved in the session transcript. You can optionally provide instructions to focus the summary on specific topics.
5. Summarize up to here -- The backward counterpart: compress everything before the selected point into an AI-generated summary, keeping the messages from this point forward intact. Together with "Summarize from here" this gives you bidirectional, targeted compaction of your context window. No files on disk are changed, and the original messages are preserved in the session transcript.
6. Never mind -- Cancel and return to the current state

Note: After restoring the conversation or choosing Summarize from here, the original prompt from the selected message is restored into the input field so you can re-send or edit it. Choosing Summarize up to here leaves you at the end of the conversation with the input empty.

Tip: Send Claude a prompt before you exit after a rewind. Claude Code saves the rewound conversation together with that prompt, so if you exit first, the rewound messages can come back. To remove them again, run /rewind, select the same prompt, and choose Restore conversation. Restored files stay as the rewind left them.

/clear is no longer a hard boundary (v2.1.191+): /rewind can resume from a checkpoint taken before you ran /clear. Clearing the conversation no longer permanently discards the state that preceded it - you can rewind back across the clear if you need that earlier code or context again.

Automatic Checkpoints

Claude Code automatically creates checkpoints for you:

• Every user prompt - A new checkpoint is created with each user input
• Persistent - Checkpoints are saved with the conversation, so /rewind still works after you resume a session
• Auto-cleaned - Checkpoints are automatically cleaned up after 30 days

This means you can always rewind to any previous point in your conversation, from a few minutes ago to days before.

Use Cases

Using Checkpoints

Viewing and Rewinding

Press Esc twice or use /rewind to open the checkpoint browser. You'll see a list of all available checkpoints with timestamps. Select any checkpoint to rewind to that state.

Checkpoint Details

Each checkpoint shows:

• Timestamp of when it was created
• Files that were modified
• Number of messages in the conversation
• Tools that were used

Practical Examples

Example 1: Exploring Different Approaches

Example 2: Recovering from Mistakes

Example 3: Safe Experimentation

Example 4: Branching Approaches

Checkpoint Retention

Claude Code automatically manages your checkpoints:

• Checkpoints are created automatically with every user prompt
• Old checkpoints are retained for up to 30 days
• Checkpoints are cleaned up automatically to prevent unlimited storage growth

Workflow Patterns

Branching Strategy for Exploration

When exploring multiple approaches:

Safe Refactoring Pattern

When making significant changes:

Best Practices

Since checkpoints are created automatically, you can focus on your work without worrying about manually saving state. However, keep these practices in mind:

Using Checkpoints Effectively

✅ Do:

• Review available checkpoints before rewinding
• Use rewind when you want to explore different directions
• Keep checkpoints to compare different approaches
• Understand what each rewind option does (restore code and conversation, restore conversation, restore code, or summarize)

❌ Don't:

• Rely on checkpoints alone for code preservation
• Expect checkpoints to track external file system changes
• Use checkpoints as a substitute for git commits

Configuration

Checkpoints are a built-in default behavior in Claude Code and do not require any configuration to enable. Every user prompt automatically creates a checkpoint.

Two settings govern checkpoint behavior - whether snapshots are taken at all, and how long they are kept:

Claude Code keeps snapshots for the 100 most recent checkpoints; older ones are dropped even inside the retention window.

v2.1.117 update: cleanupPeriodDays now governs retention for many on-disk caches, not just checkpoints (a selection below; session transcripts, file-history/, plans/, debug/, paste-cache/ and more are covered too):

- Session checkpoints

- ~/.claude/tasks/ - persistent task lists

- ~/.claude/shell-snapshots/ - captured shell-environment snapshots

- ~/.claude/backups/ - earlier versions of ~/.claude.json (the five newest are kept)

A single setting now prunes these directories uniformly after the same number of days.

Limitations

Checkpoints have the following limitations:

• Bash-only file changes NOT tracked - Once Claude has edited a file with its file editing tools, /rewind also undoes changes that Bash commands make to that file afterward; a file that only Bash commands changed isn't tracked. Since v2.1.309, sed -i is treated like any other Bash edit
• External changes NOT tracked - Changes made outside Claude Code (in your editor, terminal, etc.) are not captured
• Not a replacement for version control - Use git for permanent, auditable changes to your codebase
• Subagent edits NOT restored - A subagent's edits to files Claude hadn't already edited in your conversation are untracked, so /rewind leaves them as they are (revert them with git); the exception is a foreground context: fork skill, whose edits are restored like the main session's

v2.1.216 update: /rewind no longer restores or deletes files through symlinks or hard links at tracked paths. If a tracked path resolves through a symlink or hard link, rewind skips it rather than following the link, and it reports how many paths it skipped for this reason.

Troubleshooting

Missing Checkpoints

Problem: Expected checkpoint not found

Solution:

• Check if checkpoints were cleared
• Check disk space
• Ensure cleanupPeriodDays is set high enough (default: 30 days)

Rewind Failed

Problem: Cannot rewind to checkpoint

Solution:

• Ensure no uncommitted changes conflict
• Check if checkpoint is corrupted
• Try rewinding to a different checkpoint

Integration with Git

Checkpoints complement (but don't replace) git:

Use both together:

1. Use checkpoints for rapid experimentation
2. Use git commits for finalized changes
3. Create checkpoint before git operations
4. Commit successful checkpoint states to git

Quick Start Guide

Basic Workflow

1. Work normally - Claude Code creates checkpoints automatically
2. Want to go back? - Press Esc twice or use /rewind
3. Choose checkpoint - Select from the list to rewind
4. Select what to restore - Choose from restore code and conversation, restore conversation, restore code, summarize from here, summarize up to here, or cancel
5. Continue working - You're back at that point

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Esc + Esc - Open checkpoint browser
• /rewind - Alternative way to access checkpoints
• /checkpoint, /undo - Aliases for /rewind

Knowing When to Rewind: Context Monitoring

Checkpoints let you go back - but how do you know when you should? As your conversation grows, Claude's context window fills up and model quality silently degrades. You might be shipping code from a half-blind model without realizing it.

cc-context-stats solves this by adding real-time context zones to your Claude Code status bar. It tracks where you are in the context window - from Plan (green, safe to plan and code) through Code (yellow, avoid starting new plans) to Dump (orange, finish up and rewind). When you see the zone shift, you know it's time to checkpoint and start fresh instead of pushing through with degraded output.

Related Concepts

• Advanced Features - Planning mode and other advanced capabilities
• Memory Management - Managing conversation history and context
• Slash Commands - User-invoked shortcuts
• Hooks - Event-driven automation
• Plugins - Bundled extension packages

Additional Resources

• Official Checkpointing Documentation
• Advanced Features Guide - Extended thinking and other capabilities

Summary

Checkpoints are an automatic feature in Claude Code that lets you safely explore different approaches without fear of losing work. Every user prompt creates a new checkpoint automatically, so you can rewind to any previous point in your session.

Key benefits:

• Experiment fearlessly with multiple approaches
• Quickly recover from mistakes
• Compare different solutions side-by-side
• Integrate safely with version control systems

Remember: checkpoints are not a replacement for git. Use checkpoints for rapid experimentation and git for permanent code changes.

Last Updated: October 26, 2026

Claude Code Version: 2.1.310

Sources:

• https://code.claude.com/docs/en/checkpointing
• https://code.claude.com/docs/en/settings
• https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/releases/tag/v2.1.117
• https://code.claude.com/docs/en/model-config
• https://code.claude.com/docs/en/commands
• https://code.claude.com/docs/en/claude-directory
• https://code.claude.com/docs/en/changelog#2-1-309
• https://code.claude.com/docs/en/checkpointing#bash-command-changes-not-tracked
• https://code.claude.com/docs/en/checkpointing#subagent-edits-not-restored
• https://code.claude.com/docs/en/checkpointing#rewound-messages-can-return-if-you-exit-before-your-next-prompt

Compatible Models: Claude Fable 5, Claude Opus 5, Claude Sonnet 5, Claude Sonnet 4.6, Claude Opus 4.8, Claude Haiku 4.5