Reverting Safely
If a run went wrong, or you saved over something good, you can put it back. Reverting works at three levels, warns you when someone has built on the state you are about to overwrite, and captures a version of its own, so you can undo the undo.
The three levels
| You want to | Use | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Put one file back to how it was | Restore a version | Monofile saves the current content, then writes that version over it |
| Undo everything one run did | Revert the changeset | Each file goes back to its state before the run started |
| Get rid of a file a run created | Revert the changeset | Monofile deletes the files the run created |
Pick the level that matches the mistake. One bad paragraph in one file is a version restore. "That whole refactor was wrong" is a changeset revert.
Restoring one file
In the web app, open the file, choose History from the tab actions menu, select a version, preview or compare it, press Restore, and confirm.
From the terminal, with no --to it undoes the most recent change:
monofile versions /Projects/report.md
monofile revert /Projects/report.md --to ver_abc123From the API, revert_file takes a path and a version id from list_versions, and needs the files:write scope. Read the old content with read_version first to check what you are restoring.
Reverting a whole run
In the chat, open the review card under the conversation and press Revert all. Everywhere else, find the changeset and revert it by id:
monofile changesets list --limit 10
monofile changesets revert <changeset-id>The API equivalent is revert_changeset, which needs both files:write and files:delete, because undoing a run can mean deleting the files it created.
When a file has changed since
Reverting a changeset stops if anything wrote to one of its files after the run did. Another person, another agent, or you in a different tab may have built on the new state, and the guard keeps a revert from throwing that work away.
The refusal is an error with the code CONFLICT, and it lists which files changed. In the chat, the review panel shows the same list as an inline banner with a Force button. On the CLI and the API you re-run with --force or "force": true.
Reverting is a write, so it is versioned too
Every restore captures the content it replaces. A file restore adds a "Before revert" entry to that file's history. A changeset revert records all of the pre-revert states together as a new changeset. A revert you regret is one more revert away from fixed, as many times as you need.
What a revert cannot bring back
A deleted file. Deleting is the one permanent act in Monofile. There is no trash, and a file's history goes with it. Take a checkpoint before a delete you are unsure about.
A version that has aged out. Monofile trims automatic versions to the newest 20 per file and never trims checkpoints, so take one before risky work.
Media content. Images and video live in object storage, so replacing one replaces it.
Next steps
CheckpointsNamed snapshots of a file or a folder subtree you can return to.
ChangesetsRuns grouped into one reviewable, revertable unit.
Reviewing ChangesThe diff view and the changeset card: keep or revert everything an agent touched.
How Versioning WorksAutomatic version capture on every write, and how long versions last.