Vault

Minimal local project backup CLI.

Vault copies a development project into a hidden local folder:

~/.vault/projects/<project-name>/

It is not Git. It does not create version history, archives, cloud backups, or restore workflows.

Installation

npm install -g @blackridder22/vault

For local development from this repository:

npm install
npm run build
npm link

Commands

Backup the current project:

vault --backup
vault -b

Backup a specific project:

vault --backup /path/to/project
vault -b /path/to/project

List saved projects:

vault --list
vault -l

Delete a saved project:

vault --delete sonoa-search

Show help:

vault --help
vault -h

Show version:

vault --version
vault -v

How Backups Work

When you run vault -b, Vault uses this source:

1. The path passed after --backup or -b, if provided.
2. The Git root from git rev-parse --show-toplevel, if the current folder is inside a Git repo.
3. The current folder from process.cwd().

The project name is the source folder name. For example:

/Users/me/projects/sonoa-search

is saved to:

~/.vault/projects/sonoa-search/

If a backup with the same project name already exists, Vault overwrites it. It first copies the project into ~/.vault/tmp/<project-name>-tmp. Only after that copy succeeds does it remove the previous backup and move the temporary copy into ~/.vault/projects/<project-name>/.

Ignore Rules

Vault respects the project's root .gitignore.

Vault also uses a global ignore file:

~/.vault/config/ignore.txt

If that file does not exist, Vault creates it automatically with default rules for common folders and files such as .git/, node_modules/, .next/, dist/, build/, .env, logs, and caches.

The ignore file supports gitignore-style rules, including ! negation rules.