Checkpoint

Restore your development workspace with one command.

Checkpoint captures and restores active development environments:

• running dev servers
• terminals
• browser tabs
• workspace history
• project context

so you can continue working without rebuilding your setup every time you restart, switch branches, or come back later.

Why?

A normal development session is spread across:

• terminals
• localhost servers
• browser tabs
• Git branches
• databases
• debugging context

Git saves your code.

Checkpoint saves the rest of the workspace around it.

Example

You are working on:

• a Vite frontend
• a Node backend
• PostgreSQL
• localhost tabs
• GitHub PRs
• docs and debugging tabs

Before leaving:

checkpoint lock

Later:

checkpoint restore

Checkpoint rebuilds the environment:

• terminals reopen
• dev servers restart
• browser tabs come back
• workspace state is restored

Installation

npm install -g checkpoint-dev

Getting Started

Start the local browser sync server:

checkpoint sync-server

Install the browser extension:

checkpoint extension --setup

Save your current workspace:

checkpoint lock

Restore it later:

checkpoint restore

Help & Command Discovery

View all available commands:

checkpoint --help

View help for a specific command:

checkpoint lock --help
checkpoint restore --help
checkpoint timeline --help

How Checkpoint Works

Checkpoint observes the active workspace and stores:

• running processes
• working directories
• browser tabs
• Git branch information
• port usage
• dependency order

During restore, processes are started in dependency order to avoid broken environments.

graph TD
    A[Infrastructure] --> B[Backend APIs]
    B --> C[Frontend Dev Servers]

    A1[Docker]
    A2[Postgres]
    A3[Redis]

    B1[Node API]
    B2[Python API]

    C1[Vite]
    C2[Next.js]

    A --> A1
    A --> A2
    A --> A3

    B --> B1
    B --> B2

    C --> C1
    C --> C2

Workflow

graph LR
    A[Development Session] --> B[checkpoint lock]
    B --> C[Workspace Snapshot]
    C --> D[Restart / Crash / Branch Switch]
    D --> E[checkpoint restore]
    E --> F[Workspace Reconstructed]

Timeline & Workspace History

Checkpoint keeps historical workspace snapshots so previous states can be restored later.

View snapshot history:

checkpoint timeline

Restore a previous workspace:

checkpoint restore --name before-auth-refactor

Compare the current environment against a snapshot:

checkpoint diff

Command Reference

| Command | Description | Flags / Options | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | checkpoint lock | Save current workspace state | --name, --team | | checkpoint restore | Restore a saved workspace | --name, --no-browser, --no-processes, --no-terminals | | checkpoint status | Show current workspace status | - | | checkpoint list | List saved snapshots | --team | | checkpoint timeline | View workspace history | - | | checkpoint diff | Compare current state against a snapshot | --name | | checkpoint rename | Rename a snapshot | - | | checkpoint delete | Delete a snapshot | - | | checkpoint share | Share a snapshot | --name | | checkpoint sync-server | Start the local sync daemon | - | | checkpoint extension --setup | Setup browser extension files | - |

Example Commands

Save a named snapshot:

checkpoint lock --name auth-debug

Restore it later:

checkpoint restore --name auth-debug

Restore without browser tabs:

checkpoint restore --no-browser

Restore without restarting processes:

checkpoint restore --no-processes

Show workspace status:

checkpoint status

Browser Support

Checkpoint supports Chromium-based browsers for tab restoration:

• Chrome
• Edge
• Brave
• Arc (partial)

It can restore:

• localhost tabs
• GitHub pages
• docs
• debugging context

Security

Checkpoint is local-first by default.

• snapshots are stored locally
• browser sync runs on localhost only
• environment variables are not serialized
• shared snapshots are encrypted before upload

Snapshot Storage

Default snapshot location:

~/.checkpoint/

Project/team snapshots:

./.checkpoint/

Platform Support

Supported:

• Windows
• macOS
• Linux

Browsers:

• Chromium-based browsers

Philosophy

Git tracks source code history.

Checkpoint tracks active development state history.