Snapshots you can name, pin and restore

What gets recorded

When the editor saves, the server compares the new text with the newest snapshot. If that snapshot is older than ten minutes and the text differs, a new one is stored. Autosave runs about 600 ms after you stop typing, so the first save after a ten-minute gap becomes a version. Text identical to the newest snapshot is not stored again.

Runic keeps the 50 newest snapshots per document. When a new one arrives, unnamed snapshots older than those 50 are deleted. Named snapshots are exempt: naming a version pins it for good.

Naming and restoring

Open Version history with the clock icon at the top of the editor. Each row shows the timestamp, the line count and the first line of the text. Click '+ name', type a label of up to 60 characters and press Enter or click away; the row gets a violet border and your label as a chip. Click the label again to rename it, or clear it to unpin.

Restore writes that snapshot's text into the editor and closes the dialog. The change saves like any other edit, and because it is a save it can itself become a snapshot, so you can restore a restore.

History from Claude

The MCP server exposes list_versions and restore_version. list_versions prints one line per snapshot: id, ISO timestamp, line count and the label if there is one. restore_version takes a version id, tries to snapshot the current text first (the same ten-minute throttle applies), then replaces the document. write_document goes through the same snapshot path, so an edit Claude makes can be undone from the same list.

Limits and gotchas

History is a server feature: the clock icon only appears when you are signed in. The local mode used by the /learn tour has undo and redo but no snapshots.

Team viewers can open History and read every snapshot, but naming needs editor or owner access, and Restore does nothing on a document you can only view.

Restore does not add a step to the editor's undo stack, and the newest snapshot can be up to ten minutes behind your current text. Check that the state you are leaving is in the list before you restore an old one. The dialog lists the 50 most recent rows.

Deleting a document deletes its snapshots. Deleting your account deletes everything, versions included.

How to use it

1. 1
   Click the clock icon

   It sits in the editor toolbar next to undo and redo, titled Version history. The dialog lists snapshots newest first.
2. 2
   Read the rows

   Timestamp, line count and the first line tell you which version is which. Named versions have a violet border and a label chip.
3. 3
   Name the one worth keeping

   Click '+ name', type up to 60 characters, press Enter. Escape cancels. A named snapshot never rolls off.
4. 4
   Restore

   Click Restore on a row. The editor takes that text and the dialog closes; autosave writes it to the server.
5. 5
   Close with Esc

   Escape closes the dialog, like every other overlay in Runic.

Commands & shortcuts

Tips

• Name a snapshot before a big rewrite. A named version survives no matter how many edits follow.
• The first line of each row is the document's first line, so a clear opening step doubles as a version description.
• Ask Claude: 'list the versions of Onboarding and restore the one labeled Approved'. The MCP tools do exactly that.
• If you want a snapshot right now, edit, wait for autosave, and check History. A save more than ten minutes after the previous snapshot always creates one.

Questions