History & rewind

Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.stardeck.ai/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Every database store keeps a rolling history of every change. You can jump back to any moment inside the retention window—either by restoring a named snapshot you took earlier, or by picking an arbitrary timestamp. Rewinds are non-destructive: the pre-rewind state is always preserved as a backup-* branch, so nothing is actually thrown away. New here? Start with Overview. For the plumbing side (connecting, access levels, branch routing), see Connecting & routing.

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Retention window

Every database store has a retention window that controls how far back you can rewind. It’s configured per store and ranges from 6 hours up to 7 days. To change it, go to Dashboard → Data Stores → [your store] → Rewind and pick a new value from the Retention dropdown at the top: A longer window costs more storage, so most stores are fine with 1 day unless you want a wider safety net for manual recovery.

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Snapshots

A snapshot is a named capture of a branch at a moment in time. Snapshots are cheap—they pin a restore point inside the retention window without copying data. Think of them as bookmarks rather than backups. To create a snapshot:

1. Go to Dashboard → Data Stores → [your store] → Rewind
2. Use the branch picker at the top-right to select the branch you want to capture
3. Type a name in the Snapshot name field and click Create

To restore a snapshot: each snapshot row has a Restore button. Restoring opens a confirmation dialog that asks you to type the branch name before it proceeds—so you can’t misfire. The branch is restored in place, and the pre-restore state is kept as a backup branch (see Backup branches below).

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Point in time

Sometimes you don’t have a snapshot and need to rewind to a specific moment anyway. The Point in time section on the Rewind page lets you pick any datetime inside the retention window with a date picker. The picker is bounded at now − retention on the low end and now on the high end, so you can’t accidentally pick a moment Stardeck can’t restore to. After you pick a moment, click Rewind to this moment to open the same type-to-confirm dialog, and the branch is restored in place.

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Backup branches

Every rewind—whether from a snapshot, a point-in-time pick, or an app revert—creates a new branch named backup-<iso-timestamp> containing the pre-rewind state of the branch you just restored. Rewinds are never destructive; they’re a swap, not a delete. Backup branches:

• Appear in the store’s branch list alongside your normal branches
• Are hidden from the Rewind page’s branch picker (you shouldn’t rewind a backup)
• Are hidden from the app-revert rewind checklist for the same reason
• Share the store’s connection string with the branch they were backed up from
• Are not auto-cleaned—delete them by hand from the branches list when you’re sure you don’t need them

Recovering from a backup branch gives you two options:

1. Point your sandbox at the backup branch via Branch routing and inspect the data directly in the dashboard
2. Ask the agent to copy specific rows back: “copy all rows from the backup-2026-04-14T13-52-53Z branch of my shared-db store into main”

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Rewinding alongside an app revert

When you revert a chat message in an app, the Revert to Previous State dialog includes an opt-in “Also rewind data stores” checklist of every linked data store and its branches. This exists because rolling back code without rolling back the data it touched usually leaves you in a broken state. For each branch the checklist shows:

• The branch name
• Environment badges indicating which environments consume it (production, preview, sandbox)
• Whether the branch is within the retention window—branches outside the window are disabled and the checkbox hover tells you why

Branches you tick get rewound to the target commit’s timestamp. On chat-only reverts—when you’re reverting to a message with no code commits after it—branches are rewound to the target message’s timestamp instead. This is deliberate: the agent can mutate stores via tool calls without ever producing a code commit, so “no commits after” doesn’t mean “the data didn’t change.” Every rewound branch still gets its own backup-* branch, same as manual rewinds, so you can always walk an app revert back.

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Storage stores and history

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FAQ

Q: How far back can I rewind a database store? A: Up to the retention window, which is configured per store and ranges from 6 hours to 7 days. Shortening retention invalidates older history immediately. Q: What’s a backup-* branch in my branches list? A: Stardeck auto-creates one every time a branch is rewound, containing the pre-rewind state. It’s safe to delete once you’re sure you don’t need to recover from it. Q: If I revert my app, will my data go back too? A: Only if you opt in. The revert dialog has a per-branch checklist; selected branches are rewound to the revert’s timestamp, and the current state is preserved as a backup branch per rewound branch. Q: Do snapshots take up storage? A: Snapshots are cheap—they pin a restore point inside the existing retention window, they don’t copy data. The storage cost is covered by retention itself, which is what you pay for when you bump the window wider. Q: Can the agent take a snapshot before it makes changes? A: No. Snapshots are user-initiated. If you want a snapshot before letting the agent loose, create it yourself first, then tell the agent to proceed.