Autosave Backup Vault
Turn editor autosaves into a versioned vault you can actually recover from
Editors lose work from crashes, corruption, or confusion about which file is the "real" project vs an autosave. This recipe copies autosaves into a consistent, versioned vault with a rolling index and retention policy — so recovery is straightforward, not a gamble.
INGREDIENTS
PROMPT
Create a skill called "Autosave Backup Vault". Inputs: - source_paths (autosave/backup folders for my editors) - vault_path - retention policy Behavior: - Detect new autosaves/backups and copy them into a versioned vault. - Keep an index of the newest restore points. - Never delete originals; only prune within the vault per retention.
How It Works
This skill watches your editor's autosave/backup folders, copies new saves into a dated
vault structure, and maintains a rolling index of the latest restore points. It never
deletes originals — pruning only happens inside the vault per your retention policy.
What You Get
- Versioned vault: `BACKUPS/AUTOSAVES/YYYY-MM-DD/` with copies of every autosave
- Rolling index: latest snapshot per project, file size, and timestamp
- Retention policy: keep hourly saves for N days, daily saves for N weeks
- Optional nightly compression of older backups
- Alert if autosaves are landing in an unexpected global folder (sign of misconfigured scratch settings)
Setup Steps
- Add your autosave/backup source paths for each editor you use
- Set a vault destination path
- Configure retention (e.g., 7 days hourly + 8 weeks daily)
- Run every 30–60 minutes during work hours, or trigger on new autosave detection
Tips
- Run a manual "Snapshot now" before risky operations like mass relinks or major plugin updates
- The rolling index makes it easy to find the most recent clean restore point
- If autosaves are appearing in a global folder instead of your project folder, fix your scratch disk settings
- This pairs well with Project Packaging Wizard for end-of-project archiving