Save, Sync, Timeline, Restore

The whole product is four words. There is no expert mode underneath.

• Save captures the folder as it is, with a short summary and the name of whoever did the work, person or agent.

``bash goodfolder save ``

• Sync carries the same history to your other computers.

``bash goodfolder sync ``

• Timeline shows every Save in order — on the dashboard, or from the command line:

``bash goodfolder log ``

• Restore brings back an earlier version, and records the return as another Save, so you can change your mind again.

``bash goodfolder restore <number> ``

Undo

Undo takes back the most recent Save: it shows what would change first, then restores the earlier state as a new Save — the Timeline keeps the record of both. goodfolder undo --session takes back a whole uninterrupted run of saves made by the same agent, which is the common case when an assistant worked for a while and the result was wrong.

What a Save leaves out

A Save deliberately leaves some things out: downloaded packages, output the project's own tools rebuild, operating-system litter, and files shaped like credentials. The rules err on the side of protecting — a wrong skip loses work silently, a wrong protect only costs space — so names that could belong to a human-made folder, like dist or out, are only left out when the files on disk show they are generated.

See the judgement calls a Save made for your folder:

goodfolder skipped

If something is being left out that you want protected:

goodfolder protect <name>

Files shaped like credentials

Names like .env, id_rsa, *.pem, *.p12, *.pfx, *.keystore, *.jks, or a file literally named credentials are left out of every save. GoodFolder assumes they hold passwords or keys, and a password that was never saved can never leak from history. To save one of them on purpose, goodfolder protect <name> for that one file, or goodfolder save --include-secrets to include everything left out on those grounds — it asks you to type include first, because once those files are saved they keep being saved and stay in earlier saves.

Other names — Passwords.xlsx, Secret plan.txt, server.key.bak — are saved normally, but the save reports them as suspicious so they do not slip past you. If one of them really is a secret, goodfolder ignore add <name> --remove stops saving it and takes it off your other devices; earlier saves still hold it.

Your own ignore list

A folder can carry its own leave-out list in a file named .goodfolderignore — one name or pattern per line, # starts a comment. It is ordinary folder content, so it syncs to your other computers and the same rules apply everywhere:

goodfolder ignore add "*.mov"     # start or grow the list
goodfolder ignore list           # what it leaves out right now
goodfolder ignore remove "*.mov" # take a line off again

Adding a pattern changes what the next save protects; it never rewrites history — a file that was already saved is still in earlier saves. To stop saving a file that already has history, goodfolder ignore add <name> --remove takes it out of future saves and, after your next save, off your other computers — while leaving the file on this computer and in every earlier save.