Tagged Snapshots

Never lose your progress — instantly back up your work before taking the next step, whether by you or your AI. During learning, complex problem solving, complex feature development, or just want to look back how you got here.

With a few keystrokes or clicks, you can snapshot your your experiments on selected working files with a tag quickly — no Git required.

You don't really require complex git repository/setup/commands before making every step. For personal learning/experiments, you can keep all your learning/experiment history local.

Tagged Snapshots keeps your progress record simple, fast, and easy for future reference without any complex setup/commands.

Other related extensions

• Backup File - For simple file snapshots without custom tags.
• Tagged File Snapshots - For simple file snapshots with tags.
• Backup Folder - To backup/snapshot a folder.
• Git Snapshots - For Git based snapshots.

Install

Install this extension from the VSCode Marketplace

Tagged Snapshot

Features

Snapshot all open editor files with an optional tag name. Browse, diff, and restore from the sidebar.

No Git. No build step. No dependencies. Just fast, labelled backups of exactly what you're working on right now.

• 📷 One-action snapshots — capture all open files across all tab groups (live buffer, including unsaved edits)
• 🏷️ Tagged names — label your snapshot (before-refactor, wip-dark-mode) with a timestamp auto-appended
• 📁 Plain file storage — snapshots live in .vscode/tagged-snapshots/ as real files, no proprietary formats
• 🔍 Diff view — click any file in the sidebar to compare the snapshot version against the current file
• ↔️ Swappable diff layout — choose which side shows current vs snapshot; swap instantly from the editor title bar
• ♻️ Flexible restore — restore an entire snapshot or cherry-pick individual files
• 🗑️ Full management — delete individual snapshots or clear all at once

Usage

Taking a Snapshot

Use any of these methods:

• Ctrl+Shift+S / Cmd+Shift+S
• Click 🏷️(TAg)Snapshot in the status bar
• Click 🏷️(Tag) icon in the Tagged Snapshots sidebar
• Open the Command Palette → Tagged Snapshots: Take Snapshot

Type a label (or leave blank for a timestamp-only name) and press Enter.

Browsing Snapshots

Click the Tagged Snapshots icon in the Activity Bar. Snapshots are listed newest-first. Expand any snapshot to see its files.

Diffing a File

Click any file inside an expanded snapshot to open a diff editor comparing it against the current version.

Use the ↔ button in the editor title bar to swap left/right sides instantly.

Restoring

• All files: right-click a snapshot → Restore All Files
• One file: right-click a file inside a snapshot → Restore This File

Deleting

• One snapshot: right-click a snapshot → Delete Snapshot
• All snapshots: Command Palette → Tagged Snapshots: Clear All Snapshots

Settings

Storage Format

.vscode/
  tagged-snapshots/
    20260225-143210-before-refactor/
      src/
        index.ts
      components/
        Button.tsx
      _external/          ← files opened from outside the workspace
        home/user/notes.md

• No metadata files — the folder name and directory structure are the only metadata
• Files opened from outside the workspace are stored under _external/

License

MIT