Version history: preview and restore any saved version
Each time an Anticode project is saved, the server stores that save as a numbered version. You can open any of them on the canvas to look at it, then restore it with one button. A restore never rewinds anything: the old version is written again as the newest one, so the versions after it stay in the list.
Why a site built by AI needs history
An AI builder changes a lot at once. A sentence like "make it calmer and move the prices up" can touch the colour, the order of sections and the copy in one go, and you may only notice a lost paragraph two edits later. Ordinary undo in a browser tab doesn't help much by then, and it vanishes when the tab closes. Anticode's website builder version history lives on your account instead, so it survives a closed laptop and covers every route a change can arrive by: your own edits, a build, the CLI, a coding agent or an AI assistant connected over MCP.
Where to find it and what each row tells you
History opens from the project menu in the chat header. It's a side panel listing saved versions newest first. Each row shows the version number, how long ago it was saved (hover for the exact date and time), its size, and who made it. The labels come from how the save reached the server, not from anything the browser claims about itself:
| Label | What made the save |
|---|---|
| Your edit | A change you made in the builder |
| Build agents | A build run by the model |
| CLI or coding agent | The Anticode CLI, or an agent editing the project file |
| AI assistant (MCP) | An assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT working through the MCP server |
| Debugging pass | A one-off debugging pass that rewrote a build |
| Restored | A restore of an earlier version |
The version marked Current is the one that's live in the editor. If a save is identical to the version before it, for example a rename or a publish that re-saves the same content, no duplicate row is added.
Previewing an older version
Click a row and that version is drawn on the canvas, using the same design engine that builds the current site. A bar at the bottom of the panel says which version you're looking at and that nothing is saved until you restore it. Back to current returns the canvas to where you were, and so does pressing Escape. You can move between rows with the arrow keys, and the panel waits if a build is still running rather than swapping the canvas from under it.
What happens when you restore
- Anything you've typed but not yet saved is sent up first, so the restore starts from your real latest copy.
- The restore names the version it's replacing. If the project changed in the meantime (another tab, a teammate's CLI, an assistant), the server refuses with a conflict, the list refreshes, and you pick the version again with the new state in view.
- The old content is written as a brand new version, labelled Restored. A message in the chat says which version became which.
- The page is rebuilt and the design and security checks run again on it, so the report you see belongs to what's now on the canvas.
Because a restore adds a version rather than deleting the later ones, restoring the wrong thing is itself undoable: open History again and restore the version you were on before. That's the main difference from a rollback that throws away everything after a point.
Limits worth knowing
- History is per account. It needs you to be signed in and the project saved to your account. A preview build made without an account has no history until it's saved.
- Your plan caps how many are kept. The panel says how many of the latest versions your plan keeps; older ones beyond that are removed, oldest first.
- Very old formats. A version saved before a change to the project format may be refused on restore with a message saying so. You can still preview what's listed.
- Projects, not published copies. History covers the project you edit. Published sites have their own backups of the last ten published versions, described on the backups and integrity page.
- Whole versions only. A restore brings back the entire project as it was. To keep one section from an old version, preview it, note what you want, return to current and ask for that change in words.
Using history alongside other ways of changing a site
History pairs well with change requests in words: you can ask for a bold rewrite knowing the previous version is one click away. If you also let a coding agent or the CLI edit the project, the labels make it clear which saves were theirs. For a step-by-step on undoing a bad edit to a live site, see the guide on rolling a website back to a previous version.
Questions people ask
Does restoring a version delete the versions after it?
No. The restored content is saved as a new version at the top of the list, and every version that was there before stays in History.
Does a restore change my published site straight away?
A restore changes the project in the builder. The published site changes when you publish again, after the checks have run on the restored version.
Can I see an old version without restoring it?
Yes. Clicking a row only draws it on the canvas. Nothing is saved until you press Restore this version, and Back to current or Escape returns you to where you were.
Are edits from the CLI or an AI assistant kept too?
Yes. Saves made through the CLI, a coding agent or the MCP server are versions like any other, labelled so you can tell them apart from your own edits.