Restore development environment state from an S3 backup.

1. Gather all inputs in ONE prompt:

Ask the user for:

•S3 base path (required): e.g., s3://bucket/users/sami@metr.org/
•Machine name (optional): defaults to current hostname
•Session date filter (optional): only restore Claude sessions after this date (YYYY-MM-DD)

Example prompt:

code

To restore your dev environment, I need:

1. S3 base path (e.g., s3://bucket/users/you@example.org/)
2. Machine name [press Enter for current hostname]
3. Session date filter (e.g., 2026-01-15) [press Enter to restore all]

2. Bootstrap dotfiles if needed:

Before running restore, check if ~/.dotfiles exists but lacks .git:

bash

if [ -d ~/.dotfiles ] && [ ! -d ~/.dotfiles/.git ]; then
    echo "Bootstrapping dotfiles..."
    cd ~/.dotfiles
    git init
    git remote add origin https://github.com/sjawhar/dotfiles
    git fetch origin main
    git reset --hard origin/main
    ./install.sh
fi

3. List backups and select:

bash

uv run ~/.dotfiles/scripts/devenv-backup/devenv.py list-backups --base <s3-base-path> --machine <machine>

Show available backups and ask which to restore:

code

Available backups for devpod:
  2026-01-20 (latest)
  2026-01-18
  before-refactor

Which backup? [default: latest]

Then proceed immediately - no separate confirmation needed.

4. Run restore:

bash

# Basic restore:
uv run ~/.dotfiles/scripts/devenv-backup/devenv.py restore \
    --base <s3-base-path> \
    --name <backup-name> \
    --machine <machine>

# With session date filter:
uv run ~/.dotfiles/scripts/devenv-backup/devenv.py restore \
    --base <s3-base-path> \
    --name <backup-name> \
    --machine <machine> \
    --sessions-after 2026-01-15

This single command:

•Downloads and validates the manifest
•Displays agent instructions (if present - follow them!)
•Clones all repositories to their original paths
•Creates non-default jj workspaces (in parallel)
•Checks out the correct commits in each workspace (in parallel)
•Downloads files to their original locations
•Restores symlinks
•Restores Claude Code session data

5. Follow agent instructions:

If the manifest contains agent_instructions, they'll be displayed prominently. Follow them (typically ~/.dotfiles/install.sh).

6. Summary:

Report:

•Repositories restored
•Workspaces created
•Files/symlinks restored
•Claude Code sessions restored
•Any errors or warnings

Note any uncommitted changes recorded in the manifest.

Done when: All repositories cloned, workspaces created, files restored, and Claude Code data restored.