Backup & Rollback

Every ai-kit update automatically backs up your current configs before writing any changes. If something goes wrong, ai-kit rollback restores from any previous backup.

Auto-Backup on Update

When you run ai-kit update, the following happens before any files are modified:

Current CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules, .claude/settings.local.json, and ai-kit.config.json are copied to .ai-kit/backups/{timestamp}/
The update proceeds normally (re-scan, regenerate, safe merge)
A rollback hint is shown in the output


✓ Backed up current configs to .ai-kit/backups/2026-04-08T14-30-00
...
✓ CLAUDE.md updated
✓ .cursorrules updated
✓ 48 skills updated
✓ 16 agents updated
✓ Hooks updated (profile: standard)

ℹ All AI configs refreshed with latest project scan.
ℹ Rollback available: `ai-kit rollback --latest`

What Gets Backed Up

File	Why
`CLAUDE.md`	Your project rules — the most important file
`.cursorrules`	Cursor AI rules
`.claude/settings.local.json`	Hook configuration
`ai-kit.config.json`	Scan results and settings

Where Backups Are Stored

Backups live in .ai-kit/backups/ inside your project directory:


.ai-kit/
  backups/
    2026-04-08T14-30-00/
      CLAUDE.md
      .cursorrules
      .claude/settings.local.json
      ai-kit.config.json
    2026-04-01T10-00-00/
      CLAUDE.md
      ...

Each backup is timestamped. Multiple backups are kept so you can roll back to any point.

Rolling Back

Interactive (pick a backup)


npx @mikulgohil/ai-kit rollback

Shows a list of available backups and lets you choose which one to restore:


Available Backups
ℹ 2026-04-08T14-30-00  (latest)
ℹ 2026-04-01T10-00-00
ℹ 2026-03-15T09-45-00

? Which backup do you want to restore? > 2026-04-08T14-30-00  (latest)
? Restore configs from backup 2026-04-08T14-30-00? This will overwrite current files. (Y/n)

Restored Files
✓ Restored: CLAUDE.md
✓ Restored: .cursorrules
✓ Restored: .claude/settings.local.json
✓ Restored: ai-kit.config.json

ℹ Configs restored from backup 2026-04-08T14-30-00

Quick (restore latest)


npx @mikulgohil/ai-kit rollback --latest

Restores the most recent backup without the selection prompt. Still asks for confirmation before overwriting.

Options

Flag	Description
`--latest`	Restore most recent backup without selection prompt

Common Scenarios

”The update broke my custom rules"


# See what changed
npx @mikulgohil/ai-kit diff
 
# Roll back to before the update
npx @mikulgohil/ai-kit rollback --latest
 
# Your previous config is restored

"I want to try a different strictness level"


# Current setup: standard strictness
npx @mikulgohil/ai-kit init   # Choose "strict" this time
 
# Don't like it? Roll back
npx @mikulgohil/ai-kit rollback --latest

"Team member ran update and it changed things”


# Check available backups
npx @mikulgohil/ai-kit rollback
 
# Pick the backup from before their update
# Restore and review the diff

Backup Storage

Backups are local only — stored in .ai-kit/backups/ which is gitignored
Each developer has their own backups on their machine
Backups are not cleaned up automatically — delete old ones manually if needed
Each backup is typically ~20-50KB (just config files, not skills/agents)

Migrate + Rollback

When you run ai-kit migrate, backups are created the same way. If the migration doesn’t look right:


npx @mikulgohil/ai-kit migrate          # Migrates existing CLAUDE.md
npx @mikulgohil/ai-kit rollback --latest # Undo — original CLAUDE.md restored