Vigil Plugin

File recovery. Saves checkpoints before dangerous operations, diffs changes, restores files safely.

Hooks

Hook	When	Action
PreToolUse(Bash)	Destructive command detected	Auto-quicksaves affected files (rm, mv, git reset, etc.)

Token cost: 0 on safe commands, ~30-50 on destructive. The regex matches: rm, rmdir, mv, sed -i, perl -i, git checkout/reset/clean/restore, output redirects.

Commands

Command	Description
/save-vigil <name> [files]	Create a named file checkpoint
/restore-vigil [name]	Restore files from a checkpoint

Workflows

Checkpoint (standalone)

1. vigil_save(name: "before-refactor", files: ["src/auth.ts", "src/middleware.ts"])
2. Make changes safely
3. If something breaks: vigil_restore(name: "before-refactor")

Checkpoint (with siblings)

1. vigil_save(name: "before-refactor", files: [...])
2. If praetorian active: also praetorian_compact(type: "decisions", ...) to save the reasoning
3. Make changes — both files and context are now protected
4. If something breaks:
   • vigil_restore(name: "before-refactor") — restore files
   • praetorian_restore("before-refactor") — restore context

Recovery (standalone)

1. vigil_list() — see available checkpoints
2. vigil_diff(name: "checkpoint") — preview what would change
3. vigil_restore(name: "checkpoint") — restore files
4. Optionally: vigil_delete(name: "checkpoint") — clean up

Recovery (with siblings)

1. vigil_list() — see available checkpoints
2. vigil_diff(name: "checkpoint") — preview changes
3. If historian active: find_file_context("filename") to understand what changed and why
4. vigil_restore(name: "checkpoint") — restore files
5. If praetorian active: restore matching compaction for context

Sibling Synergy

Sibling	Value	How
Praetorian	Context saved alongside files	Pair vigil checkpoints with praetorian compactions for full state recovery
Historian	File change context from history	find_file_context() explains what happened between checkpoint and now

MCP Tools Reference

Tool	Purpose
vigil_save	Create named checkpoint (SHA-256 + gzip dedup)
vigil_list	List available checkpoints with metadata
vigil_diff	Preview changes since checkpoint
vigil_restore	Restore files from checkpoint
vigil_delete	Remove a checkpoint and free storage

Storage

Content-addressable at .claude/vigil/. 3 named slots + 1 rotating ~quicksave.

Requires

claude mcp add vigil -- npx claude-vigil-mcp