Recover Unsaved Work

Odra keeps private recovery checkpoints for modified buffers. A checkpoint is separate from the source file: it protects recent editor content but does not save or overwrite the source.

Observe the Startup Recovery List

After an interrupted editor process, start Odra with the file or directory you want to work on. The startup recovery list shows only retained work for that file or inside the selected directory, Project, or Workspace roots. Each row names the buffer, explains its action and source condition, and shows how long ago the checkpoint was created.

Unrelated checkpoints do not interrupt startup. A short notification points to M-x recover-unsaved-work, which shows all pending candidates. Starting without a file or selected roots leaves recovery review to that command. If you are on the startup screen or a directory view, open a file or create a buffer first to use M-x.

Move with Up or Down and press Enter to apply the selected action:

• Restore opens the recovered content as a modified editor buffer.
• Inspect opens a copy of the recovered content for review.
• Compare opens recovered content beside the current source content in one comparison buffer.
• Discard removes that retained checkpoint.

Press C-g to return to the file, directory, or startup screen you opened, without changing a candidate. Run M-x recover-unsaved-work to return to pending candidates later in the same session.

Handle Source Conflicts

Odra compares a file-backed checkpoint with the current source. A matching source may be restored directly into a modified buffer. A source that changed after the checkpoint is marked as a conflict and is not overwritten.

Use Compare or Inspect before Restore when the source changed. A restore still changes only the editor buffer. Save explicitly when the recovered buffer contains the version that should replace the source.

A missing, inaccessible, or pathless source restores into an unassociated buffer. Choose a target through the ordinary save workflow.

Configure Recovery

The factory policy uses a 300 ms quiet-period debounce and a 5 second maximum interval. It retains bounded private checkpoints for seven days. Source-file autosave is disabled.

Personal configuration can replace the policy:

#lang racket/base

(require odra/recovery)

(provide odra-recovery-policy)

(define odra-recovery-policy
  (recovery-policy
   #:strategy 'hybrid
   #:debounce-milliseconds 500
   #:maximum-interval-milliseconds 5000
   #:startup 'ask
   #:source-autosave 'disabled))

Use inspect to present launch-related candidates for review or restore-matching to automatically restore only launch-related candidates whose current source still matches. Conflicts remain explicit in every startup mode. Unrelated and untitled checkpoints remain available through recover-unsaved-work; no startup mode automatically restores them without a matching launch context.

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