gemini-cli/docs/cli/rewind.md

Rewind

The /rewind command allows you to go back to a previous state in your conversation and, optionally, revert any file changes made by the AI during those interactions. This is a powerful tool for undoing mistakes, exploring different approaches, or simply cleaning up your session history.

Usage

To use the rewind feature, simply type /rewind into the input prompt and press Enter.

Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut: Press Esc twice.

Interface

When you trigger a rewind, an interactive list of your previous interactions appears.

1. Select Interaction: Use the Up/Down arrow keys to navigate through the list. The most recent interactions are at the bottom.
2. Preview: As you select an interaction, you'll see a preview of the user prompt and, if applicable, the number of files changed during that step.
3. Confirm Selection: Press Enter on the interaction you want to rewind back to.
4. Action Selection: After selecting an interaction, you'll be presented with a confirmation dialog with up to three options:
   • Rewind conversation and revert code changes: Reverts both the chat history and the file modifications to the state before the selected interaction.
   • Rewind conversation: Only reverts the chat history. File changes are kept.
   • Revert code changes: Only reverts the file modifications. The chat history is kept.
   • Do nothing (esc): Cancels the rewind operation.

If no code changes were made since the selected point, the options related to reverting code changes will be hidden.

Key Considerations

• Destructive Action: Rewinding is a destructive action for your current session history and potentially your files. Use it with care.
• Agent Awareness: When you rewind the conversation, the AI model loses all memory of the interactions that were removed. If you only revert code changes, you may need to inform the model that the files have changed.
• Manual Edits: Rewinding only affects file changes made by the AI's edit tools. It does not undo manual edits you've made or changes triggered by the shell tool (!).
• Compression: Rewind works across chat compression points by reconstructing the history from stored session data.