For the File You Just Deleted
It’s Not
Actually Gone
When git never had the file and the Recycle Bin missed it, this skill still finds it, using editor snapshot history, session transcripts, or a shadow copy.
You deleted a file git never tracked, and the Recycle Bin didn’t catch it. It looks gone for good.
The external problem
You ran rm, or an agent working on your behalf did, on a file you never committed to git. There’s nothing to check out, and the delete skipped the Recycle Bin entirely.
The internal problem
The stomach-drop of realizing real work just vanished, and the specific frustration of knowing “git checkout” won’t save you this time, because you never committed it.
What's at stake
Hours of work redone from memory, or lost outright, when the fix was already sitting in a snapshot folder on your own machine that you didn’t know existed.
Three places to look, in order.
Run it right after the file goes missing. It works through each source until it finds a snapshot worth restoring.
Editor Local History
Searches VS Code’s and Cursor’s snapshot folders for the file, walks its entries.json for the latest saved version, and writes the content back to its original path.
Claude Session Transcripts
If Claude read the file in an earlier session, its content may still be sitting in that session’s JSONL transcript, searchable by filename.
Windows Shadow Copies
As a last resort, checks for a Volume Shadow Copy of the drive and mounts it so you can browse back to the file directly, no editor history required.
Use it now. It's free.
Works on all platforms. Pick yours and get set up in under a minute.
Download & upload in 60 seconds
One click downloads the zip and opens Claude.ai.
Click below — the zip downloads and Claude.ai opens.
Click the + button in the skills column on the left.
Select Create a skill.
Select Upload a skill and upload the zip.
Start your file recovery session by running /estack-vscode-file-recovery.
VS Code File Recovery ships in E-Stack, a set of 20 free skills installed by one command. See the whole stack.