FAQ

What is Reinstate?

A local-first, open-source CLI that syncs AI coding agent sessions (and config: MCP servers, skills, settings) across your devices with end-to-end encryption and bring-your-own storage.

What is rein vs reinstate?

Same tool.

rein version
reinstate version   # identical behavior

Config and data live under ~/.reinstate/ either way.

Why not just use git?

Git is source truth. Sessions are context truth — the reasoning trail, tool outputs, and decisions that are not in git log. Pulling commits and asking a new agent to re-derive context is slow and incomplete.

Will this resume a Claude session inside Codex?

No. Same-vendor resume only. Cross-agent value is portable config / skills / environment, not replaying one model’s transcript into another.

Is my data sent to Reinstate servers?

No for the open-source CLI. You point at your R2/S3/WebDAV/etc. A future optional hosted convenience layer would still be zero-knowledge (ciphertext only); it is not required.

What if I lose my passphrase?

You cannot decrypt remote data. That is intentional (zero-knowledge). Keep the passphrase in a password manager.

Does this work offline?

Local status/diff from the manifest works offline. Push/pull need network to your storage backend.

Windows + Mac?

Yes — that dual setup is a primary design target. Path remapping is the hard problem we optimize for.

Is this affiliated with Anthropic / OpenAI / Google / xAI?

No. Independent Apache-2.0 project by Harjot Singh Rana.

Production ready?

Pre-1.0. See ROADMAP.md and CHANGELOG.md. Use with backups; report bugs via GitHub Issues.

How do I contribute?

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

How do I report a security issue?

See SECURITY.md — private disclosure only.