devsafe snapshot

Captures your development environment (Homebrew packages, shell configs, runtime versions) so you can rebuild a machine exactly where you left off. Minutes, not days.

What it captures

Environment Snapshot records everything that makes your development machine yours:

• Homebrew packages -- formulae and casks you have installed
• Shell configuration -- your .zshrc, .bashrc, and related dotfiles
• Runtime versions -- Node.js, Python, Go, Ruby, and other language runtimes
• VS Code extensions -- every extension installed in your editor
• Global packages -- globally installed npm and pip packages

Usage

Capture a snapshot

Run devsafe snapshot to capture your current environment. The snapshot is saved alongside your backups.

$ devsafe snapshot
✓ Homebrew: 87 formulae, 14 casks
✓ Shell config: .zshrc, .zprofile
✓ Runtimes: node 20.11.0, python 3.12.1, go 1.22.0
✓ VS Code: 23 extensions
✓ Global packages: 8 npm, 12 pip
Snapshot saved.

Restore from a snapshot

On a new machine (or after a clean install), restore your environment in one command.

$ devsafe snapshot restore
✓ Installing 87 Homebrew formulae...
✓ Installing 14 Homebrew casks...
✓ Restoring shell configuration...
✓ Installing runtimes: node 20.11.0, python 3.12.1, go 1.22.0
✓ Installing 23 VS Code extensions...
✓ Installing global packages...
Environment restored.

When to use it

• New machine setup -- bought a new laptop and want to start coding today, not next week
• Laptop replacement -- your machine died, IT issued a replacement, and you need your environment back
• Team onboarding -- a new developer joins the team and needs the same toolchain everyone else uses

What it does NOT capture

Environment Snapshot captures your development toolchain. It is not a full machine backup.

• Full disk image -- snapshot is not a clone of your hard drive
• Application data -- databases, browser profiles, email archives are not included
• System preferences -- macOS settings, keyboard shortcuts, display configurations are not captured

For git repository backups, use devsafe backup. Snapshot handles the environment around your repos, not the repos themselves.