Vestal — Backup & Restore for Claude.ai, Claude Code & Cowork

01 / Where the loss happens

Three surfaces. Three ways your work disappears.

Seventy-plus backup tools exist, split across three silos — browser extensions for chat, CLI scripts for Code, a single Mac-only script for Cowork. Zero of them cover all three. This is what that looks like when it fails.

[ 02:14 · loss ]

Claude.ai Web · Desktop

Your therapy journal, your research thread, the outline you were drafting — not in the sidebar. Not in the archive. No human to appeal to.

[ 03:47 · loss ]

Claude Code CLI · IDE

Auto-update lands. A hundred sessions, every project, every conversation — wiped in the time it took the app to restart.

[ 09:22 · loss ]

Claude Cowork Mac · Windows

Cowork data is excluded from Anthropic's retention window, Audit Logs, Compliance API, and Data Exports. Official support has told users to delete their data directory to recover.

02 / What Vestal does

The first backup tool that covers all three.

i · Capture

Backs up every surface

Claude.ai, Claude Code, Claude Cowork — continuously, locally, with versioned snapshots. One app, not seventy half-built scripts.

ii · Return

Actually restores — selectively

Bring back a single conversation, a session, or an entire project. Diff, preview, and pick exactly what you want returned.

iii · Anywhere

Works on Mac and Windows

A compiled native GUI on both. No terminal required. No browser extension that breaks on the next Chrome update.

03 / Privacy & trust

Backed up on your machine. Encrypted before it leaves.

Your Claude work is yours. Vestal treats it that way. Every snapshot is encrypted on your device — with a key derived from a passphrase only you hold — before it's written anywhere. We can't read it. Neither can Anthropic. Neither can the cloud drive you point Vestal at.

Backups land wherever you decide: a local folder, or a cloud drive like OneDrive, Google Drive, or Box — using your account, your credentials. Vestal isn't in the middle. We don't host your backups and we don't have a copy. If you lose your passphrase, even we can't get your data back. That's the trade, and we think it's the right one for work this personal.

AES-256-GCM — per-snapshot keys, authenticated, wrapped by your master key.
Argon2id key derivation — your passphrase never leaves your machine.
Local-first — backups run locally even without a cloud destination. Restore works offline.
You choose the destination — local folder, OneDrive, Google Drive, Box. Your account, your credentials.
Open crypto — our encryption code will be public and third-party audited before launch.

Snapshot · session-4f2c Encrypted & sealed

            Source
            ~/.claude/sessions/4f2c.jsonl
            local
          

            Digest
            sha256 · a9f3…c011
            verified
          

            Cipher
            AES-256-GCM
            wrapped
          

            Key
            argon2id(passphrase, salt)
            on device
          

            Write
            opaque blob · 12.4 MB
            sealed
          

            Destination
            ~/OneDrive/Vestal/ (your account)
            your cloud
          

Your destination sees: an opaque blob, its size, a timestamp.
Vestal sees: nothing. We're not in the path.

Vestal keeps the sacred flame. When the auto-update hits and the temple falls, your work is still here.

The Vestal Virgins of ancient Rome had a single duty: keep the sacred fire burning. If it went out, the city fell. Vestal does that, quietly, for the work you make with Claude.

04 / Questions

Frequently asked.

What is Vestal?

Vestal is a desktop backup and restore tool for Claude. It continuously captures your Claude.ai conversations, Claude Code sessions, and Claude Cowork data to encrypted local snapshots, so an auto-update, sync glitch, or account event can't erase your work. It runs on macOS and Windows.

What does Vestal back up?

All three Claude surfaces: Claude.ai chats, Claude Code projects and sessions, and Claude Cowork data. Most existing tools cover only one surface — Vestal is the first to cover all three in a single app.

Is my data encrypted?

Yes. Every snapshot is encrypted on your device with AES-256-GCM before it leaves your machine, using keys derived from a passphrase only you hold (Argon2id). Vestal's servers store opaque blobs — we can't read your conversations, and neither can anyone who compromises our infrastructure.

Does Vestal work on Windows?

Yes. Vestal ships as a native GUI app on both macOS and Windows. No terminal required, no browser extension that breaks on the next Chrome update.

Can I restore a single conversation, or is it all-or-nothing?

Selective restore is the whole point. You can bring back a single conversation, a specific Claude Code session, or an entire project — with a diff and preview before anything is written back.

Is Vestal affiliated with Anthropic?

No. Vestal is an independent product from Tumble Road LLC. Anthropic's own documentation confirms Cowork data is excluded from their retention window, Audit Logs, Compliance API, and Data Exports — Vestal exists to cover that gap.

Every Claude conversation, kept.