Undo and recover

Every successful Aura transaction saves the previous file state before replacing anything. Use aura undo when a setup or repair was valid but you want the earlier configuration back.

Preview and restore

List available backups.
Terminal window
```
aura undo --list
```
Preview the newest restorable backup.
Terminal window
```
aura undo --dry-run
```
Representative output starts with Would restore backup <backup-id>.
Restore the newest backup after confirmation.
Terminal window
```
aura undo
```
To restore a specific backup, pass the ID from --list.
Terminal window
```
aura undo 2026-08-16T23-47-43-937Z
```
Verify the restored state.
Terminal window
```
aura check
```

What undo restores

Undo uses the journal from one completed setup or fix transaction. It restores the files that transaction replaced and marks the backup as undone. It does not guess from current configuration or delete unrelated user-authored state.

If applying a transaction fails, Aura attempts rollback immediately. A partial fix result means both the write and part of its rollback failed; preserve the diagnostic and inspect the named files before running another write.

Common failures

Symptom	Cause	Fix
`No backups.`	Aura has not completed a write in this state directory	Nothing needs restoring.
`Nothing to undo.`	No backup is currently restorable	Use `--list` to inspect the journal.
Backup is already undone	The selected transaction was restored previously	Choose another restorable backup.
Exit code `2`	Current files conflict with the recorded restore preconditions	Preserve the files, inspect the conflict, and resolve it before retrying.
Backup cannot be read	Its journal or stored bytes are unavailable	Keep the error, restore from an external backup, or repair the journal only with a preserved copy.

Next step

Troubleshoot AuraDiagnose read-only state, repository trust, source failures, and file conflicts.