Checkpoints & Versioning

Checkpoints are the heart of Clustta. They're how you preserve every meaningful state of every file in your project, with descriptive history, almost zero storage overhead, and instant recovery.

What a checkpoint is

A checkpoint is a saved snapshot of an asset at a point in time. Every checkpoint records:

• A content hash of the file
• A comment describing what changed
• Who made it (author)
• When it was made (timestamp)
• An optional preview image (auto-generated or user-supplied)
• A status at the time of the checkpoint (Todo / WIP / WFA / Retake / Done)
• The chunks that make up the file at that version

Think of it as a smart "Save As v2" that doesn't clutter your folder, costs almost nothing, and includes context.

Why it's not just "save as v2"

Traditional versioning duplicates the entire file:

Project_v1.psd     500 MB
Project_v2.psd     510 MB
Project_v3.psd     530 MB
─────────────────────────
Total:           ~1.54 GB

Clustta uses content-defined chunking: files are split into variable-sized chunks based on their content, each chunk is hashed and stored once. When you create a checkpoint after small edits, only the changed chunks are added - the rest are referenced.

Project.psd  +  Δchunks_1  +  Δchunks_2
─────────────────────────────────────────
Total:                              ~550 MB

The savings compound across collaborators because the same chunks shared across the team are also deduplicated when transferred.

Creating a checkpoint

Three ways:

1. Click the Modified state indicator on any modified asset.
2. Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+C with the asset selected.
3. Right-click the asset → Create Checkpoint.

In the dialog:

• Add a meaningful comment ("blocking pass complete", "revised character animation"). Leaving it blank generates the next asset version as the comment, starting at v0001.
• Optionally change the status.
• Optionally attach or capture a preview image.
• Optionally toggle Use image as task cover so the asset card shows it.
• Optionally toggle Sync after checkpoint to push immediately.

Click Create.

Browsing history

Select any asset and look at the details pane (right side). You'll see every checkpoint in reverse-chronological order: comment, author, date, preview thumbnail.

Click a checkpoint to expand its actions:

• Open - Open that exact version in your default app (a temp file is reconstructed from chunks)
• Revert - Replace the working file with this version
• Delete - Send this checkpoint to trash (recoverable until purge)

Checkpoint tags identify versions for review and dependency selection. Use Manage checkpoint tags on a checkpoint to select an existing project tag or create one. A tag such as approved identifies at most one checkpoint in each asset's history. Assigning it to another checkpoint moves that asset's tag assignment; it does not create a second approved version.

Checkpoint tags also appear on the asset, making tagged work available through normal tag filters. They require permission to manage dependencies. A dependency can follow a tag as described in Dependencies.

Checkpoints created together share an operation group. Group tag assignment applies the tag to the latest checkpoint for each asset in that group. A checkpoint carrying a tag cannot be trashed, and a tag assignment referenced by a dependency cannot be removed. Update the dependency or move the tag before removing protected history.

Reverting

Reverting replaces the working file with a previous checkpoint. Create a checkpoint first if you need to preserve your current edits, and handle unsaved changes in your creative application before restoring the file.

A progress dialog shows the operation. Clustta uses local chunks where available and downloads missing content when the project has a remote copy.

Best practices

• Checkpoint at meaningful moments. End of a session, before a risky experiment, after fixing a specific note. Not every two minutes.
• Write descriptive comments. "blocking pass + walk cycle pass 1" is far more useful than "wip" three months from now.
• Set the status when you checkpoint. It's free and your producers will love it.
• Use preview images for review checkpoints. A WFA checkpoint with a render is worth a thousand words to a supervisor.
• Don't over-purge. Checkpoints are cheap. Keep them.

Quick reference

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+Shift+C	Create checkpoint on selected asset
Click Modified state	Same as above
Click historical checkpoint → Revert	Restore that version
Click historical checkpoint → Open	Open temp copy of that version