How to recover deleted code in VS Code (even if you never committed it)

You deleted a function, kept working, and an hour later you need it back. Or a file is simply gone. Don't panic, and don't start editing that file again yet: the steps below go from the quickest to the most thorough.

1. Undo, if the file is still open

If the file has been open the whole time, its undo history is still there. Click into the editor and press Ctrl+Z (⌘Z on macOS) until the code comes back. Undo history is lost when you close the file or VS Code, so try this first.

2. VS Code's Local History (Timeline)

Since version 1.66, VS Code keeps a local history of files you save in it. To find it:

1. Open the file (or create an empty file with the same name and path if it was deleted).
2. In the Explorer, expand Timeline at the bottom.
3. Click an entry to compare it with the current file, then right-click it and choose Restore Contents.

You can also run Local History: Find Entry to Restore from the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) to search the history of every file, including deleted ones.

Things to know:

• Only saves are recorded, not every keystroke, and only files edited in VS Code itself.
• By default it keeps 50 entries per file and skips files over 256 KB (workbench.localHistory.maxFileEntries and workbench.localHistory.maxFileSize).
• It can be turned off with workbench.localHistory.enabled, so check that setting if the Timeline is empty.

Where Local History lives on disk

If VS Code itself won't open the history, the files are plain copies you can browse:

System	Folder
Windows	%APPDATA%\Code\User\History
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/History
Linux	~/.config/Code/User/History

Each subfolder is one file. Its entries.json names the original file, and the other files in the folder are saved versions. Search them for a line you remember.

3. The Recycle Bin or Trash

When you delete a file from VS Code's Explorer, it goes to the system Recycle Bin (Windows) or Trash (macOS, Linux) by default, not straight into oblivion. Open it and restore the file to its original place.

4. Git's safety nets

If the project uses Git:

• Uncommitted changes to a tracked file you discarded by mistake are usually gone from Git, but Local History (step 2) often still has them.
• A deleted file that was committed: git checkout -- path/to/file (or git restore path/to/file) brings back the last committed version.
• A commit you lost with a reset or rebase: git reflog lists where HEAD has been; git reset --hard <entry> or git cherry-pick <entry> brings it back.
• Something you once staged with git add but never committed: git fsck --lost-found writes "dangling" blobs to .git/lost-found/other, where you can search them.

5. Never lose uncommitted code again

The gap between Undo and Git is where code gets lost: experiments, deleted functions, files you never added. Two habits close it:

1. Commit small and often, even on a scratch branch. A wip commit costs nothing.
2. Keep a searchable history of every change. Veyra Rewind is a free VS Code extension that snapshots a file when you open it, every time you save, and while you type. You can scrub a timeline to any moment, play back how the file evolved, and use Find Deleted Code to search for text that was in any file but isn't there any more. It also brings back deleted files. Everything stays on your computer.

Rewind: Find Deleted Code…  →  calculateTotal
  function calculateTotal(items) {      cart.js:12 · 2 h ago

Quick checklist

• Still open? Ctrl+Z.
• Timeline in the Explorer, or Local History: Find Entry to Restore.
• The Local History folder on disk.
• Recycle Bin or Trash.
• git restore, git reflog, git fsck --lost-found.
• Next time: commit often, and install Rewind so there's always a history to go back to.