get back any version of my files

STEP BY STEPFrom a fragile folder to a time machine

1. 01

   Create your free GitHub account

   Go to github.com and select Sign up. Enter your email, a password and a username. The free plan is enough: it includes unlimited private repositories. A repository is a folder with memory: it holds your files and every version you record of each one. Turn on two-factor authentication when the page offers it, because that account is going to hold your work.

2. 02

   Get your agent ready

   You need Claude Code or Codex installed. If you have neither, start with guide #3, linked at the end of this page: there you pick a tool, install it, and write your first message.

3. 03

   Connect your computer to your account

   Before your agent can create repositories in your account, you authorize your computer with GitHub. It happens once, using gh, GitHub's official tool. Tell your agent: connect this computer to my GitHub account and install whatever is needed. It installs gh if it's missing and runs the sign-in: the terminal shows an eight-character code and opens the browser for you to enter it and authorize. That stores the access credential, the token, so you never copy keys by hand. To confirm, ask it: check that my GitHub account is connected.

4. 04

   Make a test folder with invented files

   Do the whole exercise on a test folder first, as in the video: that way you run the full cycle (back up, ruin, recover) without risking anything of yours. Ask your agent for the message below and it invents a fictitious business with a price list, invoices and a template. When it finishes, move into the folder in the terminal: type cd, add a space, drag the folder onto the window and press Enter.

   prompt · private backup

   Copy

   Save this folder to GitHub and keep it private. Before uploading anything, tell me what you are going to do and wait for my confirmation. If something needs installing or configuring, walk me through it. When you finish, verify the repository ended up private and confirm that to me.

   Copy the whole message. It is written so the agent explains itself before uploading anything and confirms the backup ended up private. It works in Claude Code and in Codex.

5. 05

   Ask for the backup

   Inside the folder, start your agent and paste the prompt above. The agent turns your folder into a repository, records the first version, and uploads it to your account as private. It should confirm that at the end. Check it with your own eyes: go to github.com, open the repository and look for the Private label next to the name.

6. 06

   Save versions in plain words as you go

   Here is the trick of the whole guide: you never write Git commands. You talk to the agent in ordinary words ("save today's version", "push the changes to GitHub", "start a repository for this folder") and it translates them into the right commands. The first backup saved version one; from then on, when you finish a work session, tell it: save today's version and push the changes. That habit is half the value. What you don't record can't be recovered.

7. 07

   Run the time machine test

   Run the experiment from the video without worrying: open a file in the folder, delete half of it and save. In an ordinary folder that version is gone. Now give your agent the message below. The file comes back exactly as it was in the last recorded version. Open it and check.

8. 08

   Repeat it on your real folder

   You have the cycle now. Do it for real: if you already have a folder with your documents, templates and data, that one works as is; if not, create a new one named after your business or project and copy in the files you want protected. Move into it in the terminal (cd, space, drag the folder, Enter) and repeat from Ask for the backup. A good habit: keep your work folders inside a Proyectos folder, one folder per project, so you always know where to start your agent. When you finish a session, leave the tool: /exit in Claude Code, /quit in Codex. The test folder has done its job and you can delete it, along with its repository if you want.

9. 09

   Know what belongs here and what doesn't

   GitHub is at its best with work files: documents, spreadsheets, data, templates, contracts. Your photos and videos do not belong here: there is a 100 MB limit per file and repositories are meant for a few gigabytes. For photos and videos you already have other options, like an external drive or your phone's cloud.

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