CRAFT Tutorials · Advanced
When a project is done — or you just want to put it into long-term cold storage — Claude can pack the whole thing into a single compressed file you can tuck away, with your work and its history preserved.
Make the archive
Open the project and ask:
Claude bundles your project — your files, saved history, and session records — into one timestamped, compressed .tar.gz file. You can move it to an external drive or cloud storage and keep it as long as you like.
✓ You’ll know it worked when Claude hands you a single archive file (named with the date) holding the whole project.
When to archive
- The project is finished and you want it off your plate but safely kept.
- Long-term storage — tuck a complete copy somewhere safe for the future.
- Handing it off — give someone the entire project as one file.
Archive vs. backup — what’s the difference?
They’re for different moments:
- Archive — a one-time, complete snapshot for a finished project you’re setting aside.
- Checkpoints & GitHub backup — ongoing saves for a project you’re still working on.
Use checkpoints and GitHub while you work; reach for an archive when the work is complete.
That’s archiving: one request packs a finished project into a single file you can store anywhere, for as long as you need. A good next step: add an ongoing offsite copy with Set up GitHub to back up your CRAFT project.