# Zerostel [Health: Active]

**Category:** 🤖 Coding Agents  
**Repository:** https://github.com/zerostel/zerostel  
**GitHub Stars:** 0  
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**Directory Page:** https://allmcps.com/mcp/zerostel

## Description
Checkpoints, timeline and rewind for AI coding agents. Local, no telemetry.

## Claude Desktop Quick Installation
No confirmed install details yet, so no config is published. Follow the setup steps in the repository above.

## Documentation

## What Zerostel MCP server does

The Zerostel MCP server is presented as a local recording and recovery layer for AI coding agents. It keeps a per-session timeline containing prompts, tool calls, shell commands, changed files, durations, and token counts when the connected agent reports them. It also associates tests, type checks, and builds with the code state on which they ran.

For developers in the 🤖 Coding Agents category, the main use case is tracking and recovering from agent-driven edits without relying on each agent's built-in checkpoint behavior. The tool stores its data locally in `~/.zerostel`, does not upload it, and does not modify the repository's `.git` directory. A local web interface provides a clickable view of the same session information available through the command line.

## How it works

Zerostel takes a snapshot before and after supported tool calls that may change files, including shell commands. Those snapshots allow a developer to undo the latest turn, return to an earlier step, or rewind to the beginning of a session. Rewinds can themselves be undone. The `--keep-others` option can preserve changes made after the selected point, and watched files outside the project can also be included.

Rules can be configured as guardrails that either block a tool call or require approval before execution. A hash-chained log indicates whether recorded history was edited. Reports can be shared in a privacy mode, while `handoff` summarizes the current state, requested work, and attempts for another agent or person.

The Zerostel MCP server works through integrations supplied by supported agents. Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Copilot CLI, and other listed agents use hooks; opencode and DeepSeek Harness use plugins. For other programs, `zerostel run -- <command>` watches file changes, but does not capture individual tool calls, token counts, or guardrails.

## Setup and configuration

Install with `npx zerostel install`, or install the package globally with `npm install -g zerostel`. The documented prerequisites are Git and Node.js 20 or newer. Releases also provide standalone executables for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Windows, macOS, Linux, and WSL are supported.

A demonstration is available through `npx zerostel demo`; it creates a disposable project and does not alter existing projects. Agent-specific installation can be selected for experimental agents, such as DeepSeek Harness, by naming the agent during installation.

## Tools and capabilities

- `zerostel log` displays the recorded session timeline.
- `zerostel checks` shows whether recorded checks still apply to the current code.
- `zerostel undo` restores files from before the latest agent turn.
- `zerostel rewind 0` returns the project to the session's starting point.
- `zerostel handoff` prepares information for the next agent or developer.
- `zerostel ui` opens the local web interface.
- Guard rules can block or request approval before tool execution.
- Reports and hash-chained logs support review and sharing.

## Limitations and notes

The Zerostel MCP server is not described in the supplied README as a conventional MCP transport or as exposing MCP tool definitions. The documented interface is the Zerostel CLI, local UI, agent hooks, and plugins, so MCP client compatibility cannot be confirmed from this material.

Zerostel is not a sandbox. Network requests, deployments, and database writes cannot be reversed by its file snapshots. Agent integrations also expose different event details: for example, Cursor's CLI does not send prompt events, while Antigravity does not pass prompt text. Unsupported agents can be run under file watching, but with coarser records and without tool-level guardrails.

On Windows, Cursor hooks should be started from PowerShell rather than Git Bash. Gemini CLI integration requires trusted folders. Codex requires one-time approval through `/hooks`. The README lists Node 20, 22, 24, and 26 in CI, but installation requires Node 20 or newer.

_Full upstream README: https://allmcps.com/mcp/zerostel/readme_