I Wanted to Know Every Time a File Changed in My Project. So I Built a Recorder.

#productivity #showdev #sideprojects #tooling

The scenario is simple. You are deep in a development session. Multiple files are changing — some by you, some by scripts, some by AI tools. Then something breaks. A file you did not expect to change has different content. Or a file is just gone.

You check Git. The change was never committed. You check your editor. The undo history does not go back far enough. You check Time Machine. The last backup was an hour ago.

You have no record of what happened.

CodeFootprint

CodeFootprint is a Mac app that solves this. You select a folder to monitor, and it records every change to your text and code files:

Full diffs for every edit
Deleted file content preserved
Precise timestamps
All stored locally on your machine

The Key Insight

Git tracks what you choose to commit. Time Machine backs up on a schedule. CodeFootprint records every change, instantly, automatically, regardless of the source.

It does not replace either of them. It fills the gap between them.

Built for Developers Who Use AI

When you work with multiple AI tools, context gets lost between sessions. CodeFootprint lets you export trace files — structured change histories you can share with your next AI tool so it knows exactly what happened before.