Never Lose an AI Coding Session Again - Introducing JJ AI Workflow

The Problem Every AI Developer Faces

Picture this: You're deep in a coding session with Claude, GitHub Copilot, or another AI assistant. The AI suggests a refactoring. You apply it. Then another suggestion. And another. Suddenly, something breaks.

"Wait, which change caused this? What was the code like three iterations ago?"

Sound familiar?

When working with AI coding assistants, we often make rapid iterations—trying different approaches, experimenting with suggestions, and evolving our code quickly. But this speed comes with a cost: we lose track of what worked and what didn't.

Enter SnapJJ

SnapJJ is a dead-simple automation toolkit that solves this problem. Built on top of Jujutsu (jj)—a powerful Git-compatible version control system—it gives you one-command snapshots of every AI iteration.

Why This Matters

Traditional Git workflows are too heavy for AI pair programming:

git add, git commit for every AI suggestion? Too slow.
Forgetting to commit? You lose valuable iterations.
Complex Git commands? They break your flow.

SnapJJ reduces this to a single command: snap

How It Works

The Two-Command Workflow

Let AI make changes in your editor
Type snap to save that iteration

That's it. Every AI suggestion is now safely tracked.

Real-World Example

# Start working on a new feature
$ ai_start "building user authentication"
🚀 Started AI session: building user authentication

# AI suggests adding a login form
# You implement it, then:
$ snap "added login form"
✅ Snapshotted: added login form

# AI suggests improving validation
# You apply the changes:
$ snap "improved validation logic"
✅ Snapshotted: improved validation logic

# Something breaks! No problem:
$ oops
⚡ Undid last operation

# Want to see your history?
$ back
📚 Recent history:
@  abc123  🤖 AI: improved validation logic
○  def456  🤖 AI: added login form
○  ghi789  🚀 Session: building user authentication

Key Features That Make a Difference

🤖 One-Command Snapshots

No more git add -A && git commit -m "..."
Just snap "what changed" and continue coding.

⚡ Instant Undo

Made a mistake? oops instantly reverts it.
No googling "how to undo last git commit."

🔄 Time Travel

Jump to any previous iteration with ai_goto.
Compare different approaches side-by-side.

📚 AI-Focused History

ai_history shows only your AI sessions.
No clutter, just the iterations that matter.

🍎 Zero Learning Curve

Commands are designed to be memorable:

snap - snapshot changes
oops - undo last action
back - see recent history
ai_what - see current changes

Installation: 3 Minutes to Safety

Step 1: Install Jujutsu

# macOS
brew install jj

# Linux/Windows
cargo install --locked --bin jj jj-cli

Step 2: Run the Setup Script

git clone https://github.com/dimitrimissoh/snapjj
cd snapjj
./setup-jj-ai.sh

Step 3: Start Using It

cd your-project
jj init --git  # Initialize jj (works with existing Git repos!)
ai_start "working with AI"

Why Jujutsu?

You might wonder: why not just use Git aliases?

Jujutsu offers unique advantages:

Automatic tracking: No need to stage files
Powerful undo: Can undo ANY operation, even merges
First-class snapshots: Designed for frequent commits
Git compatible: Works with all your existing tools

Real Developer, Real Benefits

After using SnapJJ for months, I've found it transforms how I work with AI:

More Experimental: I'm not afraid to try wild AI suggestions
Better Learning: I can review what worked and what didn't
Faster Development: No mental overhead about version control
Peace of Mind: Every state is saved automatically

Beyond Basic Usage

The toolkit grows with you:

# Compare two different AI approaches
ai_compare abc123 def456

# Start a new experimental branch
ai_start "trying reactive approach"

# View changes before snapshotting
ai_what

# See only AI-related commits
ai_history

Visual History with GUI Tools

Want to see your AI iterations visually? These tools provide graphical interfaces for Jujutsu:

LazyJJ - A terminal UI similar to lazygit, perfect for keyboard warriors
GG - A full GUI application that beautifully visualizes your branching AI experiments

With these tools, you can see your entire AI collaboration history as a visual graph, making it even easier to jump between different approaches and understand how your code evolved.

Who Is This For?

AI Power Users: If you're using Claude, Copilot, or Cursor daily
Experimenters: Love trying different approaches? This is for you
Safety-First Developers: Never lose working code again
Teams: Share and review AI-assisted development sessions

Getting Started Today

The beauty of SnapJJ is its simplicity. You don't need to change how you work—just add snap to your muscle memory.

Ready to never lose an AI coding session again?

Get SnapJJ on GitHub →

Quick Reference

Command	What it does	When to use it
`snap`	Save current state	After each AI change
`oops`	Undo last action	When something breaks
`back`	View recent history	To see what you've done
`ai_goto`	Jump to specific state	To try a different approach
`ai_what`	Show current changes	Before snapshotting

SnapJJ is open source and available under the MIT license. Contributions welcome!