← Tuesday, September 29, 2026Languages & toolsDeep dive

Neovim caused Vim persistent-undo files to be deleted

unsung.aresluna.org 3 min read Editor score 6/10

The piece links Neovim to deletion of Vim undo files, despite persistent undo helping users recover edits across reboots and major version upgrades. Developers building tools should care about changes that risk user data.

What
Vim persistent undo preserves a file's undo history across crashes, restarts, and later editing sessions.
How
NeoVim changed the undo-file format, then deleted an existing Vim undo file and replaced it with one Vim could not read.
Why it matters
Persistent files can contain valuable user data; software that alters or deletes them without care can lose users' work.

Discussion

Discussion is not switched on yet. Use Note above to keep your own thoughts on this story.

Headline, summary, brief and diagram are written by a model from the source's own text; the link, byline and numbers come from the source. Read the original before relying on a claim.

Your note

Private to you. Stored in this browser, and synced to your account when you are signed in.