Reinstate limitations and stable-platform boundaries

Reinstate v0.5.1 is a pre-1.0 continuity layer with configless local session indexing, encrypted same-vendor Claude Code and Codex session sync, verified resume, structured handoff into a new destination session, and universal agent coverage across the support-tier catalog. It is not a cross-agent translator, repository synchronizer, remote desktop, coding harness, or universal agent configuration system.

Stable platform boundary: exact v0.5.1 installed artifacts passed dual-platform tagged-artifact acceptance on Apple Silicon macOS and native Windows x64. Intel macOS and Linux/WSL2 are preview and unverified. This page does not convert installer availability into a stable platform claim.

Prerequisites

Before evaluating Reinstate, record the exact Reinstate version, agent version, operating system, architecture, storage provider, and transfer direction. Check the live compatibility matrix and keep independent backups.

Treat every limitation below as applying to Reinstate unless a later changelog and compatibility update explicitly replaces it. Repository roadmap items are direction, not current CLI syntax or support.

Current support boundary

Versions outside the tested stable ranges, including prereleases, are UNTESTED. Recognizable untested sessions may be discovered read-only, but push and restore fail closed with compatibility exit code 5. Phase 1 has no unsafe compatibility override.

Native resume is same-vendor only

Reinstate preserves each supported vendor’s native representation. It does not make a Claude Code transcript natively resumable in Codex or a Codex rollout natively resumable in Claude Code. Stable v0.5.1 structured handoff starts a new destination session with a visible, lossy projection. Reconstructed conversations are not shipped.

Reinstate also does not call vendor agent APIs, execute sessions, schedule agents, provide an editor or terminal, or replace Claude Code and Codex.

The development environment is not synchronized

Phase 1 does not transfer:

• Git commits, branches, worktrees, uncommitted files, or repository hosting;
• dependencies, build outputs, virtual environments, containers, or runtimes;
• shell history, environment variables, running processes, or terminal state;
• MCP servers, skills, instructions, hooks, plugins, marketplaces, or settings;
• Anthropic or OpenAI accounts, logins, OAuth tokens, or API credentials.

Prepare the repository and authenticate the same vendor independently on the destination. A restored session can carry assumptions about a branch, commit, dependency, tool, or service that is absent there. Automatic environment fingerprinting and repair are roadmap work.

Path remapping is structural, not semantic

Adapters normalize recognized structural paths with ${HOME}, ${REPO:<id>}, and configured work-root tokens, then expand them through the destination mapping. Unknown fields, arbitrary prose, prompts, tool output, and path-like strings inside transcript text are left unchanged.

The same canonical project ID must map to the correct local root on every device. Native Windows and WSL2 are distinct devices and must not share one agent-state directory. A bad or missing mapping can prevent native discovery even when bytes transfer successfully.

Full snapshots, manual commands, and conflicts

Reinstate transfers complete immutable session snapshots. Append-aware deltas, chunking, retention controls, garbage collection, and continuous background sync are not current features. Large Codex rollouts can therefore take longer, and --all can select more data than intended.

There is no semantic transcript merge. When the same session diverges, Reinstate records a conflict and requires an explicit --keep-local, --keep-remote, or --keep-both resolution. Conditional manifest updates, local backups, and conflict forks reduce overwrite risk; they do not replace an independent backup and recovery plan.

Storage and availability limits

Current status, diff, push, and pull require the configured remote manifest and its passphrase. Phase 2 sessions, search, and inspect use a private local derived index and require no backend. Reinstate does not operate a hosted storage service or recover a provider account.

Storage compatibility depends on S3 object operations, conditional request semantics, credentials, region/endpoint correctness, availability, lifecycle rules, and quota. Phase 1 has no built-in retention UI or remote snapshot deletion command. Removing a referenced object through provider tooling can make a session unrestorable.

Security and privacy limits

• The passphrase is not stored and cannot be recovered. Losing it means losing access to existing remote ciphertext.
• Hard exclusions block known credential artifacts, but a secret printed or pasted into ordinary transcript text remains inside the encrypted snapshot.
• Plaintext necessarily exists on trusted local machines during native use and restore; a compromised local OS is outside the threat model.
• Object storage can observe access timing, size, bucket and endpoint metadata, and opaque object keys even though payloads are encrypted.
• Source availability and checksums are not a formal independent security audit. No formal audit is claimed for pre-1.0.
• Local backups contain plaintext vendor session files protected by local filesystem permissions.

Never treat encrypted transcript storage as permission to include production secrets in agent conversations.

Expected evidence

A supported Reinstate workflow should provide all of the following:

• rein setup check reports the selected adapter as SUPPORTED;
• a scoped push dry-run and pull dry-run each plan one explicit session;
• object storage contains ciphertext-only manifest and snapshot objects;
• the destination plan uses the correct local project root;
• a mutating restore backs up an existing target and is rediscovered by the adapter; and
• the same vendor’s native resume command opens the exact restored session.

Missing evidence leaves the corresponding platform, version, storage, or resume claim unverified. A successful synthetic test is not a physical two-device acceptance result.

Failure paths

• Start with troubleshooting for installation, mapping, passphrase, manifest, conflict, large-session, transcript-secret, and active-agent failures.
• Check compatibility before reporting an untested or unsupported agent version as a defect.
• Use a private security report for exclusion bypass, plaintext remote storage, or another vulnerability.
• Use the changelog to confirm whether a later release has changed a stated boundary.

Do not work around a safety or compatibility refusal by manually moving vendor files, weakening credential exclusions, inventing an empty manifest, or claiming a roadmap command exists.

Security boundaries

Reinstate protects selected session transport with local encryption, credential exclusions, authenticated artifacts, conditional updates, private backups, and atomic restore. Users still own endpoint trust, bucket policy, credential lifecycle, passphrase strength, local-machine security, repository preparation, transcript sensitivity, provider retention, and backup recovery.

The product is independent of Anthropic and OpenAI. Local adapter compatibility does not imply vendor partnership, endorsement, account access, or a guarantee that a future vendor release will preserve its current file layout.

Related pages

• Review the exact compatibility matrix
• Understand the security model
• Inspect the architecture and roadmap boundaries
• Compare Reinstate with adjacent workflows
• Review release changes and open gates