Code Reverting in VS Code? How to Fix Disappearing Code

Here's the thing about coding: you get into a flow state, the hours blur, & you're making REAL progress. Your fingers are flying across the keyboard, you’ve manually tweaked a dozen files, & you’ve finally cracked that impossible bug. Then, you save, switch a tab, or maybe just breathe wrong, & POOF. Your changes are gone. Reverted. Undone. It’s like a digital ghost just walked through your code & reset it to what it was an hour ago.

If this sounds familiar, you're not going crazy. This is a surprisingly common & deeply frustrating problem that many developers face. Often, the culprit is an overly aggressive caching system somewhere in your development stack. It could be your IDE, a plugin, or even the fancy new AI code assistant you’ve started using.

Honestly, it’s enough to make you want to go back to coding in Notepad. But don’t worry, we can fix this. I’ve been down this rabbit hole myself, & I’ve come out the other side with a bunch of solutions. We're going to dig into why this happens & what you can do about it, especially if you're working with tools like VS Code & AI assistants like Claude.

Part 1: The First Place to Look - VS Code's Overenthusiastic Caching

Before you blame the new AI overlords, let's start with the most common suspect: Visual Studio Code itself. VS Code is an amazing editor, but it caches a TON of stuff to keep things running fast. This is usually a good thing, but sometimes that cache can get corrupted or out of sync, leading to all sorts of weird behavior, including files seemingly reverting to older versions.

Turns out, VS Code has several caches, & clearing them out is often the magic bullet you need. It’s like the classic “have you tried turning it off & on again?” but for your code editor.

The Different Flavors of VS Code Cache

You don't just have one cache to worry about; you have a few. Here are the main ones you should know about:

Extension Cache: Every extension you install can create its own cache. If one of these gets wonky, it can cause some seriously strange issues that you’d never think to trace back to an extension.
Workspace Storage: This holds data specific to your project folders. It remembers things like your open tabs & UI state, but it can also hold onto old file versions if things go sideways.
User Data Cache: This is where VS Code keeps more general data, like your settings & keybindings. While less likely to cause file reversion, a corrupted
1settings.json
can lead to unexpected behavior.
Extension Host Cache & CachedData: These are more general-purpose caches that VS Code uses to keep things snappy.

How to Nuke the Cache (The Right Way)

Okay, so how do you actually clear these things out? It’s pretty straightforward once you know where to look. Here’s a quick guide for different operating systems.

First, CLOSE VS CODE COMPLETELY. This is important. You can’t clean a house while people are still running around in it.

On Windows:

Navigate to
1C:\Users\<YourUsername>\AppData\Roaming\Code
Inside this folder, you’ll see folders like
1Cache
,
1CachedData
, &
1User
.
You can be surgical & just delete the contents of
1Cache
&
1CachedData
, or you can be more aggressive if the problem persists.

On macOS:

Open Finder, go to the "Go" menu, & select "Go to Folder...".
Type in
1~/Library/Application Support/Code
Same as on Windows, you’ll find
1Cache
,
1CachedData
, & other folders you can clear out.

On Linux:

Head to
1~/.config/Code
You'll find the same cache folders there.

A Word of Caution: Deleting these folders is generally safe, as VS Code will recreate them when you restart it. However, if you delete things from the

User

folder, you might lose your custom settings, so be a bit more careful in there. Maybe just start with

Cache

CachedData

first.

Restart VS Code after you've done the cleanup. A lot of the time, this simple step alone will solve the problem. You'd be surprised how often a stale cache is the root of all evil.

Part 2: Is Your AI Coding Buddy Undermining You?

So you’ve cleared your VS Code cache, & you’re still seeing your manual work get overwritten. Now it’s time to look at your plugins & assistants, especially the AI-powered ones. Tools like GitHub Copilot & Anthropic's Claude are becoming indispensable, but they also add another layer of complexity.

Here’s the thing: these AI assistants are constantly interacting with your files. They read your code, suggest changes, & sometimes, their integration with the IDE can get a little… confused.

The Case of "Claude Code" & Prompt Caching

Let's talk specifically about Claude, since it's a popular one. Anthropic has been rolling out "Claude Code," which includes IDE extensions for VS Code. These are SUPER powerful & can feel like you have a senior developer pair-programming with you.

Anthropic also has a feature called "prompt caching." Now, when developers hear "caching," they immediately get suspicious, & for good reason. However, Claude's prompt caching is probably not the culprit in the way you think. It's not designed to cache your files; it's designed to cache the prompts you send to the AI to save you money on API calls.

For example, if you feed a large document to Claude & then ask it multiple questions about that document, prompt caching can store the initial document. This way, you're not paying to resend the whole thing with every follow-up question. It has some limitations, though, like a short 5-minute lifespan if it's not being used, which makes it great for batch processing but less so for a casual chat.

So, while Claude’s prompt caching itself is unlikely to be reverting your files, the integration of the Claude Code extension with VS Code could still be a factor. There have been GitHub issues raised by the community about how the Claude extension interacts with VS Code, including caching behavior & file handling. It’s a complex dance between the IDE, the extension, & the AI model.

The takeaway here isn’t that AI assistants are bad, but that you need to be aware of how they work. If you suspect an extension is the problem, try disabling it temporarily to see if the issue goes away. It’s a classic troubleshooting step for a reason.

While we're on the topic of AI transforming workflows, it's pretty cool to see how this technology is branching out. In the same way that Claude helps developers be more efficient, businesses are using other AI tools to streamline their operations. For example, a lot of companies are now turning to platforms like Arsturn to build their own custom AI chatbots. These bots are trained on the company's own data, so they can provide instant customer support, answer specific questions about products, & engage with website visitors 24/7. It’s all about using AI to create more efficient & personalized experiences, whether you're writing code or helping a customer.

Part 3: The Salesforce Scenario - A Hard Lesson in Workflow

Sometimes, the problem isn't a bug in your tools but a flaw in your workflow. This is especially true when you're working in a team environment. The world of Salesforce development offers a PERFECT example of this.

A common complaint among Salesforce developers using the Force.com IDE is that if two developers work on the same Apex class at the same time, the last person to save wins, completely overwriting the other person's work without any warning. Sound familiar?

This isn't really a "caching" problem in the traditional sense. It's a synchronization problem. The IDE tries to keep your local files in sync with the Salesforce org, but there's a window of time between when it checks for changes & when you save, where another developer can sneak in a change.

The Real Fix: Version Control IS NOT Optional

The solution here isn't to find some magic setting in the IDE. The solution is to adopt a professional development workflow. Here are the two key components:

Use a Source Code Repository (like Git): This is non-negotiable for any serious development work. Instead of saving your code directly to the live environment, you save it to a repository. Git is the industry standard. It tracks every single change, tells you when there's a conflict (i.e., when you & another developer have changed the same lines of code), & gives you tools to merge those changes together intelligently. It’s your safety net. If code gets overwritten, you can easily see what happened & roll it back.
Adopt a Modern Development Methodology (like Salesforce DX): The Salesforce community has moved towards Salesforce DX for this very reason. It encourages a source-driven development model. The repository (your Git repo) is the single source of truth, not the Salesforce org. You work in isolated "scratch orgs" (temporary environments), & then you merge your changes back into the main repository before deploying them. This prevents the "wild west" of everyone editing the live code at the same time.

This lesson applies far beyond Salesforce. If you're working on a team & you're not using version control, you are GOING to overwrite each other's work. It's not a matter of if, but when.

Part 4: Your Action Plan - A Checklist for Fixing the Problem

Alright, we’ve covered a lot of ground. Let’s boil it all down into a practical checklist you can follow the next time your code pulls a disappearing act.

Step 1: Start with a Clean Slate

Close VS Code completely.
Locate & clear your VS Code cache folders:
1Cache
&
1CachedData
are the main ones.
Restart VS Code & see if the problem is gone. This is often the quickest fix.

Step 2: Isolate the Variable

Disable your extensions one by one, starting with any AI code assistants or other complex plugins. Restart VS Code after each one. If the problem stops, you've found your culprit.
Check the settings for the problematic extension. There might be a configuration option related to caching or file watching that you can tweak.
Look for updates for both VS Code & your extensions. The bug you're experiencing might have been fixed in a recent release.

Step 3: Audit Your Workflow

Are you using version control? If not, stop what you're doing & learn the basics of Git. This is the single most important thing you can do to protect your work. Seriously.
If you're on a team, are you all following an agreed-upon workflow? Do you have a clear process for merging changes & deploying code?
Think about file-watching services. Tools like Prettier, linters, or build processes can sometimes be configured to run automatically on save. A misconfiguration here could potentially revert changes.

Step 4: Dig Deeper into Your Tools

Understand the caching mechanisms of your specific tools. For example, we learned that Claude's prompt caching is for API calls, not for local file versions. Knowing this saves you from barking up the wrong tree.
Engage with the community. Check the GitHub issues page for your IDE extensions or tools. Chances are, someone else has faced the same problem & there might be an ongoing discussion or a known workaround.

This whole process of improving workflows with technology is fascinating. When you're bogged down by issues like aggressive caching, it's a huge drag on productivity. That's why streamlining is so important. And it’s why so many businesses are looking at tools like Arsturn. They help companies build no-code AI chatbots that are trained on their own data. This means you can create a personalized customer experience, boost conversions, & free up your team to focus on bigger things. It’s all part of the same trend: using smart automation to make things work better.

Hope this was helpful!

Dealing with disappearing code is one of the most maddening experiences a developer can have. It feels like you're fighting against your own tools. But hopefully, you now have a much clearer idea of what might be going on behind the scenes & a solid plan for how to tackle it.

It usually boils down to one of three things: a confused cache in your IDE, a misbehaving extension, or a workflow that needs a bit of a tune-up with proper version control. By working through the steps methodically, you can almost always track down the source of the problem & get back to a stable, predictable coding environment.

Let me know what you think. Have you run into this before? What ended up being the fix for you? Sharing our war stories is how we all get better.