Otto changed or wiped out a file you wrote: undo the last run, and what to do when undo cannot help

Modified on Tue, 4 Aug at 6:33 PM

You open a file you built yourself and your work is not there. Maybe it is gutted to a one-line stub. Maybe what you saw was 119 real lines replaced, uncommitted. Maybe you found it a week later on your own and the only thought in your head is Otto overwrote my script, or my file got wiped, or it deleted my work. However you got here, the question is the same: how do I get my file back. This article gives you the honest answer. It is good news if the damage was the run that just finished, better news if you are on a current build, and blunt news if the file was lost on an older one.

Start here: which of the three are you in

The run that just finished made a mess, and nothing has run since. Use Undo last run on the Activity view. That is the second section below.
A run tried to change a file you wrote, and you are on v1.11.13 or newer. Unless it was a note or a plain text file, it was refused before it happened and nothing was lost. The next section explains what you saw.
The file was already changed or emptied, on an older build or by something other than Otto. There is no automatic way to bring it back. Read If the file is already gone at the end, and read it before you run anything else.

The protection that exists now

Since 25 July 2026, in v1.11.13 and every build after it, the app carries a safety guard that refuses to let a run overwrite a file that already exists inside your Booking HQ and that Otto did not create. It is not a warning and not a preference. The write is stopped before it happens, at every involvement level, including Run it, and there is no setting that turns it off. The guard was sharpened again in v1.11.23 so Otto can still maintain the files he built himself, while the files you made by hand stop him cold.

When it fires, this is word for word what Otto is told, and what he will relay to you: Blocked: changing an existing file the performer made is never automatic. Otto can freely update files it created itself; this one it did not. Ask the performer to make this change, or have Otto rename the original out of the way and write a fresh file.

That is the case customers describe as the assistant replaced my file with a test line, and it is the reason it should not happen to you again. If you are on an older build, update the app. That single step is worth more than everything else in this article.

Three honest limits on the guard, so you know exactly what it covers:

Creating a brand new file is still Otto's to do. He records it as his own at that moment, which is what lets him keep his own work current later without the guard mistaking it for yours.
Notes and plain text files are the exception. Otto is allowed to keep those up to date, so a note you typed by hand can still be rewritten by a run, and your notes folder sits outside undo as well. If a note matters to you, keep a copy of it somewhere else.
It covers the ordinary ways Otto writes and edits files. It is a safety floor, not a sealed vault.

Undo last run: where it is and what it puts back

Open Activity. The button sits above the conversation, beside the Chat and Power view switch.
Wait for the run to finish. Undo last run only appears in the status line once a run has ended and there is something to put back.
Tap Undo last run. It arms itself and changes to Confirm undo.
Tap Confirm undo. Nothing is undone until you do.

The two taps are deliberate. A single stray click can never throw away a run's work.

What it puts back: the folders a run writes into, exactly as they were the moment before that run started. It is careful about you, too. If you edited something yourself after the run finished, undo keeps your newer edit rather than stomping on it.

What undo does not reverse

This is the part that catches people out, so it is worth being plain about.

It only covers the folders a run writes into: your leads, your Brain, and the working notes Otto files as he goes. Everything else you keep in your Booking HQ sits outside undo on purpose, because your own files are not the app's to roll back. That is protection on every ordinary day, and it is exactly why undo cannot rescue a script or a spreadsheet you built yourself.
It reaches the last run, not last week. Only the last few runs are held as snapshots, and undo is offered one run at a time starting from the most recent. If the damage happened days ago, there is nothing left for it to reverse.
It cannot un-send anything. The app says so on the button itself: Puts files changed by the last run back while preserving newer edits. It can't un-send anything that already went out. Once an email or a message has left, no software can reach into someone's inbox and take it back. That is why sends wait for your approval in the first place.

Putting an undone run back

Undo is itself reversible. If you roll a run back and then decide it was fine after all, Put undone run back appears in the same spot on the Activity view. Tap it and the run's changes come back.

If the file is already gone

Here is the blunt part. There is no built-in version history for the files in your Booking HQ. The app does not keep a running record of how each of your files looked yesterday, and there is no command, no sentence to Otto, and no hidden menu that walks one file back to an earlier version. If you have been told to restore from git, or you saw words like that somewhere, do not build your plan on them: it is not something the app does for you, and asking for it will not bring your file back. If undo cannot reach it and you have no backup of your own, the old contents cannot be recovered from inside the app. We would rather tell you that today than let you spend a week hoping.

What to do, in this order:

Stop running things. Turn off Autopilot and do not start another play. Every further run is another chance for something to be written over the top of what is left.
Do not re-run the job that looked broken. In the case this article came from, a second job was already collecting the same leads independently, so nothing was actually being missed. A hasty re-run would have brought every one of those leads in a second time. Ask Otto what else touches the same records before you press anything.
Check whether you have a backup of your own. If you set up Back up my data under Settings > Runs on its own, then Settings > Restore a backup can bring that copy back. Know what you are doing before you click it: it replaces the whole Booking HQ with the contents of the backup, so everything you did after that backup goes with it. Your current Booking HQ is copied and kept beside the restored one first, so nothing is destroyed outright. It is still far too blunt an instrument for one damaged file.
Open a ticket. Give us the file name, roughly when you think it changed, and what the file did. Switching on Support logging under Settings and then tapping Generate Support Bundle helps too. None of that brings your file back. It is how we work out what wrote over it, and how we stop the next person losing one.
Ask Otto to rebuild it. If nothing brings the original back, describe in your own words what the file used to do and he can write a fresh one. That is slower than a restore and it is not the same file, but it is a real answer rather than a shrug.

How you would find out in the first place

Nothing in the app watches your files for damage. There is no monitor comparing today's files against yesterday's. So if the morning briefing said my script was gutted is how you discovered it, that was Otto noticing while he happened to be working in there and writing it into what he reported back. It is a lucky catch, not a guarantee, and you should not wait to be told. If a file matters to your business, keep your own copy of it outside the Booking HQ, and turn on Back up my data under Settings > Runs on its own so there is always something to fall back to.

Still stuck

If undo is not offered, or it ran and the file is still wrong, submit a ticket from this help center with the file name, roughly when it changed, and your app version. Tell us if you have a backup. We will tell you honestly whether there is a route back rather than sending you round in circles.