Versions and alternatives

Trying a bold change is easier when you know you can always get back to what worked. That is what History is for. It keeps every version of your Thing, lets you try ideas on the side, and brings back any earlier state in one click.

If you come from CAD or software, this is version control. Turn on Pro terms and History uses the classic words (see Pro terms below).

Versions: a saved moment in time

A version (a commit, with Pro terms) is a snapshot of your whole Thing: the Recipes, Parameters, pieces and Connections. Once a version is saved it never changes, so you can trust it.

You can save one yourself at any time. Open History and use the Save a version box, or press Save version. A name is optional: if you leave it empty, a short name is written for you from the changes, such as "Thickened the lid lip and added a snap latch".

Automatic versions

You don't have to remember to save. Solid Vibes also saves a version on its own at the moments that matter:

• when you accept an AI change (named after it, such as "AI: added a flat base"),
• before an export ("Before export (STL)"),
• before printing, when you make sliced files or send to a printer ("Before printing"),
• before you create a share link ("Before sharing a link"),
• when you leave the editor after a long session with edits, 15 minutes or more ("End of an editing session"), at most once every 30 minutes,
• when you publish to the Marketplace ("Release v1.0").

Nothing is saved when nothing changed since the latest version. Automatic versions look lighter in History, with an Automatic label and a small icon, so the versions you named stand out. See Automatic versions: History that saves itself.

The History tab

History shows a timeline of versions, named and automatic. Each one has a thumbnail and says who saved it, when, and what changed. The time-travel slider lets you scrub across the whole Thing's history and see it as it was.

Every version has two buttons:

• Restore brings that version back as a new, newest version (a revert, with Pro terms). Nothing is deleted: the versions after it stay in History, so you can change your mind again.
• Compare puts that version next to your current design.

Compare: see what changed

Compare shows what changed between a version and your current design:

• a list of the changes in plain words and numbers, such as "Weight 142 g to 118 g" or "Wall 2.4 mm to 1.8 mm",
• on Pro, the two designs in 3D, side by side or overlaid, with removed material in red and added material in green (the visual diff, with Pro terms).

You see what happened to the shape and to the numbers that matter.

Alternatives: try an idea without risk

An alternative (a branch, with Pro terms) is a separate line of versions. You start one, make changes there, and the Main design stays exactly as it was.

Use an alternative when you want to:

• try a bold change ("what if the whole thing were 20 percent lighter?"),
• keep two ideas side by side,
• let the agent make a big, multi-step change before it touches your main design.

There are three ways to start one:

• in History, press Try an alternative,
• press ⌘K (or Ctrl + K) and choose Try an alternative…,
• ask the agent, for example "try a version with thinner walls".

When you ask the agent, it prepares the change and shows a small card with Try it as an alternative. Confirm it, then accept the preview: the change lands on the new alternative and the main design stays as it is.

Alternatives appear in History as their own named lanes, such as "Alternative: thinner walls". While you work on one, the History link in the Thing bar shows the alternative's name, so you always know whether you are on the main design. If an experiment fails, throw the alternative away. The main design never noticed.

Use this alternative

Select an alternative in History to see two more buttons:

• Compare with main design shows what the alternative changed, in numbers and (on Pro) in 3D.
• Use this alternative brings its changes into the main design (a merge, with Pro terms). You see a preview first. If the alternative and the main design changed the same thing, you pick which side to keep.

Like only part of an alternative? Copy this change to the main design on one of its versions takes just that change (a cherry-pick, with Pro terms). Maybe you like the new lid but not the new base.

On Team, you can ask a teammate to check an alternative in 3D before it is used in the main design. See Review requests.

Releases

Release this version marks a version as final with a name like "v1.0 sent to factory". It freezes the geometry, the drawings and the Make list together. Months later, when the factory asks "which revision was that?", you can reopen exactly what you sent. Drawing revisions are tied to releases.

Remix

Public Things can be remixed: copied into your own workspace with their full history, so you can see how they were made and change them. Attribution to the original is automatic. See Find and remix Things from the Marketplace.

Pro terms

Pro terms is one preference for the whole app. Turn it on in Account → Profile, with ⌘K → Use pro terms in the editor, or with the Pro terms button next to the Graph / List switch in History. With it on, History and the agent use the classic words:

The same switch also changes the editor's wording, such as Feature tree for Recipe and BOM for Make list.

Habits that work

1. Keep the main design working. It should always be the version you would be willing to print.
2. Try an alternative before risk. If the next change involves more than a couple of steps, start an alternative first.
3. Name alternatives for the question. "lighter", "no-supports", "metal-version", not "test2".
4. Use alternatives small and often. Alternatives that live for months drift away from the main design and are harder to bring back.
5. Name the versions that matter. Automatic versions catch the rest.
6. Release when you send anything out. The three seconds it takes save hours of confusion.

Agent and history

The agent can use History when you ask: "try a version with thinner walls", "compare this with yesterday", "go back to before I changed the lid". It cannot delete history. Changes are always additions or suppressions that stay visible.

Try an alternative called lighter. Reduce the weight by at least 20 percent without changing the mounting holes or the overall size.

Try it

On the L-bracket template:

Try a version with a 6 mm thick vertical leg, as an alternative called thicker. Then compare it with the main design and tell me the weight change.

Look at the changes and the numbers, and then decide: Use this alternative, or throw it away.