# \[DATA LOSS\] Session history permanently destroyed after unclean shutdown — no self-recovery mechanism **URL:** \ **Category:** Google Antigravity\ **Tags:** bug\ **Created:** [April 20, 2026, 4:47am UTC](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/t/data-loss-session-history-permanently-destroyed-after-unclean-shutdown-no-self-recovery-mechanism/141266 "2026-04-20T04:47:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nav\_Vaidhyanathan](https://d1dlmcr85iqnpo.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/discuss.ai.google.dev/nav_vaidhyanathan/32/116597_2.png) [@Nav\_Vaidhyanathan](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/u/Nav_Vaidhyanathan)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 4:47am UTC](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/t/data-loss-session-history-permanently-destroyed-after-unclean-shutdown-no-self-recovery-mechanism/141266/1 "2026-04-20T04:47:41Z")
Updated Bug Report: as of April 20, 2026 10:23AM EST Bug Report: Session History Gap After Crash ## Title **[DATA LOSS][P1] Sessions disappeared from sidebar after abrupt system restart — data files intact on disk** * * * ## Summary After an abrupt macOS system restart (kernel-level power event, not a clean shutdown), ~35 conversation sessions spanning an 8-day window disappeared from the Antigravity sidebar. Sessions older than 10 days and sessions created after the restart are visible. The underlying conversation data files (`.pb`) and annotation metadata (`.pbtxt`) are **fully intact** on disk — the sessions are simply not being listed in the UI. ## Environment - **Antigravity version** : Latest (as of April 2026) - **OS** : macOS 15.x, Apple Silicon - **Workspace** : Single-folder workspace ## Root Cause Analysis (Reverse-Engineered from Source) ### What I investigated 1. **`chat.ChatSessionStore.index` in `state.vscdb`** — Initially suspected as the root cause. After reverse-engineering the source code in `workbench.desktop.main.js` (specifically the `SBn` class, `Hti` constant, `_ca` entry builder, and `$ad` validator), I determined this index is used by VS Code’s built-in chat system, **not** the Antigravity Agent Manager sidebar. This index is empty across ALL workspace storage databases (not just the affected workspace), confirming it’s irrelevant to the Antigravity session listing. 2. **Annotation files (`~/.gemini/antigravity/annotations/*.pbtxt`)** — Text protobuf files keyed by conversation UUID. All missing sessions have intact annotation files containing correct titles and `last_user_view_time` timestamps. 3. **Conversation files (`~/.gemini/antigravity/conversations/*.pb`)** — All `.pb` files for the missing sessions exist with correct sizes (ranging 0.3–31 MB each). File integrity appears intact. 4. **Language server binary** (`language_server_macos_arm`, ~89 MB Go binary) — This is the actual component that manages the session list shown in the sidebar. It references `conversations/` in its string table and handles all session I/O. ### Probable root cause The Go language server maintains a session index (likely in-memory or synced server-side) that was **partially corrupted or lost** during the abrupt shutdown. On restart, it recovered sessions from two sources: - **Server-side/cloud sync** : Older sessions (10+ days) that had been fully synced to the backend - **Active session creation** : New sessions created post-restart Sessions that existed **only in the local index cache** (the 8-day gap window) were dropped from the listing mechanism, despite their data files remaining physically intact on disk. ### Evidence | Component | Status | Location | | --- | --- | --- | | Conversation data (.pb) | ✅ All files intact | `~/.gemini/antigravity/conversations/` | | Annotation metadata (.pbtxt) | ✅ All files intact, titles present | `~/.gemini/antigravity/annotations/` | | Brain artifacts (walkthroughs, plans, etc.) | ✅ All directories intact | `~/.gemini/antigravity/brain/` | | VS Code `ChatSessionStore.index` | ❌ Empty — but confirmed **irrelevant** | `workspaceStorage/*/state.vscdb` | | Sidebar session listing | ❌ ~35 sessions missing from 8-day window | Managed by Go language server | ## Reproduction Steps 1. Have an active Antigravity workspace with 50+ conversation sessions spanning multiple days 2. Experience an abrupt system restart (kernel panic, power loss, forced reboot — NOT a clean shutdown) 3. Relaunch Antigravity 4. Observe: sidebar shows sessions from 10+ days ago and newly created sessions, but sessions from the intermediate ~8-day window are gone 5. Verify: the `.pb` and `.pbtxt` files for missing sessions still exist on disk ## Expected Behavior All sessions with intact `.pb` files in `~/.gemini/antigravity/conversations/` should be visible in the sidebar after restart, regardless of crash conditions. ## Requested Fix 1. **Recovery** : Add a re-discovery mechanism to the language server that scans `conversations/*.pb` and cross-references `annotations/*.pbtxt` on startup, re-registering any sessions that exist on disk but are missing from the active session index 2. **Preventive** : Implement crash-safe session index persistence (e.g., WAL-mode SQLite, fsync before acknowledgment) so the local index survives abnormal termination 3. **User-facing** : Provide a “Rebuild Session Index” command (or equivalent) that triggers manual re-scanning of the conversations directory ## Workaround None available. The data files are intact but there is no user-accessible mechanism to trigger re-discovery of orphaned sessions. * * * _Technical analysis performed via source code reverse-engineering of `workbench.desktop.main.js` (ChatSessionStore class), the Antigravity extension (`extension.js`), and filesystem forensics of the `~/.gemini/antigravity/` directory structure._ * * * ## Summary After an abrupt computer restart, all session history in Google Antigravity’s sidebar is permanently lost. There is no recovery mechanism — restarting the app and computer does not restore sessions. ## Environment - **OS** : macOS (Apple Silicon) - **Model** : Claude Opus 4.6 (Thinking) - **Sessions affected** : 100+ conversations ## Root Cause (Diagnosed) The session sidebar index is stored in a SQLite database: ~/Library/Application Support/Antigravity/User/globalStorage/state.vscdb **Table** : `ItemTable` - **Key** : `chat.ChatSessionStore.index` - **Current value** : `{"version":1,"entries":{}}` — empty (26 bytes) The abrupt restart caused this index to be flushed with an empty object. The `.backup` file (`state.vscdb.backup`) was also created AFTER the crash, so it contains the same empty index. Meanwhile, ALL conversation data remains intact on disk: - 100 `.pb` protobuf files in `~/.gemini/antigravity/conversations/` (~400 MB) - 106 brain directories with artifacts in `~/.gemini/antigravity/brain/` The app simply cannot see them because its sidebar index is empty. ## Impact - **Complete loss** of sidebar navigation to all historical sessions - **No automatic recovery** — the app does not rebuild the index from `.pb` files - **Backup is useless** — `state.vscdb.backup` was written post-crash - **Affects all users** who experience any unclean shutdown (power loss, kernel panic, forced reboot) ## Expected Behavior On startup, if `chat.ChatSessionStore.index` has zero entries but `.pb` files exist in the conversations directory, the app should rebuild / re-index automatically. ## Suggested Fix 1. On startup, detect empty index + existing `.pb` files → trigger re-index 2. Write `state.vscdb.backup` BEFORE modifying the primary, not after 3. Use WAL (write-ahead log) or journaling for crash-safe writes to the session index ## Workaround Currently none. Sessions are gone from the UI permanently. The data exists on disk but is invisible to the app.