What is backstory?

Backstory is a command line tool that keeps a record of why an AI coding assistant made the decisions it made, not just what code it changed. Regular version control like Git shows you the final code and a short commit message, but it does not explain what alternatives the AI considered or rejected, or which past decision a new change might undo. The tool connects to Claude Code, a coding assistant, through a hook that runs automatically when a coding session ends. It copies the conversation transcript, then extracts the lasting decisions, risks, and files that were touched, and throws away the raw conversation itself. That extracted information is linked to the specific Git commit it relates to, so later you can ask why a particular commit, file, or even a single line of code exists, and get back the reasoning that led to it. One of its stronger features is contradiction detection. When a new code change looks like it reverses an earlier recorded decision, Backstory warns you before the change is merged, turning the stored history into something closer to a safety check rather than just an archive nobody reads. Everything runs locally on your own machine. Nothing is sent to a cloud service, no usage data is collected, and the raw AI conversation is never kept, only the extracted summary. It also scans for and removes API keys or other secrets before saving anything. Installing it takes one command through Python's package installer, then a setup command inside the project you want to track. Right now it works automatically with Claude Code, with support for other coding assistants like Cursor and Codex listed as planned. The stored information is saved as readable markdown files inside a hidden folder in your project, so it stays with your codebase and is easy to inspect. The project is released under the MIT license.