The AI Vibe Coding Source Code Recovery Tool is a Web App designed for the Windows Pro/Enterprise Edition IIS Server. It was developed by Clinton Gallagher specifically to restore source code that has been vibe coded.

The tool addresses catastrophic failures common to all vibe coding platforms—looping, crashing, and non-recoverable Fatal Errors that halt coding. These failures cause the AI to lose context, meaning it loses memory of the architecture, chain of reasoning, and structured decisions that defined the project. This results in loss of time and potentially days of work, rendering the project meaningless to the AI that built it.

The mantra is “Save Early. Save Often.” This is the only reliable way to avoid starting over from scratch. Users are encouraged to save the code as an archive every time a bot generates code, because the next generation could trigger a fatal error.

If you use any vibe-coding workflow—including Google AI Studio, Anthropic Claude, ChatGPT, Replit Ghostwriter, or Windsurf—this tool is relevant. As of 2025, these platforms lack essential features such as automatic versioned backups, context snapshot restoration, or a built-in disaster recovery system.

The workflow includes:

1. Launch the recovery tool and drag-and-drop a ZIP file containing a saved instance of the project.
2. The tool parses every file and folder, wraps the source code in prompts, and generates a Master Recovery File.
3. Save the Master Recovery File as a text file (e.g., 2025-NOV-25-ProjectName-MasteryRecoverySourceCode.txt).
4. Upload the text file to your chosen vibe coding platform.
5. Prompt the LLM: “Please parse the upload and build.”

Recovery typically takes less than 15 minutes.

• ZIP Parser: Upload the entire project as a ZIP archive.
• File Segmentation and Classification: Sorts, organizes, and chunks code for LLM consumption.
• Prompt Reconstruction Engine: Converts every file into a clean, structured prompt engineered for vibe coding apps.
• Architecture Preservation: Maintains folder structure, dependencies, naming conventions, and architectural decisions.
• Bumper-Prompt Generation: Supplies the meta instructions needed to rebuild the project exactly as it was.

Yes. The tool is a JavaScript app that was performance-tested with a 20 GB project. It took “all night” to generate the Master Recovery File, but the process completed successfully.

No. If your project contained errors when saved, those errors may prevent restoration when using the same LLM that previously failed. If this happens, simply restore the project using a different LLM such as Claude or AI Studio.

The tool runs as a Web App on a Windows Pro/Enterprise Edition IIS Server. Enable IIS in Windows Features, then deploy the application files to the C:\inetpub\wwwroot directory. Finally, map the app name to 127.0.0.1 in the hosts file located at C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc.

Video documentation is available, including How To Recover From Fatal Errors When Vibe Coding and IIS configuration walkthroughs. You can purchase the full recovery system and additional AI automation tools from clintongallagher.com.