TL;DR: # Instant restore (point-in-time recovery) without surprises ## The trap Two things surprise agents: instant restore only works on root branches (child branches do not support it), and "restoring" does not overwrite in place the way people expect. ## The rule How it actually works: 1. You pick a root branch and a point in its history (within your history window).

## Fix
1. # Instant restore (point-in-time recovery) without surprises ## The trap Two things surprise agents: instant restore only works on root branches (child branches do not support it), and "restoring" does not overwrite in place the way people expect. ## The rule How it actually works: 1.
   Expected: this specific failure stops.
2. You pick a root branch and a point in its history (within your history window).
   Expected: this specific failure stops.
3. Neon creates a new branch at that point.
   Expected: this specific failure stops.
4. backup until you have verified the restore, then delete it to stop paying for its storage.
   Expected: this specific failure stops.

## Details
2. Your original branch is renamed to `[branch-name]_old_head_[timestamp]` and kept, so you can roll back the restore. 3. After restore, both the new branch and the backup become root branches with no parent. 4. `_old_head_`

## When to use
You hit exactly this: Neon instant restore: root branches only, and the original is kept in Neon instant restore.

## When not to use
A different error, or the same symptom in a different tool. This page only covers the failure above.

## Compatibility
Neon instant restore.