Prevent modifications using the multi-file editor from being lost

People can be hesitant to use web based editors because browsers crash, internet connections occur, and server side errors happen. These can cause significant amounts of work to vanish. Losing even 15 minutes of careful work can be very frustrating. The multi-file editor encourages people to make larger and more complex modifications across multiple files, it is important they feel confident these changes won't be lost easily.

Proposal

  • Save modifications in local storage so that changes can be recovered if the browser crashes

Out of scope:

  • In future this could be used to allow users to begin editing immediately while the full web IDE is being spun up. Features link the web terminal wouldn't be available immediately, but getting started immediately would be very significant.

Links / references

Documentation blurb

Overview

What is it? Why should someone use this feature? What is the underlying (business) problem? How do you use this feature?

Use cases

Who is this for? Provide one or more use cases.

Feature checklist

Make sure these are completed before closing the issue, with a link to the relevant commit.