SpecStory captures AI coding conversations; its separate RunStory product tests workflows affected by coding-agent changes and is in private alpha. ShardStitch rebuilds local project state for recovery and cross-tool continuation when a session is no longer reliable.
Quick answer: Choose SpecStory when your priority is a searchable Markdown archive of AI conversations. Choose ShardStitch when you need an actionable handoff containing git state, dependency risk, project memory, and the next safe step across native integrations plus web handoff. The archive is evidence; the verified continuation packet is the recovery state.
A transcript archive is not a recovery state.
SpecStory has two related but separate jobs. Its extension and CLI save supported coding-agent conversations as local Markdown; its Cloud product adds searchable history, project organization, and optional sync. A searchable transcript helps recover what was said, but the current repository can change after that capture.
RunStory is a separate product in private alpha. Its official overview says it uses prompts and code changes to choose workflows, exercises the software in a separate environment, reports failures with evidence to the coding agent, and can repeat the workflow to verify a fix. SpecStory itself explicitly distinguishes saving a conversation from testing the software.
ShardStitch addresses a third boundary: reconstructing the current task from project evidence such as the diff, changed files, commits, notes, and verification state, then preparing a continuation for the same or another AI tool. These products can complement one another; a transcript archive, a test agent, and a repository-derived recovery packet are not interchangeable.
SpecStory preserves the story of the work: prompts, responses, decisions, and code shown in the conversation. ShardStitch starts from the state the next AI must safely act on: the current git diff, branch, recent commits, changed files, dependency impact, dangerous nodes, persistent project memory, notes, and continuation intent.
A transcript can explain why a change happened. A recovery packet must also explain what is currently true on disk and what the next tool should do with it.
How they compare.
Workflow
SpecStory
RunStory
ShardStitch
Primary job
Capture, search, reuse, and share coding-agent conversations
Exercise software behavior changed by an agent; private alpha
Recover interrupted work and hand it to the next coding session
What it works from
Prompts, decisions, and session history saved by supported tools
Task intent plus code changes and workflows tested in a separate environment
Current local project evidence: Git state, files, notes, and available session traces
Output
Markdown history, searchable Cloud sessions, and derived skills on eligible plans
Reproducible failure evidence sent back to the coding agent
A trust-labeled continuation packet and next action
Best fit
Find or preserve what an agent said
Check what a code change actually does
Continue safely when the prior session is stale, unavailable, or moving tools
Product state
Extensions, CLI, and Cloud are publicly documented
Private alpha; docs say setup access is still expanding
Available as a local-first recovery product
History is not the next move.
SpecStory can tell you what the agent said. ShardStitch checks what the project became, separates verified facts from inference, and tells the next agent what to do safely.
If the transcript and disk disagree, disk wins. A recovery product must enforce that rule; an archive does not.
Which should you choose?
Choose SpecStory if
Your main problem is losing AI conversation history, searching old decisions, creating a git-friendly intent archive, or sharing selected sessions with a team.
Choose ShardStitch if
Your main problem is a dead or exhausted session, switching among more tools, recovering the live repository state, or warning the next AI about dependency risk.
Failure verdict.
SpecStory preserves the conversation. ShardStitch reconstructs the current continuation state. The archive loses authority the moment the working tree changes after capture; ShardStitch begins from that current evidence.
· SpecStory is an independent product and trademark of its respective owner. This comparison reflects publicly documented behavior and may change as either product evolves.