auto-save-visited-local-mode

A buffer-local alternative to Emacs's built-in auto-save-visited-mode.

Description

auto-save-visited-local-mode provides automatic saving of file-visiting buffers on a per-buffer basis, unlike the global auto-save-visited-mode. This allows you to enable auto-saving for specific buffers without affecting your entire Emacs session.

Features

• Buffer-local: Only affects the current buffer, not all buffers
• Feature-aligned: Mirrors the behavior of built-in auto-save-visited-mode
• Configurable interval: Set custom idle time before auto-saving
• Silent mode: Optionally suppress save messages
• Custom predicates: Filter which buffers should be auto-saved
• Smart defaults: Skips remote files, read-only files, and indirect buffers

Requirements

• Emacs 26.1 or later

Installation

From MELPA

(package-install 'auto-save-visited-local-mode)

Manual installation

Clone this repository and add to your load-path:

(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/auto-save-visited-local-mode")
(require 'auto-save-visited-local-mode)

Usage

Basic usage

Enable the mode in the current buffer:

M-x auto-save-visited-local-mode

Or programmatically:

(auto-save-visited-local-mode)

Configuration

Set custom interval

;; Auto-save after 10 seconds of idle time (default is 5)
(setq-local auto-save-visited-local-interval 10)

Enable silent mode

;; Suppress auto-save messages
(setq-local auto-save-visited-local-silent t)

Use custom predicate

;; Only auto-save buffers in certain directories
(setq-local auto-save-visited-local-predicate
            (lambda ()
              (string-prefix-p "/home/user/projects/"
                               (or buffer-file-name ""))))

Enable for Specific File Types

;; Enable for all org-mode buffers
(add-hook 'org-mode-hook #'auto-save-visited-local-mode-turn-on)

;; Enable for all markdown files
(add-hook 'markdown-mode-hook #'auto-save-visited-local-mode-turn-on)

Directory-local settings

Use .dir-locals.el to enable for all files in a directory:

((nil . ((eval . (when (fboundp 'auto-save-visited-local-mode)
                   (auto-save-visited-local-mode-turn-on))))))

Or for specific modes with custom settings:

((org-mode . ((eval . (when (fboundp 'auto-save-visited-local-mode)
                        (auto-save-visited-local-mode-turn-on)))
              (auto-save-visited-local-interval . 10)
              (auto-save-visited-local-silent . t))))

Comparison with auto-save-visited-mode

Feature	auto-save-visited-mode	auto-save-visited-local-mode
Scope	Global (all buffers)	Buffer-local
Configuration	Single global setting	Per-buffer customization
Use case	Same behavior everywhere	Different settings per buffer/project

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues or pull requests.

License

GPL-3.0-or-later

See Also

• auto-save-visited-mode - The built-in global equivalent
• auto-save-mode - Traditional Emacs auto-save to #file# backups