> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.realtimelca.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Clone a project
> Copy a project's current state into a new one, and leave the original untouched.
Cloning takes everything a project holds right now — materials, mappings, settings, team, and its history so far — and puts it into a brand-new project. The original is not changed in any way.
It is the standard way to explore a design variant without putting your live project at risk: clone it, change the thing you want to test, and compare the two dashboards side by side.
Open it from **Settings → Manage → Clone**, then **Clone project**.
## What comes across
| Copied | Not copied |
| ------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| Materials and their mappings | Anything you change in the original after cloning |
| Transport and waste mappings | |
| Custom emission factors | |
| Project settings — areas, calculation, classification, energy | |
| Team members | |
| History up to the moment you clone | |
The dialog names the exact state being copied — the most recent change, badged **Current** — so you can see what you are about to duplicate.
## Name the clone
**New project name** is prefilled with the original's name plus *(Clone)*. Rename it now to something that says what the variant is — *Office Building (timber frame)* reads better in the project list six weeks later than *Office Building (Clone)*.
## Choose what happens to the 3D model
This is the decision that matters, and it is worth getting right the first time.
A new Speckle project is created for the clone and the models are copied over in the background — they appear in the 3D viewer once the copy finishes. Materials, mappings, and emission factors come across too.
The clone reads the same published models as the original. One publish from your authoring tool feeds both projects.
Pick **Create new project** when the variant will diverge geometrically — a different structural system, a different façade — so each project can receive its own publishes.
Pick **Use the same project** when the geometry stays put and only the *assessment* differs: swapping EPDs, testing a different calculation type, or trying alternative transport distances against one model.
Copying the models runs in the background. The clone is usable immediately, but its 3D viewer stays empty until the copy finishes.
## Clone or restore?
Both produce a new project and leave the current one alone. The difference is *which* state they copy.
| | Clone | [Restore a version](/user-guide/project/project-history#restore-a-version) |
| ------------ | ------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Copies | The project as it is right now | The project as it was at an earlier version |
| Started from | Settings → Clone | The History page |
| Team copied | Yes | No |
| Typical use | Explore a variant from today's state | Recover work, or branch from a past decision |
## After cloning
The clone is an ordinary project: it appears in the project list, has its own [history](/user-guide/project/project-history) and [revisions](/user-guide/project/revisions) continuing from the point it was made, and can be cloned again. To compare it against the original, tick **Compare** on both cards in the [project list](/user-guide/project/project-overview#the-project-card).