Where data is stored
DeepState is local-first: everything it knows lives in one folder on your computer. This page is the map.
| Platform | Data folder |
|---|---|
| macOS | ~/Library/Application Support/deepstate/ |
| Windows | %APPDATA%\deepstate\ (typically C:\Users\you\AppData\Roaming\deepstate\) |
| Linux | ~/.config/deepstate/ |
Contents
| Path | What it is | Sensitive? |
|---|---|---|
deepstate.db | The SQLite database: boards, nodes, connections, entities, narratives, AI conversations, presentations, feed state, enrichment queue, sync change logs and cursors, license status | Yes - this is your investigation |
boards/<board-id>/media/ | Media for that board: images and video you added, archived post media, avatars, thumbnails, documents copied in | Yes |
boards/<board-id>/chat-images/ | Images you attached to AI conversations on that board | Yes |
config.json | Non-secret settings: active provider, model choices, agent options, UI preferences | Low |
secure-config.dat | Encrypted secrets: API keys, integration tokens, social sessions, board sync keys | Yes |
oauth-tokens.dat | Encrypted OAuth tokens for Claude and ChatGPT subscription sign-in | Yes |
custom-tools/ | Your custom tool scripts and their installed dependencies | Depends on what you wrote |
pending-restore/ | A staged backup waiting to be applied on next launch (normally absent) | Yes |
*.pre-restore | The database and media replaced by the last restore, kept as a safety net | Yes |
Everything else (Cache/, GPUCache/, Cookies, Local Storage/, Crashpad/, …) | Chromium's browser caches for the hidden scraping windows and the UI | Cache may contain fetched pages |
The database file is a standard SQLite database. If you ever need to get at the data without
DeepState, any SQLite tool opens it; node content is JSON in the nodes.content column.
How secrets are protected
secure-config.dat and oauth-tokens.dat are encrypted with Electron's safeStorage, which
uses the operating system's credential store: Keychain on macOS, DPAPI on Windows, and on Linux
the desktop keyring through libsecret (GNOME Keyring, KWallet). The encryption key never leaves
the OS store, so copying the files to another machine or user account does not make them readable.
On Linux without a keyring available, DeepState falls back to plain-text storage so the app still works; it logs this at start-up. Install a keyring if you handle sensitive credentials.
Copying, moving, deleting
- Copy the folder while the app is closed and you have a complete backup. While the app is open, use Settings → Data → Create backup instead, which snapshots the database safely.
- Move to another computer: the database and
boards/move; the encrypted secret files do not (see above) - you sign in again. Use Backup & restore. - Delete a board's media by hand only if the board is archived; live boards expect their files.
- Uninstalling leaves the folder in place. Delete it for a clean removal.
- The Chromium cache directories can be deleted safely at any time while the app is closed; they are recreated.
Size
Text is small: a board of a thousand nodes with history is a few tens of megabytes in the
database. Media dominates - archived video from social posts in particular. Check
boards/<id>/media/ if the folder grows large, and remember that compacting
a board's history trims the database.
Logs
DeepState writes diagnostic output to the standard output of the process (visible when launched
from a terminal) rather than to a log file. Crash reports, if any, are in Crashpad/ and are not
sent anywhere.