Data Storage and Backups

Data, Storage and Backups

Where Snipdeck keeps everything, how backups work, and how to move your data.

File locations

Everything lives under your user profile at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Snipdeck, separate from the installed program files so updates never touch it.

Path	What it is
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Snipdeck\settings.json	App configuration — theme, hotkey, close behaviour, storage/backup paths, and the backup / history / output limits. See Settings.
…\store\store.json (storage location)	The snip store — all your CLIs, Snips, shared parameters and tag icons, as a single JSON document. The folder is configurable.
…\store\history.db	The run history — a SQLite database of every recorded run. See Run History.
…\backups\ (backup location)	Timestamped backups of the snip store. The folder is configurable.
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Snipdeck\icon-catalogue.json	The editable catalogue the tag-icon glyph picker reads. Seeded on first run; your edits survive updates. See Tags and Tag Icons.

The snip store is a single human-readable JSON document — easy to read, diff and sync. Run history is the deliberate exception: run output isn't small, so it lives in its own SQLite database rather than bloating the store.

Crash-safe writes

The store is never overwritten in place. Snipdeck writes to a temporary file and then atomically renames it, so a crash mid-write can't corrupt your data.

Backups

• A timestamped backup of the store is taken on every successful write, and again immediately before every update.
• Snipdeck keeps the most recent 20 backups by default (configurable 1–200 in Settings) and prunes older ones.
• Backups live in the configurable backups folder.

To restore, close Snipdeck and copy a backup over store.json in your storage folder.

Changing the storage location

In Settings → Storage location, choose Change… and pick a folder. Because the store is only read at startup, Snipdeck restarts to apply the change, and handles the target deliberately:

• Empty target — the store is set to the new location.
• Target already has a Snipdeck store — you're asked whether to adopt it as-is (your current Snips are left where they are, not merged).
• Moving — your store is copied to the target; the originals are left in place as a safety copy.
• Invalid (e.g. a folder nested inside the current one) — refused with an explanation.

If the restart can't happen, the change is rolled back so you're never left pointing at a half-applied location.

Trash

Deleting a Snip is a soft delete — it goes to the Trash (left pane footer) rather than being erased. From the Trash you can Restore a Snip to its CLI or Delete permanently (which can't be undone). Deleting a CLI also removes any of its Snips that were already in the Trash.

Moving between machines

Because uploaded CLI icons are copied into the data folder (never referenced from their original path), copying or syncing your storage folder to another machine brings your Snips and icons intact. Run history (history.db) can be copied too, though it's local observation data rather than something you'd typically sync.