Where Oda keeps your data

DataMind Oda keeps its own working data on this computer: its settings, the records behind the app's features, your chats, memories and skills, and the caches it builds. This page maps where those folders and files live and how long Oda keeps them. Your own files stay in the folders you give Oda; see Workspaces, files and permissions.

The folders and files Oda keeps

• Settings and caches. Oda saves the settings you change and the caches it builds inside one home folder on this computer. How that folder is chosen and shown, and what keeps a settings save safe, is covered on Oda's home folder and settings files; the settings file itself is described in The profile settings file.
• Oda's own records. Oda keeps its own bookkeeping for the app's features, such as your workspace list and the details it attaches to individual chats, so they survive a restart. The records live in stores of Oda's own, apart from your files; On-device storage is the full reference, and the section below has the support facts.
• Live plugin values. Values you change in plugin settings while Oda runs are saved on this computer too; Live plugin settings covers those forms and what a refused change means.
• Chats. Oda saves every chat as a log file under one log folder on this computer. Chat logs on disk shows the file layout and how to back the logs up; Chat history storage and search covers how chats are stored, indexed and searched.
• Memories. Each memory is a small file you can read and edit yourself, and every workspace folder has a set of its own beside the global one. Memory files, limits and history covers their format and versions.
• Skills. Skills are folders, or single files, under your skills folder, and the app keeps saved versions of each one. See The skill library and Skill files and folders.
• Credentials. Saved keys and service sign-ins live in one file that only your user account can read, inside Oda's home folder; Stored credentials covers how they load and reload.
• The editor extension. The DataMind Oda extension for Visual Studio Code keeps its own home folder, chats and settings, separate from the desktop app; see Oda in VS Code.
• Files you save out of a chat. Results exported as files are saved into the chat's workspace folder, in an exports folder unless you name another (Company data, documents and reports); files downloaded from a shared chat save into your Downloads folder (Share DataMind Oda chats).

The records Oda keeps for itself

These records are Oda's own bookkeeping. No part of them is shown to the model, and they are kept apart from the content of your chats.

• Two ways of keeping them. Oda keeps its records either as readable JSON files in one folder, or in a single database file, and a setup can use both side by side. The folder for the files has no default: it is chosen when Oda is set up, and Oda creates it when it first needs it.
• Reads and writes. Reads are answered at once from Oda's own copy in memory. Every change goes in one order: first the store holds it durably, then the change counts; a change the store refuses changes nothing. Writes to one set of records run one at a time, in order.
• One writer at a time. A store has one live handle at a time, so two writers never overwrite each other's records; a second attempt to open the same store is refused.
• Damaged data. In the file store, a damaged file for a single record reads as an absent record, and the rest of the set still opens; when a whole set is one file, a damaged file refuses to open and its stored data is left untouched. A database written by a different version of this format is refused rather than upgraded: the format has no migrations.
• The database journal. The database keeps a journal while it works. wal, the default, suits local disks; on filesystems where its shared files do not work, such as some network mounts, use delete, truncate or persist instead. memory and off are refused, because they would drop the durability every write promises.
• Limits. Oda creates its folders and files so that only your user account can use them. Nothing here protects a stored file, or the database, from another user of the computer who can replace it.

When something is wrong with a store, the failure names the problem instead of staying silent. The messages speak of three things: a backend is one way records are kept (the readable files or the database), a form is one way of using a store, and a domain is one named set of records.

• storage backend '<name>' is already registered: two parts claimed the same store name, so the second claim is refused.
• storage backend '<name>' is not registered (registered: <names|none>): something asked for a store that is not part of the setup; the end of the message lists the names the setup has, or none.
• storage form '<form>' is already mounted or storage form '<form>' is not mounted: a way of using a store was attached twice, or asked for while it is not attached at all.
• domain '<name>' is already open: the same set of records was opened a second time; a store allows one handle at a time.
• domain '<domain>': stored <slot> does not match its schema: a stored value does not match the shape the reader expects. Depending on how the store keeps records, the value is either refused, naming the record or global value that failed, or moved aside and treated as absent, so the rest of the set keeps working.
• A closed store refuses further calls.

How long Oda keeps things

Different kinds of records are kept for different lengths of time:

• Saved versions. Oda keeps the newest ten saved versions of each skill and each memory by default; older ones drop as new ones arrive (The skill library, Memory files, limits and history).
• Comparisons. The content behind changed-file comparisons is kept for the 100 most recent turns of a chat and for 30 days from when a turn was recorded. When content is retired, the card stays in the chat, and the comparison reports that the contents are no longer available (Changed files and comparisons).
• Chat logs. Oda never removes, replaces or trims log files, and there is no delete-all action; the files stay until someone removes them (Chat logs on disk).

Questions, answered

Which folders and files does Oda keep on my computer?

Its settings and caches sit in one home folder; its own records live in stores of their own, as readable files or a database; chats are log files under a log folder; memories and skills live in their own folders; saved credentials are one protected file in the home folder; and the editor extension keeps a set of its own. The section above links each of them.

Are Oda's records stored inside my own folders?

No. Oda keeps its records in its own stores on the computer, and it only references the folders you give it. Your files are not moved into Oda's folders, and Oda's records are not written into your project folders.

Can I read Oda's own records as plain files?

When Oda keeps its records as files, yes: they are readable JSON files in their folder. When it keeps them in the database, that is a single file with one row per record. Neither form is the place your own files live, and no part of either is shown to the model. On-device storage describes both forms.

A message names a backend, a form or a domain. What are these?

They are the parts of Oda's record keeping. A backend is one way records are kept: the readable files or the database. A form is one way of using a store. A domain is one named set of records, such as one feature's data. The message names the part at fault, so the problem is easier to find.

A message says a stored value does not match its schema. What does that mean?

Oda checks stored values against the shape it expects before using them. A value that does not match is never used as if it were fine: depending on the store, it is refused, naming the record or global value that failed, or moved aside and treated as absent, so the rest of the set keeps working. If the message repeats, contact DataMind support before moving or deleting anything in Oda's folders.

Does Oda remove older content by itself?

Saved versions beyond the newest ten drop as new ones arrive, and comparison content ages out after the 100 most recent turns of a chat or 30 days. Chat logs are never trimmed or deleted by Oda; they stay until someone removes them. Each case is linked in the section above.

Where do saved results end up?

Results Oda saves as files go into the chat's workspace folder, in an exports folder unless you name another folder; see Company data, documents and reports. For files you download from a shared chat, see Share DataMind Oda chats.

Does the editor extension keep its own copy of my data?

Yes. The extension keeps its own home folder, chats and settings, separate from the desktop app's, and importing from the desktop app leaves the desktop copy where it is. See Oda in VS Code and Sign in to Oda in VS Code.