Where your data lives

The files PacedMind keeps on the computer, including the images in agents' reports, who can reach its server, and how to back up, move or reset the data.

Without an account, PacedMind keeps your data in one SQLite database on the computer: areas, projects, tasks and the dependencies between them, activities, your preferences, agent sessions and their reports, and the planning settings, such as the work hours. With PacedMind Cloud, that data is in your account instead, and the database keeps what this computer had without an account. See Accounts and Cloud.

What this computer decides for itself stays on it either way, in its own settings file, device.json: its name, the agent commands and the terminal, the project and task folders, which MCP servers each project's sessions get, what it does with sessions asked for from elsewhere, and the MCP access tokens. The desktop app encrypts that file, and the one that keeps your sign-in to PacedMind Cloud, with a key from the operating system's keychain. The images in agents' reports are files next to the database.

The app's server reads and writes these files; without an account, nothing is sent elsewhere. The exception is a session you send to an agent's cloud: the agent's own tool takes the task's title, description, Done when list and sub-tasks there.

File locations

What	Where
The database	`%APPDATA%\Organizer\data\organizer.db`, with `organizer.db-wal` and `organizer.db-shm` next to it
This computer's own settings: its id and name in PacedMind, the agent commands and terminal, the project and task folders, the MCP access tokens and what it does with sessions asked for from elsewhere, encrypted	`%APPDATA%\Organizer\data\device.json`
Your sign-in to PacedMind Cloud, encrypted	`%APPDATA%\Organizer\data\session.json`
The key that encrypts those two files, itself protected by the operating system (DPAPI on Windows, the Keychain on macOS)	`%APPDATA%\Organizer\data\data-key.bin`
Files for each agent session: the start script and, for Claude Code, its MCP and hook settings, or for Codex, the token file its `notify` program reads	`%APPDATA%\Organizer\data\sessions\<session id>\`
Images from agents' reports, copied when the agent attaches them, one file per image	`%APPDATA%\Organizer\data\attachments\`
Copies of the database kept before Settings → Data replaced it (see Copies)	`%APPDATA%\Organizer\data\organizer-before-<what>-<time>.db`
Working folders for tasks without their own folder, a project folder or an area workspace, one per task, named after its key in lowercase	`%APPDATA%\Organizer\data\workspaces\<task key>\`, such as `workspaces\wrk-12`
Window size and position, the theme, and whether the tray hint was shown	`%APPDATA%\Organizer\window-state.json`
The server log	`%APPDATA%\Organizer\logs\server.log`
The app itself	`%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Organizer\`

On macOS, the same files are in ~/Library/Application Support/Organizer instead of %APPDATA%\Organizer, for example ~/Library/Application Support/Organizer/data/organizer.db. The server log is ~/Library/Logs/PacedMind/server.log, and the app is PacedMind.app in the Applications folder.

The menu of the tray icon (the menu bar icon on macOS) has Open data folder and Open server log. Settings → Data counts the sessions recorded so far.

Who can reach it

The server listens on 127.0.0.1, port 4319, so only programs on the same computer can connect. It also refuses requests that name any other host than 127.0.0.1 or localhost, so a web page can't reach it through a borrowed domain name. It answers those with Organizer only answers on 127.0.0.1.

The MCP server at http://127.0.0.1:4319/api/mcp also needs the access token from Settings → MCP server. See MCP server.

The session files contain the access token: the start script passes it to the agent, Claude Code's MCP configuration (mcp.json) uses it for the connection, and its settings files, one per conversation (settings-<conversation id>.json), use it for the hooks that report when the agent waits for you and when the session ends. For Codex, a hooks-….auth file holds it for the notify program that reports the end of each turn. When a project limits its sessions' MCP servers, Claude Code's mcp.json also holds the settings of the servers chosen, copied from Claude Code's own files. Keep the data folder private, and regenerate the token if it was shared by mistake. Sessions that are resumed afterwards get the new token.

Back up and restore

The database is written continuously while PacedMind runs, so copy it only while the app is closed. Its recent changes can sit in organizer.db-wal rather than in organizer.db, so always copy all three organizer.db* files together:

Quit PacedMind: its tray icon → Quit PacedMind on Windows, ⌘+Q on macOS.
Copy the data folder (%APPDATA%\Organizer\data, or ~/Library/Application Support/Organizer/data on macOS), or at least every organizer.db* file in it and the attachments folder, which holds the images of agents' reports.
Start PacedMind again.

To restore, quit PacedMind, delete the organizer.db* files and the attachments folder in the data folder, put the copied ones in their place, and start it. Don't leave an old -wal file next to a restored database.

The same steps move this computer's data to another computer: install PacedMind there, quit it, and replace its data folder with the copy. The database comes along, with your tasks and preferences. This computer's own settings don't: the other computer's keychain can't read their key, so PacedMind there sets device.json and session.json aside and starts them over. Set the project and task folders again in Settings → Projects and in the tasks' details, connect your agents again, since the MCP token is new, and sign in again if you use an account. With an account, your data is in the account anyway: sign in on the other computer instead.

Reset

Settings → Data has two buttons:

Button	Result
Load sample data	Replaces everything with an example workspace. Asks Replace everything with the sample data? first.
Start empty	Deletes all tasks, projects, activities and sessions and restores the five default areas. Asks Start empty? first.

The question says what goes, such as This deletes 30 tasks, 7 projects and 8 activities from this computer's data, with their sessions and reports. While there are tasks, projects or activities, its button works only once delete is typed in it.

Both keep a copy of what was there first, and keep your preferences and the settings: work hours, how sessions start, and the MCP access token. The images of agents' reports and this computer's folders for the projects and tasks that went stay for the copy. With nothing but areas there, no copy is kept. The sessions and workspaces folders stay on disk, and can be deleted by hand while PacedMind is closed.

Copies

Copies, on the same page, lists the copies kept before a reset, newest first: when, what replaced the data (Before the sample data, Before starting empty or Before putting a copy back) and what the copy holds.

Button	Result
Put back	Asks Put this copy back?, then replaces the data with the copy's: the same tasks with their keys, projects, areas, activities, sessions and reports, and this computer's folders for them (Copy put back). What was there is kept as a copy first, so this can be undone the same way.
Delete	Asks Delete this copy?, then deletes it for good (Copy deleted).

The newest ten copies stay; a new one deletes the oldest. Without an account, they're files next to the database, such as organizer-before-sample-20261008-010417.db. With PacedMind Cloud, they're in your account, and Copies shows them on every computer and in the web app.

Reinstalling and uninstalling

Updating or reinstalling PacedMind never touches the data folder (%APPDATA%\Organizer, or ~/Library/Application Support/Organizer on macOS). Uninstalling doesn't either; delete that folder to remove the data. See Install PacedMind.

A development copy

Running PacedMind from its source code with npm run dev starts a separate copy at http://127.0.0.1:4320. It uses its own database, data/organizer.db inside the source folder, filled with sample data on its first start. It never reads or changes the desktop app's data.