ObjectExplorer Where your data lives
Everything ObjectExplorer keeps for itself is in one folder, on every platform and in every shape — the desktop app, the command line, a server:
~/.objectexplorerOn Windows that is C:\Users\<you>\.objectexplorer.
A server started with data=<folder> keeps all of it in that folder instead — see the data folder.
Secrets are not in it. A key you typed, a sign-in's refresh token or an OIDC client secret goes to the system keychain: the macOS keychain, the Windows Credential Manager, or the Secret Service on Linux. The files below hold only a reference to it. On a Linux machine with no Secret Service, a secret is a file under keychain/ that only your user can read.
Nothing is written into the folders or buckets you browse unless you ask for it: a copy, a rename, a file you save. A delete of a file on this machine goes to the system's Trash; a delete in a cloud bucket moves the object into a .trash folder at the top of that root, kept 30 days so it can be undone.
| What it holds | |
|---|---|
explorer.db | what the app remembers: the folders in the tree, settings, open tabs, each table's notebook, size history, the folders' last listings, how long each opening took, what each bucket is priced by, how often each cloud object was read |
storage.json | the cloud accounts and the S3 compatible endpoints you connected; every secret in it is a reference to the keychain |
cache/ | the copies of cloud objects you opened, page by page, and media converted to play — see the cache |
thumbnails/ | the small pictures the grid shows of files |
index/ | the index search reads, one per root |
replay/ | the recordings of the last window sessions |
onboarding.json | whether you have seen the tour, and which cards about new features |
features.db | what is new in each release, and which of it has been used |
installed.json | the version that first used this folder |
style/ | the writing tool's sources and their index |
logs/ | the live Cloud Logging tails, one file per project |
mcp.yaml | the MCP rule file — roots, tools, limits and PII rules |
mcp/key | the key PII rules encrypt and hash an agent's answers with; it never leaves the machine, and a share uses a key of its own |
mcp/vault.db | the real values behind the pseudonyms agents were sent, encrypted |
mcp/<agent>/ | the access log of every MCP call, one file per session — see sessions |
venvs/ | the Python environments you made, one folder each, all of them made by uv |
trial, licence | your plan |
update/ | where an npx copy puts a newer version it downloaded |
web/ | on a server: what each signed-in browser user's app remembers, one database each |
server.json | on a server: its config — sign-in, roots, certificates |
certs/<domain>/ | on a server: the certificate Let's Encrypt gave it, its key, and the account that got it |
audit/ | on a server: the audit log, one file a day |
versions/, current | on a server: its installed versions, and the link to the one in use — see updating a server |
enterprise_trial | on a server: when its trial started |
In the browser, at objectexplorer.com/app, the same things are kept in the page's own storage instead, and the folders you pick never leave it.
Starting from an earlier install
On its first start, the desktop app looks for files an earlier ObjectExplorer left in this folder. If it finds some, it asks before writing anything: move them aside to ~/.objectexplorer.bk, or use the folder as it is. It asks once.
Deleting it
Removing ~/.objectexplorer resets the app to a fresh install. Nothing in your storage is touched, and the keychain keeps its entries until you remove them there.
Next: updating.