संदर्भ

Data & index location

Where Stratum keeps the index, thumbnails, tags and settings on each platform.

Stratum deliberately splits your data in two: your space (portable, versioned) and its local index (disposable, per-machine). Knowing which is which makes backups simple.

What lives where

Data	Location	Portable?
Your assets	Inside the space folder	Yes
Tags	Space root (.stratum-tags.json)	Yes
Version history	Space/.git	Yes
Index database	OS app-data folder	No — rebuilt
Thumbnails	OS app-data folder	No — rebuilt
App settings	OS app-data folder	No

Index & thumbnails

The SQLite index and thumbnail cache live in your operating system's app-data directory, keyed per space. Typical locations:

Platform	Folder
Windows	%APPDATA%\com.arkynox.stratum
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/com.arkynox.stratum
Linux	~/.local/share/com.arkynox.stratum

shelltypical index layout

com.arkynox.stratum/
├─ index.db            # SQLite: assets, versions, embeddings
└─ thumbs/             # cached thumbnails, keyed by asset hash

Inside the space

shella Stratum space

MySpace/
├─ Imported/              # assets added through Stratum
├─ (your own folders)
├─ .stratum-tags.json     # all tags for the space (versioned)
└─ .git/                  # version history (hidden)

That's it. There is no hidden proprietary database in the space — only your files, the tags file, and a standard Git repository.

Settings

App settings (display name, language, theme, sync interval) are stored alongside the index in the app-data folder. Space-specific settings that must travel, like the remote URL, are stored in the space's Git config so they sync with it.

Safe to delete?

Item	Deleting it…
index.db	Safe. Stratum rebuilds it on next launch.
thumbs/	Safe. Regenerated as you browse.
.stratum-tags.json	You lose tags (but not files or versions).
.git/	You lose version history. Do not delete unless sure.
The whole app-data folder	Safe. Resets settings, index and thumbnails.