Backup and restore

Copy Application Support by hand; cloud sync is not shipped

Purpose

Tags, notes, status, and smart-collection rules cannot be rebuilt from GitHub. Back up before moving Macs, reinstalling, or factory-reset.

Finder reveal in Settings → Storage to locate Application Support

Screenshot TODO · images/screenshots/data-privacy/backup.webp

How to back up

1. Quit Starcat fully so you do not copy a live database
2. Copy the data folder. Direct is often ~/Library/Application Support/Starcat/. App Store uses a sandbox container. Settings → Storage Finder buttons help
3. Store it on an external disk / encrypted backup

Restore: quit → put the backup on the same channel path (do not mix MAS and Direct) → launch.

iCloud / CloudKit user-data sync is not available. Restore by copying the backup onto the same channel path.

Priority	Data
High	Tags, notes, status, collection rules
Medium	AI / RAG history
Low	README / images / summary cache (rebuildable)

Stars can re-sync. JSON export is coming soon.

Related

• Where data lives