A local workspace is your own folder. Tano does not create automatic workspace backups or provide archive import, export, or restoration. If you manually delete the whole folder, opening that path fails; Tano does not recreate it or recover its files. Use your backup tool, version control, or the operating system's recycle bin for recovery.
What to preserve
| Data | Location | Backup method |
|---|---|---|
| Markdown, attachments, and other user files | Workspace folder | Your own file backup |
| Identity, file IDs, objects, relations, rules, templates, and suggestions | .tano/ |
Back up with the whole workspace folder |
| Unsaved drafts, device state, and settings | Application data | Device backup |
.tano/ is portable source data, not a disposable cache. Copying only ordinary Markdown documents may lose identity, objects, relations, templates, and pending suggestions. Assistant sessions and model connections stay in device application data; keys stay in the credential store. These do not move automatically with the workspace. See the diagram in Data and storage.
Missing or damaged .tano/
If the entire .tano/ directory is deleted while the workspace folder remains, reopening initializes a new workspace UUID and new file IDs and reports the metadata loss. Markdown and attachments remain, but deleted objects, relations, and rules are not restored. Old indexes, drafts, and sessions are not reused. An already open session stops writing until the workspace is reopened.
Partial identity loss, corruption, or mismatched identities still block opening. Restore a complete backup first if the original identities and relations matter; reinitialization does not recover them.
Application-data draft journals preserve unsaved work across restarts but are not a workspace backup. External edits still use baseline comparison, merging, and conflict preservation. Original-workbook backups made before desktop spreadsheet saves do not replace whole-workspace backups either.
Cloud history covers only revisions saved to the service. See File sync.