Pinegrow Data folder and protected credentials

Where Pinegrow Desktop keeps its settings, recovery data and revisions, how to move or back up the Pinegrow Data folder, and how API keys and publishing credentials are stored in your system’s secure credential storage.

Requires Pinegrow 10

Pinegrow Desktop keeps its settings, recovery data and revisions in a dedicated Pinegrow Data folder, and stores API keys and other credentials in your computer's secure credential storage. This page explains where things are kept, how to move your data from an earlier Pinegrow version, and what to do when something goes wrong.

Pinegrow Data and protected credentials are new in Pinegrow 10 and apply to Pinegrow Desktop. Pinegrow Online doesn't use them.

Why Pinegrow Data is a separate folder

Pinegrow Desktop runs on an embedded Chromium browser, which has its own profile folder. Earlier versions kept settings and snapshots in that profile. The profile is runtime state that sometimes has to be cleared or recreated during troubleshooting or an upgrade. With Pinegrow Data outside the profile, doing that no longer removes your settings, recovery data or revisions.

Your projects are never moved. They stay where you saved them.

Where the folder is

The default location is:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Pinegrow Data
Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Pinegrow Data
Linux: ~/.local/share/Pinegrow (or $XDG_DATA_HOME/Pinegrow when that variable is set)

If you choose another location, Pinegrow creates a folder named Pinegrow Data there and turns the default location into a link to it.

What's inside

Settings (settings.json) and interface state such as panel sizes and hidden notices (ui-state.json).
Recent files and other state (state.json): recent files and classes, custom libraries and workspaces, the project list and AI Assistant tasks.
Recovery data (recovery.json and the recovered folder).
Licence activation details (machine-state.json).
snapshots: revisions from the History panel. If you had set a custom revisions folder outside the Chromium profile, it stays where it is.
pine-cone: AI Assistant data, including downloaded local voice models.
thumbnails, tutorials and new-projects (new-project templates).
pinegrow-data.json, which identifies the folder, and credentials-fallback.json, used only when a credential can't be saved in secure storage (see below).

On macOS and Linux, Pinegrow creates these folders and data files so that only your user account can open them.

Move your data after upgrading

When Pinegrow 10 finds settings, snapshots or credentials from an earlier version in the Chromium profile, it shows Moving your Pinegrow settings and snapshots at startup.

Check Pinegrow Data location. To use another place, click Choose a different location… and choose the parent folder. The location must be outside the Chromium profile, must not already contain a Pinegrow Data folder with files in it and, on Windows, can't be a network path.
Under API keys, leave Keep credentials in the current location for compatibility with older Pinegrow versions unchecked to move saved keys and tokens to secure storage. Check it only if you plan to go back to an older Pinegrow version. If you don't, the worst case is re-entering your AI Assistant API keys after a downgrade.
Click Move settings and snapshots, then Restart now. Save open pages first: unsaved changes are lost on restart.

Pinegrow restarts into Moving your Pinegrow data and works through four steps: Prepare, Copy, Verify and Finish. Every copied file is checked before the new folder is activated. Keep Pinegrow open until it finishes.

You can click Cancel migration during preparation, copying or verification. Pinegrow removes the temporary copy and leaves your original data in place. Closing the window does the same. Cancelling is disabled during Finish.

What happens to the old data:

Settings stored in the Chromium profile are left in place, so older Pinegrow versions still find them.
Folders such as snapshots and thumbnails are copied and verified, then replaced in the profile with links to the new folders. Older versions follow those links.
Credentials you moved to secure storage are removed from the profile. With the compatibility option checked, they stay in the profile.

If you click Later, Pinegrow asks again at the next start. To stop the reminder, check Do not show this dialog again at startup. You can start the move at any time with Support & Settings › Move Pinegrow settings and snapshots…. The menu item disappears once the move has completed.

Show, move or reset Pinegrow Data

Open Support & Settings › Settings… and go to the Pinegrow Data section.

The Pinegrow Data section of Pinegrow Settings: Data location shows a path under Library/Application Support/Pinegrow Data, a note says Pinegrow Data is outside Chromium, and Show folder, Move... and Reset UI state... buttons are followed by an explanation of what is kept in the folder. — Settings › Pinegrow Data shows where your data is kept and lets you open the folder, move it or reset the UI state.

Data location shows the folder in use. The line below it tells you whether your data has been moved out of the Chromium profile.
Show folder opens Pinegrow Data in Finder, File Explorer or your file manager.
Move… moves Pinegrow Data to another place. Choose the parent folder, then click Move and restart. Pinegrow copies and verifies everything, switches the default location to the new folder and removes the previous copy. If you haven't moved your data yet, Move… opens the migration dialog instead.
Reset UI state… resets window, panel and notice state and restarts Pinegrow. Projects, settings, recent files, snapshots, credentials and AI Assistant data are kept.

Back up Pinegrow Data

Pinegrow doesn't back up this folder for you. To keep a copy of your settings and revisions:

Click Show folder to find the folder.
Quit Pinegrow so that nothing changes while you copy.
Copy the whole folder to your backup location.

Treat the backup as sensitive. It contains your licence activation details and, if Pinegrow had to use its credential fallback, saved credentials.

Protected credentials

These credentials are stored in your computer's secure credential storage:

AI Assistant API keys and access tokens.
Publishing tokens, sign-ins and passwords, such as Netlify and Vercel tokens, the Cloudflare and GitHub authorizations, and SFTP passwords and private keys.
Your Pinegrow Cloud sign-in.

Pinegrow uses the macOS Keychain, Windows Credential Manager, or the system keyring on Linux. Entries are saved under the name Pinegrow.

The dialog where you enter a credential tells you where it is kept. For example, AI provider settings say the key is saved in this computer's secure credential storage and is never sent to Pinegrow servers. Publishing account dialogs say the same about your tokens.

When secure storage isn't available

If Pinegrow can't save a credential in secure storage, it shows Credential storage fallback and keeps that credential in the protected credential fallback in Pinegrow Data. Before you move your data, the fallback is the local Pinegrow app profile. Other credentials still use secure storage. This can happen when the credential storage is locked or unavailable, or on Windows when a credential is too large for Credential Manager.

The fallback file is not encrypted. It is protected by file permissions on macOS and Linux.

Linux

Some Linux systems don't provide a persistent keyring, and the keyring can silently fall back to storage that is cleared at reboot. So on Linux, Pinegrow always keeps credentials in the protected fallback in Pinegrow Data and also copies them to the system keyring when one is available. Before you move your data, credentials stay in the Pinegrow app profile.

Remove a saved credential

Remove credentials in Pinegrow, so both the secure storage entry and any fallback copy are removed:

AI Assistant: open Support & Settings › AI Settings…, open the provider's settings and click Forget the API key.
Netlify and Vercel: open the target's Account settings… and click Forget saved token.
Cloudflare: click Disconnect in the account settings. GitHub: click Sign out.
Any publish target: Forget target… also forgets its saved credentials.

Forgetting a token in Pinegrow doesn't revoke it. Revoke it at the provider if it may have been exposed.

If you delete a Pinegrow entry directly in Keychain Access or Credential Manager, Pinegrow shows Credential storage fallback because secure storage no longer returns a credential it saved. Enter the credential again.

Troubleshooting

Pinegrow Data migration needs attention. The move didn't finish. Your original data and a verified copy are kept. Click Retry now to restart and try again, or Later. Don't remove the Chromium profile until the move completes.
Pinegrow Data is unavailable. The folder, or the link to it, is missing, for example on an external drive that isn't connected. The dialog shows the expected location. Reconnect or restore the folder, then restart Pinegrow.
Could not use this data location or Could not move Pinegrow Data. The chosen folder is inside the Chromium profile or inside the current Pinegrow Data folder, is a link, already contains a Pinegrow Data folder with files in it, or is on a Windows network path. The message names the problem. Choose another folder.
Credential storage fallback. Secure storage couldn't be used. The message includes details when the system reports a reason. On macOS and Windows, Pinegrow moves a credential from the fallback into secure storage the next time it uses it and secure storage is available again.