# Advanced Preferences & Project Store

Astro Editor stores all of its settings as plain JSON files on your machine. You rarely need to touch them, but knowing where they live can help with troubleshooting.

## Where settings are stored

Everything lives in the app's data directory:

| Platform | Location |
| --- | --- |
| macOS | `~/Library/Application Support/is.danny.astroeditor/` |
| Windows | `%LOCALAPPDATA%\is.danny.astroeditor\` |
| Linux | `~/.local/share/is.danny.astroeditor/` |

You can open this folder from the **Advanced** tab in [Preferences](https://astroeditor.danny.is/preferences/) via **Open Preferences Folder**.

## What's in there

Settings sit in a `preferences/` subfolder:

| File | What it holds |
| --- | --- |
| `preferences/global-settings.json` | App-wide settings: theme customisation, configured IDE command, heading colours, auto-save delay and the default type for new files. |
| `preferences/project-registry.json` | The list of projects you've opened, with their metadata and which was last open |
| `preferences/projects/<project-id>.json` | One file per project containing project and collection [overrides](https://astroeditor.danny.is/reference/overrides/) |

Two sibling folders hold operational data rather than settings: `recovery/` keeps short-lived copies of unsaved work, and `crash-reports/` keeps crash diagnostics.

## Recovery

Astro Editor auto-saves as you write, but as a safety net it also writes a recovery copy of your work if a save ever _fails_ — for example if the file becomes unwritable. Each copy is saved to the `recovery/` folder (a structured `.json` and a readable `.md` version) so your writing isn't lost.

There's no in-app "restore" step — the files simply sit in that folder for you to copy back by hand if you ever need them.

## How projects are identified

Each project's id is derived from the `name` in its `package.json` (with a short hash appended if two projects would otherwise collide). If a project can't be properly read, the folder name is used instead.

Because the id is tied to the package name rather than the folder path, **moving or renaming a project folder keeps its settings**. The next time you open it, Astro Editor matches it by name and quietly updates the stored path.

## The Advanced preferences tab

The **Advanced** tab in Preferences is for diagnostics and maintenance. It shows the application and preferences versions and offers two actions:

- **Open Preferences Folder** — open the directory described above in your file explorer.
- **Reset All Preferences** — delete every stored setting and restart the app. This is destructive and can't be undone but can be useful if your settings have somehow become corrupted.