Data Ownership

Your data belongs to you. ThinkForge stores everything as files on your computer in standard formats. There is no cloud lock-in, no proprietary encoding, and no scenario where you lose access to your own work.

Where your data lives

ThinkForge stores project data in real folders on your disk. The default location is:

Documents/Think Forge/Projects/

You can change this location at any time in Settings. Each project is a self-contained folder:

Project Name/
  .fire/
    project.json          (project metadata)
    memory/
      semantic-memory.db  (search index, SQLite)
  _captured/
    Imported Article.md
  Research/
    Notes.md
  Drafts/
    Report.md

Standard formats

ThinkForge uses open, standard file formats:

  • Documents — Markdown (.md), plain text, HTML, JSON, CSV
  • Project metadata — JSON files
  • Memory database — SQLite
  • Agent definitions — JSON

Your content is not encrypted, compiled, or stored in a proprietary format. You can open any project file with standard tools — a text editor, a SQLite browser, or any Markdown viewer.

Backup and migration

To back up a project, copy its folder. That is the entire backup process. To move a project to another machine:

  1. Copy the project folder to the new machine.
  2. Place it under your ThinkForge projects directory (or anywhere, and link it).
  3. ThinkForge detects and opens it.

You can also keep project folders on cloud storage (Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.) or external drives and link them as external projects.

Export options

Beyond direct file access, ThinkForge offers export features for specific content types:

  • Chat conversations export as Markdown
  • Mind maps export as Markdown
  • Custom themes export as JSON
  • The Chrome extension can export project metadata as JSON

Since your documents are already plain files, most export is simply copying folders.

What happens if you stop using ThinkForge

Your files stay exactly where they are. Nothing changes about your project folders if you uninstall ThinkForge or let a license expire:

  • All Markdown, text, and other documents remain readable with any editor
  • The .fire folder contains ThinkForge metadata and can be ignored or deleted
  • No files are deleted, encrypted, or made inaccessible due to licensing changes
Explicit guarantee. Trial expiration or license changes never delete or modify your local files. The app includes an "Open My Files" option so you can always access your project folder directly.

No cloud hosting of your content

ThinkForge does not upload your documents, notes, or project content to any cloud service. Your ThinkForge account is used only for authentication and license validation — it does not store or sync your workspace data.

Related