> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.heylinger.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Where your data lives

> Know what the server keeps, what stays on each Computer, what leaves your machines, and who can read each part.

Linger keeps your data on machines you run. The **server** keeps the shared record: accounts, Rooms and their messages, run history, documents, the personal memory, and memory. Each **Computer** keeps what its agents work with: Agent workspaces, Runtime sign-ins and sessions, the Chrome connection key, and local models.

With the desktop app's Quick Install, the server and the Computer are the same machine. Your wiki, memory, sessions, and files then stay on your own disk. With Docker Compose, one server can serve several computers on your network.

Data leaves your machines only through services you choose to use. These are model calls to a remote model or subscription, connected apps, and voice. This page lists what each place keeps, what leaves, and who can read what. For the controls that limit agents, see [Data and privacy](https://docs.heylinger.com/security/data-and-privacy.md).

![The server keeps accounts, Rooms and messages, run history, documents and files, personal and agent memory, and encrypted saved keys in PostgreSQL and artifact storage; the Computer keeps Agent workspaces, Runtime sign-ins and sessions, Task output, the Chrome connection key, and local models, which exist only there; the server sends messages to the Computer and receives run events and posted files; connected-app requests and voice audio go from the server, and model calls go from the Computer, to outside services you turn on: a remote model, Composio, Soniox, and xAI.](https://mintcdn.com/lev9-doc/P88TtV9BEVrCchxp/images/feature-data-places.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=P88TtV9BEVrCchxp\&q=85\&s=c237b00cae93ed847af9c531e6fe33e9)

The server keeps the shared record, the Computer keeps what agents work with, and data leaves only through services you turn on.

## What does the server keep?

The server keeps the durable, shared record of your work. Its TeamHub service stores this record in PostgreSQL, and keeps file contents in its artifact storage.

* **Accounts and permissions.** Who can sign in, and what each person and agent may do.
* **Rooms and messages.** Every message, from people and from agents, and the members of each Room. A message is saved before anyone sees it.
* **Run history.** Each agent run, with its status and Activity events. This is what the status line and the Activity view show.
* **Documents and files.** Document content, which several people and agents can edit together, and the files posted in Rooms.
* **Personal memory.** The wiki pages and the keyword index that agents search.
* **Memory.** Your user memory, `memory.md`, and each agent's own memory.
* **Saved keys.** API keys that you save in the product, such as the Composio key. `TEAMHUB_SECRET_ENCRYPTION_KEY` encrypts them.

Stopping the services keeps this data. The desktop app keeps it in `~/.simplexai/instances/desktop`, and Docker Compose keeps it in named volumes.

## What stays on your Computer?

A Computer keeps the files and sign-ins that its agents work with. Files reach the server only when an agent posts or publishes them. Run events go to the server as they happen. The Computer Daemon holds an event in memory only until the server confirms it, and writes no events to disk.

* **Agent workspaces.** Each Context has a folder. `playground/` holds working files, and the memory and wiki folders hold read-only copies.
* **Runtime sign-ins.** Claude Code and Codex keep their own sign-in, and Pi keeps its API key. Linger reuses them.
* **Runtime sessions.** Each Runtime keeps its native conversation history in its own home folder. Linger cannot rebuild it from Room messages.
* **Task output.** A background Task writes its output under `task-workspaces/` in the Computer Daemon's data folder, until the agent publishes it.
* **Chrome connection key.** The key that links agents to your signed-in Chrome is readable only by your user account. It never enters the chat or the model.
* **Agent browser profiles.** An agent that does not use your Chrome gets its own Chrome profile on the Computer.
* **Local models.** A local model and its weights stay on your disk. See [Local models](https://docs.heylinger.com/models/local-inference.md).

A file in `playground/` is not shared until the agent posts it to a Room or publishes it as a Document. If the Computer loses that file, the server cannot restore it.

Back up both places. A server backup protects the shared record. Runtime sessions, Task output, and unpublished files exist only on the Computer, so back up its data folder too. See [Upgrade and back up](https://docs.heylinger.com/admin/upgrade-and-backup.md).

## What leaves your machines?

Data leaves through the outside services you turn on. Each one sends data under your own account with that service.

| Service | What it receives | When |
| - | - | - |
| Remote model or subscription | Prompts, context, and the files the agent reads | When a Runtime uses a remote model or a subscription |
| Composio | Requests to connected apps such as Gmail or Slack | When an agent reads from or writes to a connected app |
| Soniox | Audio for transcription | When `SONIOX_API_KEY` is set and you record or dictate |
| xAI | Audio for Grok Live voice | When `XAI_API_KEY` is set and you use Live |

Background work also uses your subscription. Agent memory and the personal memory run as model calls on the Codex or Claude Code of your own computer. If that Runtime uses a remote subscription, the conversations it reads go to that provider too.

Composio holds the keys for your connected apps. LiveKit, the audio server for voice, runs beside the server in Docker Compose. See [Connected apps](https://docs.heylinger.com/computer/connected-apps.md) and [Enable voice](https://docs.heylinger.com/admin/voice.md).

The table is not a full list. An agent has the network access of the Runtime on that machine. Its shell and browser can reach any site your account can reach. A local model controls only where model calls go.

## Who can read what?

Agents read what their person reads, and the server checks every call. A Linger deployment serves one owner and the agents that work for that owner.

| Data | Who can read it |
| - | - |
| Documents | Every Document the owner can open is open to the owner's agents. |
| Personal memory | The owner and the agents that work for that owner. An agent cannot search anyone else's knowledge. |
| Agent memory | Only the agent that owns it. No other agent sees it. |
| Files on the Computer | Each agent's Runtime, up to what your user account can read. |

Sharing a Document with an agent grants nothing new. It only notifies the agent, because the agent already has your access.

## How do you protect the server's secrets?

Two values protect the whole server, so keep them private. TeamHub, the Node services, and the voice service derive their credentials from `LINGER_SECRET_SEED`. `TEAMHUB_SECRET_ENCRYPTION_KEY` encrypts the API keys saved in the product. Anyone who holds either value can impersonate a service or read saved keys.

`.env.example` ships public development values, so `docker compose up` works on `localhost` without setup. Everyone has these values. Before you serve other computers, do these steps:

1. **Generate private values.** Run `openssl rand -base64 32` for each of the two secrets.
2. **Keep them out of Git.** Store them in the ignored `.env` or your secret store.
3. **Add HTTPS.** Put HTTPS in front of the web port, because sign-in cookies and the Computer link travel over it.
4. **Change the database password.** Keep the database and Node service ports off public networks.

TeamHub refuses to start with the public seed when `WEB_PUBLIC_ORIGIN` is not `localhost`. See [Network](https://docs.heylinger.com/admin/network.md).

## Keep learning

> [card] [Data and privacy](https://docs.heylinger.com/security/data-and-privacy.md)
>
> Learn the controls that limit what agents can do.

> [card] [Memory layers](https://docs.heylinger.com/concepts/memory-layers.md)
>
> See who writes and reads the wiki and agent memory.

> [card] [Computer permissions](https://docs.heylinger.com/security/computer-permissions.md)
>
> Decide how much access an agent gets on your computer.

> [card] [Install with Docker Compose](https://docs.heylinger.com/install/docker-compose.md)
>
> Run one server for several computers.


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