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Getting Started

Data Storage

How SEBcentral stores your data locally in a single SQLite file, plus backup, export, credentials and safe updates.

SEBcentral is a local-first desktop app. All data lives on your machine — no account, no cloud, no subscription.

  • Format: a single SQLite database file.
  • Location (macOS): ~/Library/Application Support/SEBcentral/hubspace.db
  • Location (Windows): %APPDATA%\SEBcentral\hubspace.db
  • Self-contained: one file holds all your structured data — clients, projects, tasks, deals, everything. Your actual documents stay in your own filesystem or Drive (the app stores pointers, not copies), and email attachments are never stored in the database.

What is kept where (pointers, not copies)

The database holds your structured data; your heavy content stays in your own files:

  • Folders & files attached to a record store a path or web/Drive URL — the files themselves stay on your disk or in your Drive. Removing the app leaves them untouched.
  • Email attachments are never stored in the database — they are fetched from the mail server on demand when opened.
  • Email bodies are a prunable cache (removable or auto-pruned by age); deliberately logged emails become permanent Activity Log entries with their own copy.

Backup

Copy the .db file anywhere:

  • Drag it to a Google Drive or Dropbox folder for automatic offsite backup.
  • Version snapshots: copy and rename with a date, e.g. hubspace-2026-06-26.db.
  • Restore: drop the file back in the same location and relaunch the app.
  • Automatic: before any schema upgrade, SEBcentral copies the database into …/SEBcentral/backups/ first (last 10 kept).

Getting data out

  • In-app CSV export (Settings → Export) — one CSV per entity; custom channels include their custom-field columns. Opens in Sheets, Excel or Numbers.
  • DB Browser for SQLite (free) — full table view, search and edit, on Mac, Windows or Linux.
  • TablePlus / DBeaver — more polished SQL clients.

Credentials

Secrets (email app-passwords, OAuth tokens, the workspace auth token) are encrypted at rest with the OS secure store (safeStorage — Keychain, DPAPI or secret service) and are machine-bound: copying the database elsewhere will not expose them.

Safe updates

Updating the app never wrecks your data:

  • Pre-upgrade backup — when a launch finds an older schema, it copies the database to …/SEBcentral/backups/ before migrating (last 10 kept).
  • Atomic migrations — all schema upgrades for a launch run in one transaction: they fully apply (version advances) or roll back cleanly to the prior version. No half-applied state.
  • Downgrade guard — an older app refuses to open a database created by a newer one, rather than mangling it.
  • Migrations are forward-only and additive (new tables and columns layered on; existing data preserved).

Portability

Moving to another machine: copy hubspace.db to the same path on the new machine. Full restore, all relationships intact, no re-import needed. Email, Drive and Calendar credentials are machine-bound by design — re-enter them once.