Data and Storage¶

rettui keeps its data in ~/.local/share/rettui/:

• identity: the private key behind your address, in the format every Reticulum program uses (Python's raw 64-byte key). Lose it and the address is gone for good, so keep a copy: b in the Status tab saves one where you choose, readable only by you. Whoever has it can pose as you and read what's sent to you, so keep copies private. B backs up everything else with it (see Backups below). To keep the address you have in Sideband, NomadNet, MeshChat or another rettui, i in the Status tab (or the getting-started guide) uses that program's identity file from the next start; the one it replaces is kept beside it as identity.previous-<date>. Everything that takes its address from the identity changes with it: a node or propagation node you host, and who you are to RRC hubs (the question before switching says which apply). Don't run one identity in two programs at once: messages to it would be split between them. The web UI can't read or change the identity (the login link would otherwise give away the key). Stop the web UI first (two copies of rettui on one data folder overwrite each other's files), then use the terminal UI, or copy the file over identity (for Docker, ./data/identity, with the container stopped).
• settings.json: display name, announce behaviour, home page, propagation node, sync interval, messages_kept and message_storage_mb (see Message history below), cache_hours (24 by default), node and propagation node hosting, what incoming messages must bring (stamp cost, size), wrap_lines and the Reticulum config directory. Edit it in the Status tab of either UI (or by hand). Changes apply straight away, except the Reticulum config and "announce at start", which are used the next time rettui starts.
• store.json.gz: conversations, contacts (your names for people, notes, who you trust or blocked), saved pages, RRC hubs, nodes you identify to, and the emoji you used lately, as gzip-compressed JSON (read it with zcat store.json.gz | jq). Earlier versions kept it as plain store.json, about five times larger. The first launch after upgrading converts it, checks that the new file reads back the same, and only then removes the old one. Changes are saved every 10 seconds on a background thread, so a large store doesn't pause the UI, and once more when rettui exits.
• peers.json.gz: the LXMF peers, NomadNet nodes and propagation nodes heard. Announces arrive several a second on a busy network, so they are saved apart from the store, which is then only written again when a conversation changes. Earlier versions kept them in the store; the first launch after upgrading moves them.
• archive/: older messages (see Message history below), one file per month, such as archive/2026-09.jsonl.gz: one message per line, with the conversation it's from. Read it with zcat archive/*.jsonl.gz | jq.
• known_identities.json: public keys from LXMF and propagation-node announces, so you can reach peers that are offline now. Saved every few seconds and when rettui exits.
• tickets.json: stamp tickets you gave trusted contacts and ones they gave you. Only you can read it.
• ratchets/: your address's ratchets, one file per address, named as Python LXMF names them. As in Sideband, NomadNet and MeshChat, your announces carry the newest of a set of keys (a new one at most every half hour, as you announce), and senders who heard it encrypt to it: a message can't be read later with your identity's key alone (forward secrecy). The last 512 are kept, for messages still on their way, such as ones waiting on a propagation node. Deleting the folder makes new ones, but messages sent to the old keys can't be read any more. It needn't be backed up.
• cache/: cached NomadNet pages and images
• rrc/: RRC chat history, one file per hub
• rettui.log: logging, as detailed as Log level says (Status, log_level: error, warn by default, info, debug or trace; it changes at once). RETTUI_LOG=debug, set when rettui starts, decides instead
• downloads/: received attachments (one folder per sender) and NomadNet files
• uploads/: files attached to messages sent from the web UI, and the smaller copies of pictures sent (see Messaging)
• update-check.json: what the last update check found, and when
• map-tiles/: pictures for the web UI's map, kept a month (200 MB at most); deleting it is harmless
• node/: your node's pages/ and files/
• propagation/: messages your propagation node keeps for others, one file each, encrypted for their recipients
• web_token: the web UI's login secret (delete it to log every browser out)
• web-tls/: rettui's own HTTPS certificates, with --https (see Web UI): its certificate authority (ca.pem, and its key ca.key) and the certificate it signed for this computer (cert.pem, cert.key). Delete the folder for a new authority, which devices then install again.
• web_push_key: the web UI's key for background notifications (Web Push), and web_push.json: the browsers that turned them on. Deleting the key makes browsers subscribe again the next time they open rettui.

Backups¶

A backup is one .tar.gz file holding what's yours to keep: settings.json, the store (conversations, contacts, saved pages, RRC hubs), peers.json.gz, the archive/ of older messages, known_identities.json, tickets.json, RRC history (rrc/), your node's pages and files (node/) and, unless left out, the identity. Caches, the log, ratchets, the propagation node's messages and the web UI's login, certificates and push keys aren't kept: rettui makes them again. Attachments (downloads/, uploads/) are left out unless asked for.

• Terminal UI: B in the Status tab asks where to save it (your home folder, rettui-backup-<date>.tar.gz, to begin with), with your identity, once what's waiting to be saved is written. The log says when it's done.
• Web UI: Download a backup (Status, Backup). It never has the identity (the login link would otherwise give away the key): back that up in the terminal UI, or with rettui backup.
• Command line: rettui backup [FILE] (by default rettui-backup-<date>.tar.gz here); --with-files adds attachments, --without-identity leaves the identity out. It reads what's saved, so with rettui running it's what was saved last (every 10 seconds).

A backup with the identity is as private as the identity itself: the file is made readable only by you, and whoever has it can pose as you and read what's sent to you. rettui never writes over a file that's there already.

To restore, stop rettui, then rettui restore FILE (with --data-dir DIR for another data directory). Into a data directory that's empty, or new, it just unpacks. One that has an identity or messages already is left alone, unless --force: then what the backup replaces is first moved into a before-restore-<time>/ folder there. A restored backup without an identity gets a new one on the next start, with new addresses: restore yours too (i in the Status tab, or copy it over identity) to keep them. Restoring takes only rettui's own files from the backup, and never writes outside the data directory.

Message history¶

• Messages kept (messages_kept, 1000 by default): each conversation keeps and shows its newest this many messages. Older ones move to archive/ rather than being deleted, so the store rettui loads and saves stays small. 0 keeps every message in the store. The first launch after upgrading archives what's over it, and says so in the log.
• Reading the archive: a conversation's archived messages open from the conversation, only to read (they can't be replied to or deleted one by one). In the TUI, press H in Messages: they open over the tab, the newest at the bottom; ↑↓, PgUp/PgDn and the mouse wheel scroll, and Home goes to the oldest. In the web UI, scroll to the top of the conversation and press Show N archived messages: they go in above, with their files and pictures. Searching looks through the messages kept, not the archive.
• Message storage (message_storage_mb, no limit by default): the most disk, in megabytes, that the store and the archive may use together. Past it, the oldest months of the archive are deleted, oldest first. If the messages kept alone take more, the log says so: lower Messages kept. Attachments (downloads/, uploads/) aren't counted.
• Both settings apply straight away, from the Status tab of either UI.