Phials Home and global app data

Phials Home is the app-owned folder that holds durable settings, global state, installed community plugins, and locally stored Workspace Folder bundles. It is separate from the ordinary files and folders you browse.

Reveal the active Phials Home

Open the Command Bar and run Reveal Phials home folder. This is the reliable way to locate the active folder because Phials can be launched with a custom PHIALS_HOME location.

You can also open Settings, enable Developer mode, choose Developer, then choose Show Phials folder. The same page shows the resolved path to config.toml.

Without a PHIALS_HOME override, the default is a hidden .phials folder in your operating-system home folder:

Platform	Default Phials Home
macOS	/Users/<name>/.phials
Windows	C:\Users\<name>\.phials
Linux	/home/<name>/.phials

~/.phials is shorthand for the macOS or Linux default, not a universal literal path. On Windows, %USERPROFILE%\.phials refers to the default location.

If you set the PHIALS_HOME environment variable before launching Phials, every Phials Home path below is relative to that folder instead. Quit Phials before moving an existing Phials Home or changing that override.

Durable contents

Relative path	User-visible purpose	Backup class
config.toml	App preferences, including appearance, Explorer defaults, file visibility, opening behavior, thumbnails, Terminal, and some feature settings	Durable
data/app.db	Ordinary-folder saved views and column layouts, saved network locations, local Workspace Folder registration, and cross-Workspace indexes	Durable as a whole
data/plugins.db	Data stored by shipped features and community plugins, including Recents and some feature caches	Durable as a whole
state/session.json	Restored tabs and tab groups, Layouts, favorites, saved searches, panel arrangement, Navigator state, command customization, and plugin settings	Durable
state/shortcuts.json	Custom keyboard shortcuts	Durable
state/plugin-data.json	Namespaced key/value data stored by community plugins	Durable when you want plugin data restored
vials/<workspace-id>/	Complete bundles for Workspace Folders stored locally in Phials Home	Durable; copy each bundle as one unit
plugins/<plugin-id>/	Installed community-plugin packages and their bundled assets	Durable if you want the same installed plugins
license.json	Signed local license entitlement cache	Device-sensitive; you may need to activate again after moving devices
trial.json	Local trial record tied to a machine fingerprint	Device-sensitive; it is not a transferable trial

Phials also creates app-managed directories such as themes/, and regenerable files such as open-with-probes/. Preserve the complete Phials Home for a full backup instead of selecting only the familiar filenames.

app.db and plugins.db both contain a mixture of durable state and rebuildable data. Do not delete either database as a cache-clearing shortcut.

Data outside Phials Home

Phials Home does not contain:

• ordinary files and folders you browse;
• portable Workspace Folder bundles stored as .phials inside their content folders;
• OS-managed thumbnail, metadata, Camera RAW, and audio-proxy caches;
• OS-managed window geometry, which is stored separately and can be recreated if omitted from a backup.

See Caches and temporary data for the regenerable stores and Back up and restore Phials data before copying or replacing durable data.