Frequently Asked Questions

Where is my data stored?

Everything is stored in your vault folder on your computer. Atlas writes all notes, CRM data, memory files, and session history as plain files in the directory you chose when setting up your vault.

You can find your vault path in Settings > Vault. On most systems it’s a folder you picked during first setup.

Is my data sent to the cloud?

Only two things leave your machine:

Chat messages — the text you send in the chat input, plus relevant vault notes that Atlas includes as context for the AI
Voice recordings — audio you record for speech-to-text transcription

Everything else — your vault notes, CRM contacts, memory files, relationship graph — stays on your machine. It is never uploaded anywhere.

For more details, see Privacy Settings.

Can I use Atlas without internet?

Yes. All local features work completely offline:

Notes and vault management
Hybrid semantic + keyword search
CRM (people, organizations, topics, graph)
Plugins and templates
Daily notes and tasks
Scheduling and reminders
Calendar sync (once authenticated)
Memory and session history

The only features that require an internet connection are AI chat, voice input/output, and wake word responses (because the AI processing happens in the cloud).

How do I back up my vault?

Your vault is just a folder of plain text files — back it up however you’d normally back up files:

Copy the folder to an external drive or cloud storage
Use git: git init inside your vault and push to GitHub or GitLab
Use a sync service: Dropbox, iCloud, OneDrive, Syncthing, etc.

Atlas doesn’t provide built-in backup or sync (that’s what Walk & Talk’s upcoming cloud sync feature is for), but it’s fully compatible with any backup approach you already use.

Can I use my vault with other apps?

Yes. Your vault is entirely plain Markdown files — the same format used by Obsidian, Logseq, VS Code, and any text editor. You can open your Atlas vault in Obsidian, edit notes in VS Code, or push it to GitHub and read it there.

Atlas won’t break if you edit files in another app. The file watcher picks up external changes and re-indexes modified files automatically.

What happens if I cancel my subscription?

All local features keep working exactly as before — notes, search, CRM, plugins, templates, everything. Your data stays on your machine.

You lose access to AI chat, voice input/output, wake word detection, and drumbeat until you resubscribe. Your subscription settings are preserved, so re-enabling features after resubscribing takes just a sign-in.

How does Atlas protect my privacy?

Your notes never leave your computer. The only data sent to the cloud is what you explicitly include in a chat (your message text and relevant notes that Atlas includes as context) and any voice recordings you make.

Atlas’s servers forward these to OpenAI for processing. No conversation history or vault content is stored on Atlas’s servers beyond what OpenAI processes. For full details, see Privacy Settings.

Can I use my own OpenAI API key?

Atlas has a legacy self-hosted mode that supports direct OpenAI API key usage. However, this is not the recommended or actively supported approach — it requires additional configuration and doesn’t include the subscription-based usage tracking and tier management.

The recommended path is an Atlas Cloud subscription, which handles all of this transparently. If you have specific self-hosting needs, contact info@atlasnotes.io.

Where does Atlas store its configuration?

Atlas configuration (settings, vault path, auth tokens) is stored as a JSON file in your system’s app data directory:

Windows: %APPDATA%\atlas\config.json
macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/atlas/config.json
Linux: ~/.local/share/atlas/config.json

You can back this up too, but be careful — it contains your auth tokens.