Files on your machine - Alike

Alike keeps its local files in ~/.alike/. The folders are private to your user account.

Path	Contents	Safe to delete?
`~/.alike/credentials.json`	The machine’s credential and the server it belongs to	Yes. The machine is then not paired. Run `--doctor` to pair again
`~/.alike/install-manifest.json`	The installer version, the agents that it wired, and your capture choices	Deleting it stops transcript capture until you run the installer again
`~/.alike/runtime/`	The code that your agents’ hooks run	No. The hooks stop working. Run the installer to restore it
`~/.alike/*.mjs`	Code that the hooks load	No. The hooks stop working. Run the installer to restore it
`~/.alike/runtime/flags.json`	Your own runtime settings, for example `{"save": false}`	Yes
`~/.alike/archive/`	Local copies of the transcripts that the sweep captured, and the record of what it already uploaded	Yes, but the next capture copies and uploads your full history again
`~/.alike/logs/sweep.log`	The sweep log. It rotates at 1 MB	Yes
`~/.alike/hook-fires.json`	A record of hook runs, for the doctor	Yes. The doctor then shows the hooks as never run until they run again
`~/.alike/payloads/`	Raw hook data, only after `--doctor --dump-hook-payload`	Yes. Delete it when you are done
Other `.json` files in `~/.alike/`	Local state and caches	Yes

Disk space

The sweep keeps a copy of each captured transcript in ~/.alike/archive/. Alike does not delete old copies. The folder can become as large as your agents’ own session history. To free space, delete the folder:

Capture uses this folder to track what it already uploaded. When you delete it, the next capture copies and uploads all of your sessions again.

rm -rf ~/.alike/archive

Backups of your settings files

Before the first change to a settings file, the installer saves a copy as <file>.bak-alike. It never replaces that copy. To restore your settings from before Alike, copy the backup over the file. For example:

cp ~/.cursor/mcp.json.bak-alike ~/.cursor/mcp.json

A backup contains your settings from before you installed Alike. Changes that you made after that date are not in it.