> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.payback.sh/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Files on your machine

> What lives under ~/.payback and what each file is for.

Everything payback keeps on your machine is under `~/.payback` (or `$PAYBACK_HOME`).

| Path | What it is |
| - | - |
| `config.toml` | This machine's account token, your GitHub login, and settings such as `telemetry` and `paused`. |
| `allow` | The [allow list](https://docs.payback.sh/repositories.md): the policy, named repositories and exclusions. |
| `repo_visibility.json` | The local cache of which repositories are public, written by the uploader. |
| `excludes` | The secret-file patterns never included in a snapshot. |
| `spool/` | Captures waiting to upload (`ready`), in flight, done, or failed. |
| `store.git` | The repository snapshots behind captures, as git objects. |
| `sessions/`, `session_artifacts/`, `transcripts/` | Per-session counters, end-of-session transcripts, and pre-compaction copies waiting to upload. |
| `events/` | The CLI's own operation log (one JSON line per hook or upload step), kept locally. |
| `product/` | Product events waiting to ship; see [Product analytics](https://docs.payback.sh/data/analytics.md). |
| `payback.db` | The index `payback status` reads. |

Captures stay here until they're uploaded, and a copy stays afterwards. The binary itself lives in `~/.local/share/payback/`, with `~/.local/bin/payback` linking to the current version.


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