Files and folders

Asterobot keeps nothing next to the program itself. It stores everything in standard folders of your user profile: one for its settings, one for its data and one for its cache. Knowing which is which tells you what to copy when you back up your Asterobot or move it to another computer.

Where the folders are

Asterobot creates them the first time it starts. They're always three separate folders: Asterobot refuses to start with one of them inside another.

• On Windows, %LocalAppData% usually stands for C:\Users\<your name>\AppData\Local. Typing the path, % signs included, in File Explorer's address bar opens the folder.
• On macOS and Linux, ~ is your home folder.
• On Linux, the variables XDG_CONFIG_HOME, XDG_DATA_HOME and XDG_CACHE_HOME replace ~/.config, ~/.local/share and ~/.cache when they hold an absolute path.
• On every system, the options --config-dir, --appdata-dir and --cache-dir, or their environment variables, choose other folders. Command line explains them.

The settings folder

It holds a single file, config.toml, with the settings you changed on Server > Config. Settings still at their default aren't written in it, which is why the file is empty after a first launch. The Config page explains how Asterobot reads and writes it, including when you edit it by hand.

config.toml contains two secrets once they're set: website.token, Asterobot's sign-in on asterobot.net, and the logins and passwords of server.basicAuth, in plain text.

The data folder

This is the folder that makes your Asterobot yours. Losing it means adding your bots, accounts and packages again.

The cache folder

The last folder holds the chunks game versions are rebuilt from, in its chunk subfolder (How chunks are stored), and the lists of versions and files Ankama's download servers publish, with a few other files they provide.

Everything in the cache can be downloaded or rebuilt again. Losing it costs time, not settings: you download and extract your game versions again. It's also by far the largest folder, since it holds the game versions (Why Asterobot downloads Dofus).

No log files

Asterobot doesn't write any log file. Its log goes to the terminal it runs in, and to Server > Console while an Asteroboard is open. Once the terminal window is closed, its lines are gone, so copy what you need first. Status and console covers both places.

Permissions

On Linux and macOS, Asterobot restricts the files that hold secrets to your own user account:

On Windows, these restrictions have no effect. In every case, anyone who can open files as your user, or who gets a copy of these files, can read the passwords and use the tokens in them. Getting help lists what must never be shared.

Editing the files by hand

• config.toml: Asterobot watches it and applies your changes as soon as you save. See The Config page.
• bots.toml and accounts.toml: Asterobot reads them only when it starts, and writes them again each time something changes. A change you make while it runs is overwritten. Stop Asterobot before you edit them, and keep a copy of the original.
• Game version folders: after adding or removing one by hand, click Rescan in Game Manager (Manage game versions).
• Package folders: don't change the files of a package installed from the marketplace. Asterobot checks them each time the package loads and refuses them if they changed (Trusting a package).

Back up your Asterobot

1. Stop Asterobot, so it isn't writing any file while you copy (First launch).
2. Copy the settings folder and the data folder somewhere safe. The cache folder is optional: everything in it can be downloaded again, but that takes time.
3. Start Asterobot again.

To restore a backup, stop Asterobot, put the folders back in place, then start it.

Move to another computer

1. Download and unpack Asterobot on the new computer (Download Asterobot).
2. Stop Asterobot on the old computer.
3. Copy the settings folder and the data folder to the places listed at the top of this page for the new computer's system. Copy the cache folder too if you don't want to download your game versions again.
4. Start Asterobot on the new computer.

The files and folders inside keep the same names on every system, only their locations change.

Then check a few things:

• Asterobot is still signed in to asterobot.net, since the sign-in travels in config.toml.
• Your bots come back disconnected, as after any restart. A bot whose game version isn't in the cache is skipped until you download and extract that version (Disconnect, delete and restart).
• Settings that name a folder of the old computer still point there if you had changed them: botmanager.mitmGamePath and zaapmanager.browserPath. Settings you never changed take the new computer's defaults.
• Asteroboard remembers its Server URL per browser. On a new computer or browser, open the new Asterobot's address once to connect (Preferences).

What each reset deletes

Reset and start over helps you pick the right one when something is broken.

Where to go next

• Command line
• Updating Asterobot