# Settings & data reference

> Every privacy and security setting in one table — where it is, its default, and what it does — and every place DocGraph keeps data outside your notes.

Source: https://docs.docgraph.app/privacy/reference/

## Privacy and security settings

"Per vault" settings apply to the open vault only; the rest apply everywhere.

| Setting | Where | Default | Scope | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allow scripts in this vault | Privacy → Page scripts | Off | Per vault | Lets pages run their own `<script>` ([details](https://docs.docgraph.app/privacy/pages/)) |
| Allow remote content in this vault | Privacy → Page scripts | Off | Per vault | Lets pages load images, fonts and other resources from the internet |
| Warn me when saving a file adds a new secret | Privacy → Activity & audit (Security Audit) | On | Per vault | Warns when a save introduces an API key or token ([details](https://docs.docgraph.app/privacy/secrets/)) |
| When content is about to leave this machine | Privacy → Activity & audit (Security Audit) | Warn me, but send it | Per vault | Don't inspect / Warn / Block secrets in prompts, searches and pushes |
| Inspect prompts to my local model too | Privacy → Activity & audit (Security Audit) | Off | Per vault | Also checks prompts to a model on this computer |
| Never scan these paths | Privacy → Activity & audit (Security Audit) | None | Per vault | Folders and files the secret checks skip |
| Ignore these values | Privacy → Activity & audit (Security Audit) | None | Per vault | Values the secret checks never flag |
| Block secrets from being sent to cloud providers | AI → Models & providers | On | Everywhere | Turns *Warn* into *Block* for cloud providers |
| Allow *provider* | AI → Models & providers | Not allowed | Everywhere | A cloud provider can be used only after you allow it in a system dialog ([details](https://docs.docgraph.app/privacy/ai/#cloud-providers)) |
| Search language | AI → Chat & index | Not chosen | Everywhere | Choosing one downloads the search helper and its reranker from Hugging Face — about 75 MB for English, about 270 MB for many languages ([details](https://docs.docgraph.app/privacy/ai/#model-downloads)) |
| Allow remote Ollama | AI → Chat & index | Off | Everywhere | Lets chat use an Ollama on another computer |
| Enable web search | AI → Web search | Off | Everywhere | Lets the assistant search through your SearXNG service; each query asks first, unless you chose **Allow in this chat** |
| Local server only | AI → Web search | Off | Everywhere | Refuses a search service that isn't on this computer |
| External agents | Connections → Agents & MCP | All off | Everywhere | Makes an installed agent a chat source; its traffic isn't monitored |
| MCP server | Connections → Agents & MCP | Off | Everywhere | Lets an outside AI app work with the vault, on this computer only |
| Auto-approve routine edits | Connections → Agents & MCP | Off | Everywhere | Lets an MCP client edit without asking; deletes, renames, moves, column changes, memory and block-property changes still ask |
| Check for updates automatically | General → Updates | On | Everywhere | Checks about once a day ([details](https://docs.docgraph.app/privacy/sync-updates/#updates)); also lets the What's new tab load its pictures without a click |
| Show release notes after an update | General → Updates | On | Everywhere | Opens a What's new tab once after a feature release; reads offline ([details](https://docs.docgraph.app/privacy/sync-updates/#release-notes)) |
| Keep running in the menu bar | General → Appearance | On | Everywhere | DocGraph — including an enabled MCP server — keeps running after you close the window |
| Git remote | Connections → Sync (git) | None | Per vault | Where **Push** sends the vault; `https://`, SSH or a local folder; `http://` and `git://` refused ([details](https://docs.docgraph.app/privacy/sync-updates/#backing-up-with-git)) |
| Git access token | Connections → Sync (git) → Authenticate to this remote | None | Per host | Signs in to an `https://` remote; **Remove** deletes it |

Encryption has no settings: an unlocked note locks when the window loses focus or after 15 minutes without interaction ([details](https://docs.docgraph.app/privacy/encryption/)).

## Where your data lives

Your notes are ordinary files in your vault folder. DocGraph keeps everything else in `~/.docgraph/` (or the folder in `DOCGRAPH_DATA_DIR`, if you set it):

| Path | Contains | Who can read it |
|---|---|---|
| `index/` | **A full plain-text copy of your unencrypted notes' text**, their embeddings, the link graph, tags, the AI activity log, chat history, secret findings | Ordinary permissions |
| `settings.json` | All settings and recent vault paths | Only you |
| `activity-ledger.jsonl` (+ `.1`) | The network log | Only you |
| `logs/` | App log: paths, hosts, sizes — no note content, passwords or tokens | Ordinary permissions |
| `mcp-token` | The MCP server's token | Only you |
| `git-credentials.json` | Access tokens for git remotes | Only you |
| `git-askpass.sh` | A tiny helper script git calls for a username and password during sync. It holds **no secret**: the token is passed to git through its environment, not written here | Only you (mode 0700) |
| `cloud-models/` | The model lists of cloud providers you've set up | Ordinary permissions |
| `models/` | Downloaded AI model files | Ordinary permissions |
| `tables/` | A cache of your tables | Ordinary permissions |

**Cloud API keys** are the one thing not in a file: they're in your operating system's keychain.

Inside each vault, a `.docgraph/` folder holds vault-level data such as properties, tables, saved queries, folder icons, the [ontology](https://docs.docgraph.app/settings/overview/#ontology) (`ontology.json`) and [automation rules](https://docs.docgraph.app/settings/overview/#automations) (`rules.json`), and `.git/` holds version history if you turned it on.

DocGraph won't open a system folder as a vault — `/`, your home folder, `~/.docgraph`, `~/Library`, `/Users`, `/System` and the like are refused. A whole external disk opens only when you pick it explicitly.

:::caution[The index is not encrypted]
`~/.docgraph/index/` holds the text of every note you haven't encrypted, in an ordinary database file. [Encrypting a note](https://docs.docgraph.app/privacy/encryption/) removes *that* note from it. Full-disk encryption (FileVault) is what protects the rest.
:::