Thingport/docs/features/storage.md

# Plain files on your disk

Thingport stores models as ordinary files in its storage folder, not locked inside a database. Back them up with any
tool you already use, and browse them like any other folder.

## Choose the folder layout

Under **Administration → Storage**, admins build the folder structure from blocks:

- Category or folder, with parent ones as parent folders
- Collection
- Tags
- Creator
- Model name and model ID
- File name, optionally with the plate number first
- A folder with a fixed name of your own, such as `Library`

Every user's files sit in a folder of their own first, so a file ends up at, for example,
`<user>/Props/Workshop/Cable clip/Cable clip.3mf`. The layout can also be typed as text, such as
`{category-or-folder}/{model}/{filename}`.

Change the layout later and existing files are moved to match in the background, with progress shown as they go.
Renaming a model renames its files too, so the folders stay readable. **Browse files** shows where each model's files
are now.

## How much space it takes

**Administration → Overview** shows the disk space Thingport uses, split into model files, pictures and previews, and
other generated files. [System Health](../guides/system-health.md) warns when the storage folder runs low on space or
can't be written to.

The storage folder is the `thingport_storage` volume, mounted at `/app/storage` in the backend container.