FAQ - Do I own my deposits? Where do they live?
Where do they live?
Title suggestion: AGENT - FAQ - Do I own my deposits? Where do they live? Shelf: Work Tags: faq, asker, intelligent-netware, ownership, vault, markdown, portability, local-first
Public answer
Question people actually type: Do I own my deposits? Where do they live?
Yes. You own your deposits, and they live as plain files on your own drive.
Every deposit is a Markdown file, which is ordinary text with light formatting. You can open it in Notepad, Obsidian, Word, or any text editor. You can copy it to a backup drive, email it to yourself, or delete it. You don't need our software to read it, and you don't need our permission to take it with you.
Your vault is simply a set of folders on your computer. Compa organizes those folders and helps you write, review, and approve. When you approve deposits, Compa syncs copies to your online room so the Asker can answer from them. The originals stay on your drive.
That design is deliberate. Many online tools keep your material inside their system, and "export" is a download button they offer later. Here, the files never left your desk as the system of record. Exporting means copying a folder.
Ownership is also written into our Terms of Service: you own your deposits, recordings, notes, and everything else you put into the service. We take only the limited permission needed to host and display your content in your room.
What if you cancel, or Intelligent Netware went away? Your files stay on your drive, because they were never only a cloud copy. If you cancel, we take your room offline and delete our hosted copy of your content within 7 days, except for anything the law requires us to keep. App updates and hosting would stop. Your words would not disappear.
A stewardship tip: back up your vault the way you'd back up any notebook that matters. Copying the folder to another drive once a month is plenty, and many owners keep it in a folder their usual backup already covers.
One more point: owning the files also means owning their accuracy. Because the room answers from your approved deposits, keeping those files current is how you keep the room current. That's a small job when the files are plain text you can open in seconds.
Related questions
- [[FAQ_2026-10-02_07-what-is-a-deposit-and-where-to-start|What is a deposit, and what should I deposit first?]]
- [[FAQ_2026-10-02_24-what-is-compa|What is Compa?]]
- [[FAQ_2026-10-02_30-terms-of-service-and-ownership|What do the Terms of Service cover? Who owns what?]]
- [[FAQ_2026-10-02_31-cancellation-and-your-files|What happens if I cancel? What happens to my files?]]
- [[FAQ_2026-10-02_00-INDEX|All Asker FAQs]]
_Written by Daniel Comp with GB, Director of Operations, Intelligent Netware._