Storage
All your snippets are on your computer locally. massCode supports two storage engines: Markdown Vault (default) and SQLite (legacy). You can switch between them in Settings → Storage.
Markdown Vault
Starting from v4.5.0, you can store your snippets as plain Markdown files directly on disk. This is the default and recommended storage engine.
Why it matters
- Your data is just files. Each snippet is a
.mdfile with frontmatter metadata. No database, no binary formats. You can read, edit, and organize snippets with any text editor or file manager. - Git-friendly. Store snippets in a Git repository, sync via GitHub, track change history — everything works out of the box because it's just files.
- Cloud sync. iCloud, Dropbox, Syncthing — any file sync service will do. No database conflicts.
- Live sync. massCode watches the vault directory in real time via a file watcher. Edit a file externally — the app picks up changes automatically.
How it works
The vault structure mirrors your folder hierarchy. Each folder is a directory on disk, each snippet is a .md file inside it. Metadata (language, tags, order) is stored in frontmatter, while .state.json handles UI state (expanded folders, sort order).
To enable Markdown Vault, go to Settings → Storage and switch the storage engine.
SQLite (Legacy)
SQLite storage engine uses a SQLite database (massCode.db). You can change the folder where your snippets will be stored or open and import existing snippets.
WARNING
Do not place the SQLite database on shared or network drives (e.g. iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive). SQLite uses file-level locking, which means two applications cannot open the same database simultaneously. This can lead to data corruption or lock errors.
Open Existing
- Click on the Open storage button.
- Select the folder containing the file
massCode.db.
Move
- Click on the Move storage button.
- Select the folder where the
massCode.dbfile will be moved.
Migrate
From massCode v3
To migrate from massCode v3.0 select the folder containing the db.json file.