# Keep data between runs > Keep Firestore, Auth and Storage between starts with --keep-data, where the data lives, how to stop cleanly, and how to start fresh. By default, every start of Firenook begins with empty data. Add `--keep-data` and Firestore, Auth and Storage pick up where you left them, with no export at the stop and no import at the start. This page explains where the data lives, what is kept, and how to start fresh. ## Start with --keep-data ```sh npx firenook emulators:start --keep-data ``` The first start begins empty and says where the data goes: ```text firenook 0.2.0 demo-shop · a fresh start Node 24.20.0 · data in .firenook/state ``` Stop with `q` or Ctrl-C, and Firenook saves the data before it exits: ```text 19:41:54 ✓ stopped 102 ms everything is kept in .firenook/state ``` Every later start picks the data up, says when it was saved, and counts what it holds: ```text firenook 0.2.0 demo-shop · picking up the data saved just now Node 24.20.0 · data in .firenook/state Firestore ✓ 32 ms 5 documents Auth ✓ 32 ms 1 user Storage ✓ 32 ms 1 object ``` The "saved" time is when the data's files were last written: `just now` under a minute, then `12 minutes ago`, `3 hours ago` and `2 days ago`. ## Without --keep-data Each start gets a new, empty working directory, `.firenook/runs/session-/state`, and says so: ```text firenook 0.2.0 demo-shop · a fresh start Node 24.20.0 · data in .firenook/runs/session-VLd3PD, for this run ``` ```text 19:42:21 ✓ stopped 63 ms this run's data stays in .firenook/runs/session-VLd3PD ``` Old runs stay on disk and are never loaded again. Firenook never deletes them, so remove old `session-*` folders yourself when you no longer need them. ## Where the data lives - .firenook/ - state/ data kept with --keep-data - firestore/ - firenook.redb the Firestore store - storage/ objects and their metadata - auth-state.json - native-state.json the receipt: project, buckets and seed - runs/ - session-Uj2lKW/ one folder per start, with its launch receipt - exports/ snapshots taken with the e key `firenook init` adds `.firenook/` to your `.gitignore`. The data is a working store, not an export: copy it to another machine as an [export](https://firenook.dev/docs/data/export) instead. ## What is kept | Kept | Not kept | | --- | --- | | Firestore documents | Pub/Sub topics, subscriptions and messages | | Auth users, tenants and the Auth configuration | Cloud Tasks queues and tasks | | Storage objects and their metadata | Paused schedules: every start runs them all | The official emulator keeps no Pub/Sub or Cloud Tasks data either. Because the receipt covers all three, `--keep-data` needs Firestore, Auth and Storage running together. Starting with `--only` and without one of them fails: ```text suite failed: --resume-state requires the firestore, auth and storage services (the native state receipt covers all three) ``` The start command `firenook init` writes uses `--keep-data`. If you set a project up without Auth or Storage, remove `--keep-data` from its `emulators` script, and keep data with an export instead ([export and snapshots](https://firenook.dev/docs/data/export)). ## Keep data from a seed `--keep-data` works with `--import`. The first start imports the seed into `.firenook/state`, every later start picks the data up, and the seed folder is never written: ```sh npx firenook emulators:start --import ./data --keep-data ``` [Seeds and imports](https://firenook.dev/docs/data/seeds) covers what happens when the seed changes. ## Several sets of data `--keep-data` is short for `--state-dir ./.firenook/state --resume-state`. Name another folder with `--state-dir` to keep separate data, for example one per seed or per experiment: ```sh npx firenook emulators:start --state-dir ./.firenook/checkout-tests --resume-state ``` The state folder must not hold your seed, your export folder or the project itself. Without `--resume-state`, Firenook refuses a folder that already holds data, rather than reset it or import into it again: ```text Firenook: Existing nonempty state requires explicit --resume-state (or --keep-data); never silently reimport or reset it ``` Only one Firenook can use a state folder at a time. A second start on the same folder stops with `in use by another Firenook`; see [recovery](https://firenook.dev/docs/data/recovery). ## Stop cleanly Press `q` or Ctrl-C in the terminal. Firenook stops the emulators, saves the data and closes its files, then exits: ```text ⠋ stopping 958 ms saving your data ``` Closing the terminal window stops it the same way. In a script, send `SIGINT` or `SIGTERM` to the `firenook` process and wait for it to exit. A `firenook` command ended with `kill -9` stops its engine too: the engine saves the data, closes it and frees the ports within a moment, and the next start picks the data up as after any stop. Killing the engine itself is different: Firestore loses nothing, but the next start checks the store and repairs it if it needs to. See [recovery after a crash](https://firenook.dev/docs/data/recovery). ## Start fresh Firenook never deletes kept data. To start again from nothing, stop Firenook, then move or delete the folder: ```sh rm -rf .firenook/state ``` Or keep the old data and start a new set beside it with another `--state-dir`. To keep a copy you can load anywhere, take an [export](https://firenook.dev/docs/data/export) first. ## Earlier releases Data an earlier release kept opens in 0.2.0 as it is. On that first start, 0.2.0 builds its ordered field index once, with one read of every document: 7.4 s for 211,202 documents, and 49 s for 2.7 million, on the benchmark server. The plain log says when it is done: ```text firenook: indexed the top-level fields of 1000 Firestore documents in 0.0 s ``` Every start after that opens the data at once. Data saved by 0.2.0 opens in 0.2.0-next.8, which rebuilds its own index the same way. Data kept without a seed needs 0.2.0-next.7 or later: 0.2.0-next.6 refuses it and changes nothing. ## Next Start your kept data from an export with [seeds and imports](https://firenook.dev/docs/data/seeds).