# 1.12.0 Migration Guide

SillyTavern 1.12.0 (codename the "Neo Server" update) includes several critical changes that may affect the way you use SillyTavern.

This guide will prepare you for the update and provide some further guidance.

1.12.0 changes the way SillyTavern handles the user data.

Previously, all of the persistent data was stored together with the frontend part in the /public directory, which created confusion and potential points of failure, as well as making containerization and system-wide app installation quite challenging.

All persistent information from /public such as settings and chats (full list below) was moved into a separate directory with the configurable path, making it portable and independent from the web server itself. When needed for compatibility purposes, for example, for hosting extensions, full-size character cards, user image uploads, etc. a smart redirect has been set up to automatically host user files from the data directory.

You can provide either an absolute or a relative (to the ST repository directory) path to the data root either by config.yaml or by starting the server with the --dataRoot console argument.

YAML example

# -- DATA CONFIGURATION --
# Root directory for user data storage
dataRoot: C:\Users\Harry\Documents\ST-Data

Console example

node server.js --dataRoot="/Users/harry/ST-Data"
# OR
npm run start -- --dataRoot="/Users/harry/ST-Data"

The default data root path is ./data, which means the data directory in SillyTavern's repository.

1. Only if you want to move dataRoot from the default location. Otherwise, skip this part. Set the data root before first running the server after pulling an update. Run npm install for the config.yaml to populate with a new value, or pass a console argument.
2. All data will be migrated into a default-user account. See more on Users below.

You don't have to do anything! An automatic migration should handle everything for you when you start the ST server and it detects the old storage format (by checking the existence of the /public/characters directory).

Upon moving any files, an automatic backup will be created in the /backups/_migration/YYYY-MM-DD (resolved to the current date) directory, but it is always a good practice to make a full manual backup before running the migration.

Migrating the data in Docker volumes is a bit trickier but pretty straightforward. While docker-compose.yml provided with the repo was updated to reflect the changes, you may need to adjust your custom workflows/deployments.

Step 1. Create a new volume, and mount it to the "/home/node/app/data" path within the container. Don't remove the config volume.

volumes:
    - "./config:/home/node/app/config"
    - "./data:/home/node/app/data"

Step 2. Move everything but the config.yaml file from the config volume into the default-user subdirectory of the data volume.

Step 3. Rebuild the container and start it up.

The following files and directories are subject to the data migration. Assuming the default configuration, the before and after paths are provided in the table below.

1.12.0 adds a (completely optional) ability to create a multi-user setup on the same server, allowing multiple users to use their own fully isolated SillyTavern instances even at the same time. User accounts can also be password-protected for an additional layer of privacy.

Please refer to the Users documentation for more information.