Where Does Bitmessage Store Keys and Messages?
Bitmessage identity lives in a keys.dat file in the app data folder, with messages in the same directory.
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Bitmessage has no accounts and no servers holding your identity. Addresses, keys, and messages live in a keys.dat file inside the application's data folder on your disk.
Lose that file and the identity is gone with no recovery line to call. Back it up encrypted and offline, since it holds spendable anonymity in one place. The network only relays messages; everything durable sits in that folder.
Where Bitmessage stores this, by platform
%APPDATA%\PyBitmessage\keys.dat
Identity keys and messages in keys.dat plus the message store. Copy the folder for migration; guard keys.dat like credentials since it cannot be reissued.
~/.config/PyBitmessage/keys.dat
Same PyBitmessage data layout under the home directory. The keys.dat file transfers directly between machines.
Frequently asked questions
How do I move my Bitmessage identity to a new computer?
Copy keys.dat to the same folder on the new machine. The file is the identity, so anyone holding it owns the addresses. Guard it like a password file.
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