Where Does LibrePhotos Store Data and Photos?
Where LibrePhotos keeps its database, protected media, logs and photo scan folder.
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LibrePhotos splits state across host bind mounts: db for Postgres or SQLite, protected_media for transcoded video and uploads, logs for app logs plus the secret key, and the scan directory with your actual photos.
The .env file decides which backend runs and where host paths land. Deleting protected_media by hand is safe (it reconverts), but the database and secret key are not. Down -v never wipes bind mounted data, only anonymous volumes.
Where LibrePhotos stores this, by platform
<librephotos data>/db/
Host bind mounts for db, protected_media, logs and the photo scan dir, mapped from .env. Back up db plus protected_media for full restores. Keep secret.key in logs.
Frequently asked questions
What must I back up for LibrePhotos?
Back up the db, protected_media and logs host folders plus the photo scan directory. The database holds faces and tags while protected_media holds transcoded video; photos themselves stay in your scan folder.
Can I delete files inside the logs folder?
Keep the generated secret.key file inside the logs folder. The deployment docs warn against deleting it, since fresh secrets invalidate existing sessions and tokens.
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