Your Data, Your Way

Archivist stores everything in an open, standard format. You can export your data at any time, browse it with external tools, or take it to another platform entirely. There's no lock-in.

A Standard SQLite Database

Under the hood, Archivist uses SQLite — one of the most widely used database formats in the world. Your documents, passages, tags, and search data are all stored in a single .db file on your computer.

This matters because:

You can open it yourself. Tools like DB Browser for SQLite let you browse, query, and inspect your data directly — no Archivist required.
You can copy it. It's a single file. Back it up, move it to another machine, or store it in cloud storage.
You can use it elsewhere. Any application that reads SQLite can work with your data.

Export Options

Archivist gives you several ways to get your data out:

Export the Full Database

From the Inspect tab, click Export Full Database to save a complete snapshot as a .db file. This includes everything — documents, passages, embeddings, tags, and settings. It's a full backup you can restore from or use independently.

Export Passages as CSV

Select specific passages on the Inspect tab and click Export Selected Chunks to .csv to save them as a spreadsheet. This is useful for:

Reviewing your data in Excel or Google Sheets
Feeding passages into another tool or workflow
Sharing specific content with colleagues

Export Chat Sessions

From the Query tab, click Export Session to save your entire conversation — questions and AI responses — as a Markdown text file.

Download Converted Text

From the Pre-Process tab, download your converted documents as text or Markdown files before they even enter the database.

No Repeated Work

One of the most time-consuming parts of working with AI and documents is the preparation — converting files to text, breaking them into the right-sized passages, and processing them for search.

If you've done that work in Archivist, you don't have to do it again. Export your passages as CSV or copy your database, and bring that prepared data to any other platform. The chunking, the organization, the tagging — it all comes with you.

Use Archivist As a Preparation Tool

Even if you ultimately want to use a cloud-based AI service or a different database, Archivist can serve as your document preparation workbench:

Convert documents from 50+ formats into clean text
Chunk them into well-sized passages using your choice of strategy
Organize them with file set tags
Export the prepared data to wherever you need it

You get a free, private, no-code tool for the tedious parts of document processing, with complete freedom to take the results anywhere.