How to reset Sidekicks

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57

# How to reset Sidekicks

This guide shows how to start again from a clean state: the configuration, the conversation history, or both, from the application (the **Danger zone** of Settings) or by hand.

## What Sidekicks keeps, and where

Everything is in one folder: `~/Library/Application Support/sidekicks/` on macOS, `~/.config/sidekicks/` on Linux (or `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/sidekicks/`).

| File or folder | Holds |
| --- | --- |
| `config.yaml` | the default configuration: agents, channels to create, preferences |
| `preferences.json` | the last configuration opened from the application, and the recent ones |
| `data/` | the history: one database per configuration file (channels, members, messages, agents' commands) |

## From the application: the Danger zone

1. Open **Settings** and unfold **Danger zone**, at the bottom of the panel.
2. Choose what starts again from scratch:

   | Choice | Effect | Copy kept |
   | --- | --- | --- |
   | **Reset the settings** | The configuration file in use goes back to the default one; `preferences.json` (last opened, recent files) is forgotten. | `config.<date>.yaml` next to the file, `preferences.<date>.json` |
   | **Clear the history of this configuration** | The channels, members and messages of this configuration. The channels it declares are created again. | `data/<hash>.<date>/` |
   | **Clear the history of every configuration** | The history of every configuration file. | `data.<date>/` |
   | **Reset everything** | The settings and the history of every configuration. | all three |

3. Click **Reset…**, read what will be lost, then **Reset**. Running agents are stopped when the history is touched. Unsaved changes in the editor are lost when the settings are.
4. The list of the copies kept shows. Sidekicks stays usable, without a restart.

The date looks like `2026-10-31T08-15-00` (no `:`). Sidekicks never opens the copies again: delete them when you no longer need them (see Variants).

## By hand

Quit Sidekicks first (⌘Q): it holds the history open while it runs. On macOS (on Linux, replace the folder as above):

```bash
cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/sidekicks
rm -rf data                 # every conversation and channel, of every configuration
rm -f preferences.json      # the last opened and recent files: the default configuration opens again
rm -f config.yaml           # the configuration: a commented default one is written at the next launch
```

Run only the lines you need. Then launch Sidekicks again.

## Variants

- **Delete the Danger zone's copies**: in the folder above, `rm -rf data.20* data/*.20* preferences.20*.json`, and the `config.<date>.yaml` next to your configuration file.
- **Get a copy back**: quit Sidekicks, then rename it to its original name (e.g. `mv data.2026-10-31T08-15-00 data`, after moving the current `data` aside).
- **Only one configuration's history**: each folder in `data/` belongs to one configuration file, but its name is a hash of the file's path; when you cannot tell which one, reset all of `data/`.
- **Get the test agents back** after deleting `config.yaml`: `make install-test-config` at the root of the repository.
- **Keep a copy**: rename instead of deleting, e.g. `mv data data.old`.
- **Panel sizes**: they are kept by the window itself; Settings and the log start folded at every launch anyway.

## See also

- [How to edit or switch the configuration](edit-or-switch-the-configuration.md)
- [Reference: history](../reference/agents-and-events.md#history)