Service files

A running Service has durable files and temporary files. Knowing which is which helps you keep uploads and generated data through deploys while still treating each release as a clean build.

Last updated July 13, 2026

Saved files survive the Service lifecycle

Saved files live in /tokay/data or another directory marked as persistent. They survive deploys and restarts and belong to the Service rather than to one running version.

You can browse, download, and upload Saved files from the dashboard or through the API. Downloads use short-lived tickets, and uploads can target a path inside Saved storage.

See Files and persistent storage for choosing persistent directories.

Current files belong to one running version

Current files are the files visible inside the Service that is running now, including anything written outside persistent storage. They can be inspected and downloaded, but they disappear when that instance is replaced.

This distinction makes deploys predictable. Code and temporary files reset with the release, while app owned data stays in persistent storage.

Rescue an important file before the instance changes

If the app wrote an important file to a temporary path, copy it from Current files into Saved files before the next deploy or restart.

Tokay checks that the running instance is still the one you inspected. If it changed before the copy, the rescue fails instead of copying a file from a different instance. After the rescue, mark the original directory persistent so future writes are durable.

Agents use the same file model

The agent protocol supports listing files, creating download and upload tickets, and rescuing a Current file into Saved storage. The exact fields and instance guard are documented at https://app.tokay.io/llms.txt.