Workspace files

Anton keeps its state in two places: a .anton/ folder inside each workspace (project scope) and ~/.anton/ in your home directory (global scope). Almost everything is plain text — and most of it is safe to open and edit.

Project scope — .anton/ in each workspace

Path	What it is	Safe to edit by hand?
.anton/.env	Workspace configuration variables and local secrets (memory mode, toggles, keys scoped to this workspace)	Yes — standard KEY=value lines
.anton/anton.md	Your project context — instructions Anton reads at conversation start. Anton never writes to it. See Project context	Yes — it's yours by design
.anton/memory/rules.md	Project-specific behavioral rules under ## Always, ## Never, ## When sections	Yes — keep the section headings and one bullet per entry
.anton/memory/lessons.md	Project-specific facts Anton learned while working here	Yes — one bullet per entry
.anton/memory/topics/*.md	Deeper project notes organized per subject, loaded on demand	Yes
.anton/episodes/*.jsonl	Session archive — one file per session, named YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.jsonl. See Episodes and recall	Better not — delete whole files if needed, or use /memory episodes delete <n>
.anton/artifacts/	User-facing outputs (HTML apps, docs, datasets). One subfolder per artifact, each carrying a metadata.json and a README.md rendered from it	The outputs are yours to use; avoid hand-editing metadata.json
.anton/scratchpad-venvs/	Isolated Python environments for Anton's code execution, one per scratchpad	No — managed automatically; safe to delete to reclaim space (rebuilt on demand)
.anton/context/, .anton/learnings/	Legacy formats from older versions, migrated automatically into memory/ on first run after upgrading (originals preserved). See The learnings command	Leave as-is

Global scope — ~/.anton/

Path	What it is	Safe to edit by hand?
~/.anton/.env	Global configuration — LLM provider and API keys, search-provider key, terms consent. Shared across all workspaces; workspace .env values win on conflict	Yes — standard KEY=value lines
~/.anton/memory/profile.md	Your identity profile — name, timezone, preferences. Global only; there is no project profile	Yes
~/.anton/memory/rules.md	Global rules that apply in every workspace	Yes
~/.anton/memory/lessons.md	Global lessons — knowledge useful across any project	Yes
~/.anton/memory/topics/*.md	Global per-subject notes	Yes
~/.anton/skills/<label>/	The skill library — one directory per saved skill, shared across all projects. See Skills	Procedure yes, metadata carefully (below)
~/.anton/skills/<label>/meta.json	Skill metadata — label, name, when-to-use cue	Carefully — keep it valid JSON
~/.anton/skills/<label>/declarative.md	The step-by-step procedure Anton follows	Yes — hand-tuning the procedure is encouraged
~/.anton/skills/<label>/chunks.md	Optional higher-level recipes (present in later-stage skills)	Yes, if present
~/.anton/skills/<label>/code/	Optional runnable helper modules (present in later-stage skills)	Yes, if present
~/.anton/skills/<label>/requirements.txt	Optional dependencies for a skill's helper code	Yes, if present
~/.anton/skills/<label>/stats.json	Per-skill usage counters	No — let Anton track usage
~/.anton/datasources.md	Your custom data-source engine definitions — Anton appends here when it builds a custom integration, and you can add your own. See Custom integrations	Yes
~/.anton/scratchpad-venvs/	Fallback location for scratchpad environments when no workspace path applies	No — managed automatically; safe to delete

Rules of thumb

• Markdown files are yours. Memory, topics, profile, skills' procedures, anton.md, datasources.md — open and edit freely. Anton picks up changes in the next conversation.
• JSON and JSONL files are Anton's bookkeeping. Prefer the chat commands (/memory, /skill) over hand-editing them.
• Environments are disposable. Anything under scratchpad-venvs/ can be deleted; Anton rebuilds what it needs.