cloud archive - free disk space automatically

cloud archive encrypts your old screenpipe data and uploads it to the cloud, then deletes the local copy to free disk space. it uses the same zero-knowledge encryption as cloud sync — we cannot read your data.

how it works

<Steps> <Step title="set a retention period"> choose how many days of data to keep locally (7, 14, 30, 60, or 90 days). data older than this will be archived. </Step> <Step title="data is encrypted on your device"> your token is used to derive an encryption key locally using argon2id. data is encrypted with chacha20-poly1305 before upload — the same encryption used by cloud sync. </Step> <Step title="encrypted data is uploaded in chunks"> screenpipe uploads data in small batches (up to 500 records at a time) every 5 minutes. this includes screen captures, ocr text, audio transcriptions, accessibility data, and ui events. </Step> <Step title="local data is cleaned up"> after each chunk is confirmed uploaded, the corresponding local data and media files are deleted to free disk space. </Step> </Steps>

what gets archived

<CardGroup cols={2}> <Card title="screen captures" icon="display"> frame metadata, app names, window titles, browser urls </Card> <Card title="ocr text" icon="text"> extracted text from screen recordings </Card> <Card title="audio transcriptions" icon="microphone"> transcribed speech with speaker and device info </Card> <Card title="accessibility data" icon="universal-access"> ui text captured via accessibility apis </Card> <Card title="ui events" icon="mouse-pointer"> keyboard and mouse activity metadata </Card> <Card title="media files" icon="film"> orphaned video/audio files are cleaned up after upload </Card> </CardGroup>

enabling cloud archive

1. open settings → cloud archive
2. select your retention period (how many days to keep locally)
3. toggle enable cloud archive

you can also trigger an immediate archive run by clicking archive now in the status card.

encryption details

cloud archive reuses the same SyncManager and encryption pipeline as cloud sync:

• key derivation: argon2id with a password derived from your auth token
• cipher: chacha20-poly1305 (authenticated encryption)
• zero-knowledge: the encryption key never leaves your device

if you already have cloud sync enabled, archive uses the exact same encryption key to avoid any conflicts.

<Card title="view archive source code" icon="github" href="https://github.com/screenpipe/screenpipe/blob/main/crates/screenpipe-server/src/archive.rs"> review the rust implementation of cloud archive </Card>

watermark-based tracking

instead of marking individual records as uploaded, cloud archive uses a single watermark timestamp. all data before the watermark has been securely uploaded and can be safely deleted locally.

this is simpler and more efficient than per-record tracking — one timestamp tells the system exactly where it left off, even if the app restarts.

storage & limits

your cloud storage usage is shown in the archive status card. storage limits depend on your screenpipe pro plan.

important notes

<Warning> archived data is currently upload-only. download/restore is not yet available — local data older than your retention period will be permanently deleted from your device after upload. </Warning> <Info> cloud archive requires a screenpipe pro subscription. the archive process runs automatically in the background every 5 minutes when enabled. </Info>

questions? join our discord.