External State Storage

⚠️ Experimental — Squad is alpha software. APIs, commands, and behavior may change between releases.

Try this to move state outside the working tree:

squad externalize

Try this to move state back:

squad internalize

Try this to check current state location:

cat .squad/config.json | grep stateLocation

Squad can store .squad/ state outside the working tree in a platform-specific global directory — solving branch-switch data loss and PR pollution.

The Problem

By default, .squad/ lives in the working tree alongside your code:

my-repo/
  .squad/
    decisions/
    skills/
    team.md
    routing.md

This creates two problems:

1. Branch-Switch Data Loss

When you switch Git branches, .squad/ is destroyed:

git checkout feature-branch    # .squad/ exists
git checkout main              # .squad/ GONE (if not on main)

Your decisions, skills, earned knowledge — all lost.

2. PR Pollution

If you commit .squad/ to preserve it, every branch includes squad state in PRs:

+ .squad/decisions/log.md
+ .copilot/skills/ci-setup/SKILL.md
+ .squad/team.md

Reviewers see squad metadata mixed with your actual code changes.

The Solution: External State

squad externalize moves .squad/ to a platform-specific global directory outside the working tree:

Platform paths:

Result:

• Squad state persists across branch switches
• PRs never contain .squad/ files
• State is isolated per repository (based on repo name)

Usage

Externalize

Move .squad/ to external storage:

squad externalize

What happens:

1. Resolves platform-specific global path (e.g., ~/Library/Application Support/squad/projects/my-repo/)
2. Moves .squad/ contents to global path
3. Creates thin marker file .squad/config.json in working tree (existing config fields are preserved):

   {
     "version": 1,
     "teamRoot": ".",
     "projectKey": "my-repo",
     "stateLocation": "external"
   }

4. Adds .squad/config.json to .gitignore (if not already present) — the marker is machine-specific and must not be committed

After externalization:

• Working tree has only .squad/config.json (gitignored marker)
• All squad state lives in global directory
• Branch switches don’t affect squad data

Internalize

Move state back to working tree:

squad internalize

What happens:

1. Reads marker file to find external state location
2. Copies state from the global directory back to .squad/ (the external copy is left in place)
3. Removes the external-state fields (stateLocation, teamRoot, projectKey) from .squad/config.json — the file is deleted when no other settings remain
4. Leaves .gitignore unchanged

After internalization:

• .squad/ lives in working tree again
• Can commit squad state if desired
• Vulnerable to branch-switch data loss again

Configuration

The thin marker file .squad/config.json tracks state location:

{
  "version": 1,
  "teamRoot": ".",
  "projectKey": "my-repo",
  "stateLocation": "external"
}

Notes:

• Marker file is created by squad externalize
• Marker file is gitignored — not committed to repo
• squad internalize removes the external-state fields from the file (and deletes it when nothing else remains)

Global Directory Structure

~/Library/Application Support/squad/projects/
  my-repo/
    decisions/
      log.md
      inbox/
    skills/
      ci-setup/SKILL.md
    team.md
    routing.md
  other-repo/
    decisions/
    skills/

Each repo gets its own isolated directory based on repository name. State is never shared across repos.

When to Use External State

Use squad externalize when:

• You switch branches frequently
• You want squad state isolated from code PRs
• You work on feature branches where .squad/ isn’t committed to base branch
• You want squad state to persist across git clean -fdx

Keep internal state when:

• You want squad state committed to the repo (e.g., decisions, skills travel with code)
• You rarely switch branches
• You want squad state versioned alongside code

Multi-Repo Workflows

External state is isolated per repository — each repo gets its own global directory. If you work on multiple repos, each maintains separate squad state:

~/Library/Application Support/squad/projects/
  frontend/
    decisions/
    skills/
    team.md
  backend/
    decisions/
    skills/
    team.md

No cross-repo state pollution.

Git Integration

After externalization, only the thin marker file exists in the working tree, and it is gitignored:

$ git status
On branch feature-branch
nothing to commit, working tree clean
# .squad/config.json exists on disk but is gitignored — not committed

This means:

• PRs never show squad state changes
• Branch switches don’t affect squad data
• git clean -fdx doesn’t delete squad state (it lives outside the repo — though it does remove the gitignored marker, which squad externalize can recreate)

Migration

From Internal to External

# Before: .squad/ in working tree
ls .squad/
# decisions/  skills/  team.md  routing.md

squad externalize

# After: only marker file in working tree
ls .squad/
# config.json

# State moved to global directory
ls ~/Library/Application\ Support/squad/projects/my-repo/
# decisions/  skills/  team.md  routing.md

From External to Internal

squad internalize

# State moved back to working tree
ls .squad/
# decisions/  skills/  team.md  routing.md  config.json

Notes

• External state is opt-in — default is internal (working tree)
• External state is platform-aware — uses OS-specific global directories
• External state is isolated per repo — no cross-repo pollution
• Marker file is gitignored — never committed
• squad upgrade respects current state location (doesn’t force internal/external)

Sample Prompts

squad externalize

Moves squad state to global directory.

squad internalize

Moves squad state back to working tree.

Where is my squad state stored?

Reports current state location (internal vs external).

Show me the external state path

Prints the platform-specific global directory path.