Where apps hide your files

Finding Stardew Valley's save folders

Updated 2026-10-28 · 6 min read

Stardew Valley on the Mac saves each farm to a hidden folder in your home directory, not in Library. Here is the path from the official wiki, what is inside a farm folder, and how to back up, restore or undo a save.

The location

On the Mac, the official Stardew Valley wiki gives this folder for saves:

~/.config/StardewValley/Saves

The folder starts with a dot, so Finder hides it. The wiki's own steps work: in Finder choose Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G), enter the path and press Return. From Terminal:

open ~/.config/StardewValley/Saves

This is the same location Linux uses, which surprises Mac users who look in ~/Library. The wiki notes that saves are stored separately from the game, so reinstalling or updating it leaves them alone, and that on a computer they are shared between copies of the game, for example if you own it on both Steam and GOG. The iPhone and iPad version keeps its saves elsewhere, in the Files app under On My iPhone or iPad > Stardew Valley. If ~/.config/StardewValley does not exist, you have not played the desktop game on this account.

What a save looks like

Each farm has its own folder inside Saves, named like the wiki's example JonSnow_123456789: a name followed by a number. Inside it:

File	What it is
JonSnow_123456789 (no extension)	The save itself, stored as XML
SaveGameInfo	A smaller companion file; the wiki says both files are needed to load the save
JonSnow_123456789_old and SaveGameInfo_old	The previous save, kept so you can undo the last one

Always copy the whole farm folder, never just the biggest file. The game saves only when a day ends, when your farmer goes to bed or collapses, so quitting in the middle of a day loses that day's progress.

Backing up a save

Before an update, a mod install or a bout of experimenting, copy the farm folder somewhere else:

1. Quit Stardew Valley.
2. In Finder, open ~/.config/StardewValley/Saves.
3. Hold ⌥ and drag the farm's folder to another location so it is copied rather than moved. Or Control-click it and choose Compress to make a zip, which is how the wiki suggests backing up or sharing a save.

Keep backups outside the Saves folder: the wiki warns that the game tries to load anything it finds there.

To restore, quit the game and put the folder back. The folder name must match the save file inside it exactly. If you play on Steam or GOG and a restored save keeps being replaced by an older copy, the wiki's fix is to launch the game without loading anything, swap your backup in while it runs, then load it, so the cloud service treats your copy as the newest. Steam also lets you switch cloud sync off for one game in its Properties.

Undoing the last save

If the last night's save went wrong, the wiki describes an undo. Back up the farm folder first, then delete SaveGameInfo and the main save file, and remove _old from the end of the two _old files. You lose the most recent day and get the one before it back.

Moving a save to another Mac or platform

Copy the farm folder into ~/.config/StardewValley/Saves on the new Mac, with the game closed. On Windows the same folder is %appdata%\StardewValley\Saves. Version matters more than platform: the wiki says an older version of the game cannot load a save made by a newer one, though a newer version loads older saves, so update the game on the receiving machine first. A farm saved with mods may also need those mods.

Where mods go on a Mac

Most Stardew Valley mods need SMAPI, the community mod loader, and go in a Mods folder inside the game folder. The wiki's modding guide gives the Mac game folder as:

• Steam: ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/common/Stardew Valley/Contents/MacOS
• GOG: /Applications/Stardew Valley.app/Contents/MacOS

So mods live in Contents/MacOS/Mods under either. For the GOG app, Control-click it and choose Show Package Contents to get inside. Unzip each mod into its own folder inside Mods.

SMAPI also bundles a SaveBackup mod that, per the wiki, keeps up to 10 daily backups in a save-backups folder inside the same game folder. Updating or reinstalling the game can overwrite that folder, so keep your own copy of each mod's download, and of save-backups if you rely on it.

Space

Saves are text files and small next to the game itself, so they are not worth cleaning for disk space. Keep the _old files: they are your undo.

Why Finder and Spotlight searches miss them

.config is a hidden dot-folder in your home directory. Finder does not show hidden items by default, and Spotlight and Finder searches leave them out. The save files also have no extension, so searching for a file type finds nothing.

Finding a farm folder again

Typing the first part of the farm folder's name, the bit before the number, into Everywhere finds the folder inside .config, hidden or not, and ⌘↵ reveals it in Finder. Typing SaveGameInfo lists one for every farm on the Mac, including backups you parked elsewhere. It matches file names only, so it will not read or repair a save.

Common questions

Where are Stardew Valley saves on a Mac?

In ~/.config/StardewValley/Saves, one folder per farm, according to the official wiki. The .config folder is hidden, so open it with Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G).

How do I back up a Stardew Valley save on Mac?

Quit the game, then copy the farm's whole folder from ~/.config/StardewValley/Saves to a folder outside Saves. To restore it, quit the game and put the folder back.

Why can I not find my Stardew Valley save in the Library folder?

The desktop game does not use ~/Library for saves. It uses the hidden ~/.config/StardewValley/Saves folder, the same as on Linux.

Where is the Stardew Valley Mods folder on a Mac?

Inside the game folder, at Contents/MacOS/Mods: under ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/common/Stardew Valley for Steam, or inside /Applications/Stardew Valley.app for GOG.