Where apps hide your files

Warp's themes, workflows and launch configs

Updated 2026-10-28 · 6 min read

On a Mac, Warp keeps the files you edit in a hidden ~/.warp folder: themes, workflows, launch configurations and settings. Its logs and database sit elsewhere in ~/Library.

The location

Warp keeps the files you are meant to edit in a hidden folder in your home directory:

~/.warp/

Warp's own "File locations" page for the Stable release on macOS lists these inside it:

Path	What it is
~/.warp/themes/	Custom themes
~/.warp/workflows/	File-based workflows
~/.warp/launch_configurations/	Launch configurations (saved window and tab layouts)
~/.warp/tab_configs/	Tab configs
~/.warp/settings.toml	The settings file
~/.warp/keybindings.yaml	Custom keyboard shortcuts

Warp's page groups the first four as portable user data, files you would copy to a new machine, and the last two as local-only configuration. It also lists ~/.warp/default_tab_configs/ and an MCP server config at ~/.warp/.mcp.json. That file can hold API keys if you added them to an MCP server's settings, so never share it. The themes and launch configurations paths also appear on their own docs pages, so those two are the most firmly documented. If you run Warp Preview rather than Stable, Warp says to replace ~/.warp/ with ~/.warp-preview/ and Warp-Stable with Warp-Preview in these paths; the MCP config stays in ~/.warp.

Open the folder

The dot in .warp hides it from Finder. Press ⇧⌘. in a Finder window to show hidden items, or choose Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G) and type ~/.warp. From Terminal, this lists names only:

ls -la ~/.warp

and this opens the folder in Finder:

open ~/.warp

Which subfolders you see depends on what you have used. A folder is created when you make something that belongs in it, so a missing themes folder just means you have no custom theme yet.

Themes

Warp's custom themes page says to put theme files in $HOME/.warp/themes/ and shows making the folder with:

mkdir -p $HOME/.warp/themes/

That command is safe to run: -p creates the folder only if it is missing and does nothing if it exists. Themes are small .yaml files. Warp's docs say it can take several minutes to notice a newly created themes folder, and that restarting Warp speeds this up. Then pick the theme in Settings > Appearance > Themes, or type Open Theme Picker in the Command Palette.

Background images for themes go in the same folder. The docs accept only JPEG files, and the path under background_image: is relative to the themes folder, so path: warp.jpg means ~/.warp/themes/warp.jpg.

Launch configurations

Launch configurations save a set of windows, tabs and panes with a starting folder and commands. Warp's docs say they live in $HOME/.warp/launch_configurations/ as YAML files, each starting with a name: and a windows: list. One rule from the docs is easy to trip on: each cwd value must be an absolute path such as /Users/<you>/Projects (or ""), and the docs warn that a ~ path keeps the file out of the Launch Configurations list.

To save the current layout as one, type Save New Launch Configuration in the Command Palette. To open one, type Launch Configuration in the palette, right-click the new tab + button, or use File > Launch Configurations in the menu bar.

Workflows

Warp has two kinds of workflow. Ones you save in Warp Drive are edited in the app and tied to your Warp account (Warp's docs say editing them needs an internet connection), so they are not YAML files you can open in ~/.warp. The older file-based kind is YAML in ~/.warp/workflows/. Warp's docs say file-based workflows are not available in Warp Drive, so you will not see them in the Drive panel; you still reach them through Command Search or the Command Palette. If a workflow you wrote by hand seems to have vanished, look in that folder first.

Settings and keybindings

Warp's file-locations page lists ~/.warp/settings.toml for settings and ~/.warp/keybindings.yaml for shortcuts. The page does not say which release introduced them, so an older Warp may not have them. The same page calls the macOS defaults domain dev.warp.Warp-Stable the legacy home of user preferences, so a Warp that has been installed for years can still have preferences there. To check whether yours has one, defaults domains | tr ',' '\n' | grep -i warp prints domain names only, never values.

Take a copy before you edit either file by hand, and quit Warp first:

cp ~/.warp/settings.toml ~/Desktop/settings.toml.bak

If the app misbehaves afterwards, quit it and copy the backup over the edited file.

Logs, databases and state

The state Warp does not intend you to edit is kept outside ~/.warp, according to the same page:

• Logs: ~/Library/Logs/warp.log*
• Crash reports: ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/
• Database, codebase context index and MCP logs: ~/Library/Group Containers/2BBY89MBSN.dev.warp/Library/Application Support/dev.warp.Warp-Stable/

Logs can contain commands and paths, so read them before sending them to anyone. Leave the database folder alone: Warp's page lists it as non-portable state and gives no way to edit or trim it by hand. To see how large it is, du -sh on that folder prints only a size.

Moving to a new Mac

Copy ~/.warp/themes, workflows, launch_configurations and tab_configs to the same place on the new Mac, which is why Warp calls them portable. Warp describes the settings and keybindings files as local-only configuration that does not make sense to roam, so set those up again on the new Mac rather than assuming a straight copy works. Anything in Warp Drive comes back when you sign in.

Why a normal search misses these

Everything under ~/.warp is inside a hidden dot-folder, so Finder and Spotlight searches leave it out. The state folder is under ~/Library/Group Containers, which they leave out as well.

Finding them next time

Typing .warp into Everywhere lists the ~/.warp and ~/.warp-preview folders, and typing a theme's or a launch configuration's file name finds that YAML file wherever it is. The ~/.warp folder is a hidden dot-folder in your home folder and is part of the normal scan. The Group Containers database folder is only indexed once Everywhere has Full Disk Access. It matches file names only, so it will not find a setting inside settings.toml, but pressing ⌘T on a result opens a Terminal in that folder.

Common questions

Where are Warp themes stored on a Mac?

In ~/.warp/themes/. Warp's docs say to create that folder with mkdir -p $HOME/.warp/themes/ and put theme .yaml files in it; Warp can take several minutes to notice a new folder, and a restart speeds that up.

Where are Warp launch configurations saved?

In ~/.warp/launch_configurations/ as YAML files. Each cwd must be an absolute path, not one starting with ~, or the file will not appear in the launch list.

Where is the Warp settings file on macOS?

Warp's file-locations page lists ~/.warp/settings.toml for current Stable builds, and says older preferences live in the dev.warp.Warp-Stable defaults domain. Warp Preview uses ~/.warp-preview/.

Where does Warp keep its logs?

In ~/Library/Logs/warp.log*. Crash reports go to ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/.