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Move your Pake app settings to another computer

Build an app · · 5 min read

Export your settings from Pake to a .pake file, install Pake on the new Mac or Windows PC, import the file, and create each app again. The file carries names, addresses, window options and icons. It does not carry sign-ins, so every site asks you to log in once on the new computer.

What moves and what stays behind

A web app made by Pake is two things. One is its settings: the address, the name, the icon and the window and behavior options. The other is the data the website keeps inside the app after you use it, such as cookies and the signed-in session. The settings are small, portable and the same on Mac and Windows. The session data stays with the app on the old computer and is not exported, so the file cannot sign anyone in as you.

Pake's settings-file guide lists what a .pake file holds: each app's name, address, window and behavior options, user agent, link rule, CSS, JavaScript and icon. It never holds sign-ins, cookies, your license or paths on your computer. Any documents a website stores for you live in your account on that website, so they appear after you sign in again, and exporting Pake settings is not a backup of them.

A file holds up to 100 apps and 32 MB.

Export

For one app, open its ⋯ menu in My Apps and choose Export Settings…. For every app, choose File › Export All Settings… on Mac, or open the ⋯ menu at the top of the window on Windows and choose Export All Settings…. Save the .pake file somewhere you can reach from the other computer, such as a cloud folder or a USB drive.

Treat the file as you would any settings file with scripts in it. If an app has custom JavaScript, anyone you send the file to will be asked to review that code, and so will you.

Export only what you will use. Per-app export from the ⋯ menu is handy when the old computer has apps you tried once and never opened again, since each app you import later counts as a new app for your license or free apps.

Import on the new computer

  1. Install Pake on the new computer (install requirements: macOS 14 or later, or Windows 10 version 2004 or later).
  2. Choose File › Import Settings… on Mac, or Import Settings… from the ⋯ menu on Windows.
  3. Open the .pake file. Pake checks the whole file first. If it cannot be used, you see This settings file is invalid or too large. and nothing is created.
  4. The first app opens on the normal app page with its name, address and options filled in. Review it, then click Create App.
  5. After each install, click Next App to move to the next app in the file. Pressing Return continues too.
  6. Open each new app and sign in again.

If a name is already taken on the new computer, Pake adds a number to it, so an app you already have there is never silently replaced.

Review imported code before turning it on

Imported CSS and JavaScript stay off until you read them under Advanced and click Use Imported Code. The reason is simple. A script runs inside every page the app opens, with whatever access that page has, so a file sent to you by someone else, or one you have not looked at for a year, deserves a look first. Your own exported file is no different, because you may have forgotten what you put in it.

Options that exist on one platform only are ignored on the other. Hide title bar is a Mac option, so it does nothing after an import on Windows. Check the window on the new platform rather than expecting every detail to match.

Licenses and device limits

Each imported app is a new app for your license or free apps, because it is created again. If you will not use Pake on the old computer anymore, deactivate it on the License card first and then activate the new one. The license guide describes how devices are listed and freed. Opening, updating and removing apps never uses a license, and apps you already created keep running on the old computer without one.

Verify before removing anything

Check the things you rely on most before you uninstall the old apps: sign-in, the links you click, downloads, and any custom layout from CSS. Leave the old computer's apps as they are until the new ones behave the same. If something differs, two common causes are a site that treats a new device as unfamiliar and asks for a verification code, and a CSS rule that targets page structure the site has since changed.

When this is the wrong tool

  • A second account on the same computer: use Add Another Account instead of an export and import round trip (multiple accounts).
  • Browser-installed web apps from Safari, Edge or Chrome: they are not Pake apps and have no .pake file. Edge syncs its installed apps through a Microsoft account when you sign in to Edge (Microsoft).
  • Apps built with Pake CLI: the CLI takes a --config file for repeatable builds (CLI reference), which is a different format. See which approach fits.

FAQ

Will I stay signed in on the new computer?

No. Cookies and sign-ins are never exported, so you sign in again in each app.

Can I move from Mac to Windows, or the reverse?

Yes. Mac and Windows read the same files. Settings the other platform lacks are ignored.

Can I use the file as a backup?

For settings, yes. Export All Settings… keeps your apps' configuration, but not website data, sign-ins or the license.

How many apps can one file hold?

Up to 100 apps and 32 MB, per the settings-file guide.