Archive Directory

The _ directory (underscore) serves as an archive folder where files are hidden from normal operations but remain accessible.

How Archives Work

// Normal directory structure
/docs/
  ├── guide.md          # Active document
  ├── tutorial.md       # Active document
  └── _/                # Archive directory
      ├── old-guide.md  # Archived document
      └── draft.md      # Archived draft

Archive Operations

Moving Files to Archive

// Get a file reference
const ref = client.mdFile('docs/guide.md')

// Move to archive
const archivedRef = await ref.archive()
// File is now at: docs/_/guide.md

Restoring from Archive

// Get archived file reference
const archivedRef = client.mdFile('docs/_/guide.md')

// Restore to original location
const restoredRef = await archivedRef.restore()
// File is back at: docs/guide.md

Archive Detection

Files are automatically detected as archived based on their path:

const ref = client.mdFile('docs/_/draft.md')
const entity = await ref.read()

console.log(entity.value.isArchived) // true

Custom Archive Directory

You can change the archive directory name:

const client = new DocClient({
  fileSystem,
  config: {
    archiveDirectoryName: '.archive' // default is '_'
  }
})

// Now archives go to .archive/
const archived = await ref.archive() // → docs/.archive/guide.md

Common Use Cases

1. Soft Delete: Archive files instead of deleting them
2. Drafts: Keep work-in-progress documents out of main listings
3. Templates: Store reusable templates separately
4. Old Versions: Keep previous versions for reference

Important Notes

• Archived files are excluded from directory listings by default
• Relations still work with archived files
• File operations (read, write, update) work normally on archived files