SKILL.md 6.7 KB


name: leveldb-ops description: "Read and inspect LevelDB stores - especially Chromium/Electron app state (Local Storage, IndexedDB, Session Storage). Triggers on: leveldb, .ldb files, IndexedDB, Local Storage, Chromium storage, Electron app state, claude.ai cache, browser forensics, decode app state, claude desktop state." license: MIT compatibility: "Pure Python via ccl_chromium_reader. Works on Windows/macOS/Linux. No native compilation." allowed-tools: "Read Write Bash" metadata:

author: claude-mods

LevelDB Operations

Read and decode LevelDB stores — primarily the Chromium/Electron storage layers (Local Storage, IndexedDB, Session Storage) used by every Electron app on disk: Claude Desktop, VS Code, Discord, Slack, Obsidian.

What is LevelDB

Embedded key-value store by Google. Sorted KV map, no SQL, no server. Format: a folder of .ldb (sorted runs), .log (write-ahead), MANIFEST-*, CURRENT, LOCK. Both keys and values are arbitrary bytes.

Chromium layers richer formats on top:

  • Local Storage — flat key→string map, scoped per origin. Easiest to read.
  • Session Storage — same shape, per-tab.
  • IndexedDB — per-origin databases with object stores, indexes, versioned schemas. Encoded with v8 serialization. Needs a real reader.

When This Skill Triggers

  • "What's in the Local Storage of "
  • "Decode IndexedDB" / "read .ldb files"
  • "Why does the sidebar show X" / "where does the desktop app cache Y"
  • "Reset / mutate Electron app state"
  • Forensic-style probes of Chrome/Edge/Brave/Electron state
  • Critical Safety Protocol

    LevelDB uses an exclusive LOCK file. A running app holds it. Trying to open a live store fails OR silently returns stale snapshots.

    Always copy before reading:

    # Copy the entire leveldb dir to a temp location
    cp -r "$APPDATA/Claude/Local Storage/leveldb" /tmp/probe/local-storage-db
    cp -r "$APPDATA/Claude/IndexedDB/https_claude.ai_0.indexeddb.leveldb" /tmp/probe/indexeddb
    
    # Remove the copied LOCK file so the reader can open it
    rm -f /tmp/probe/local-storage-db/LOCK /tmp/probe/indexeddb/LOCK
    

    The cp -r will warn Device or resource busy for the LOCK file itself — that's fine, the data files copy successfully.

    Never write to the live store while the app is running. It will corrupt the LSM and crash the app. Quit the app first if you need to mutate.

    Setup

    plyvel and similar require native compilation and lack Windows wheels. Use ccl_chromium_reader — pure Python, written for browser forensics.

    uv venv .venv --python 3.13
    source .venv/Scripts/activate          # or .venv/bin/activate on Unix
    uv pip install "git+https://github.com/cclgroupltd/ccl_chrome_indexeddb.git"
    

    Not on PyPI — install direct from GitHub. Pulls in ccl-simplesnappy and brotli as transitive deps.

    Reading Local Storage

    Storage keys are origin URLs (https://claude.ai). Records are append-only — duplicate script_key entries mean older versions; the last record wins.

    import pathlib
    from ccl_chromium_reader import ccl_chromium_localstorage
    
    ls = ccl_chromium_localstorage.LocalStoreDb(pathlib.Path("./local-storage-db"))
    
    # List all origins
    for origin in sorted(set(ls.iter_storage_keys())):
        print(origin)
    
    # Dump one origin, latest-value-wins
    latest = {}
    for rec in ls.iter_records_for_storage_key("https://claude.ai"):
        latest[rec.script_key] = rec.value
    for k, v in latest.items():
        print(f"{k}: {repr(v)[:200]}")
    

    See scripts/dump_localstorage.py for the full reusable script.

    Reading IndexedDB

    IndexedDB is more complex — wrapped object stores with v8-serialized values. ccl_chromium_reader parses it cleanly:

    from ccl_chromium_reader import ccl_chromium_indexeddb
    
    db = ccl_chromium_indexeddb.WrappedIndexDB(pathlib.Path("./indexeddb"))
    for db_id in db.database_ids:
        wdb = db[db_id.dbid_no]
        print(f"DB: {wdb.name}")
        for store_name in wdb.object_store_names:
            store = wdb[store_name]
            for rec in store.iterate_records():
                print(f"  {rec.key!r} -> {repr(rec.value)[:200]}")
    

    See scripts/dump_indexeddb.py.

    Common Chromium Storage Locations

    OS Path
    Windows %APPDATA%\<App>\Local Storage\leveldb\
    Windows %APPDATA%\<App>\IndexedDB\https_<host>_0.indexeddb.leveldb\
    macOS ~/Library/Application Support/<App>/Local Storage/leveldb/
    Linux ~/.config/<App>/Local Storage/leveldb/

    For raw browsers, <App> is Google/Chrome/User Data/Default, BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser/User Data/Default, etc.

    Mutation (Advanced)

    Writing requires either:

    1. Quitting the app and using a leveldb writer (Node level package, or rebuild the dir manually) — or
    2. Patching via the app itself — many Electron apps expose DevTools. Open with the --remote-debugging-port=<n> flag, attach, and call localStorage.setItem(key, value). Survives the app's normal write path so it doesn't corrupt the LSM.

    For Claude Desktop specifically, see references/claude-desktop-state.md for the discovered key map.

    Decision Framework

    You want to Do
    Just see what's there Copy + ccl_chromium_reader
    Find a specific value strings + grep first; reader if structure matters
    Mutate while app runs Don't. Use DevTools remote debugging.
    Mutate while app is closed Quit, then Node level package or write back via re-opened leveldb
    Cross-account recovery Read-only forensics; can't impersonate server-bound entries

    Anti-patterns

    • Opening the live store directly → silently stale or open errors
    • Forgetting to remove LOCK from copy → reader fails
    • Trusting first hit on a key → leveldb is append-only; iterate all and keep the last
    • Using strings for structured analysis → misses keys, conflates duplicates, can't distinguish origins
    • Writing while app runs → LSM corruption, app crash, possible data loss

    Reference