open-science/scripts/windows-reset/README.md

Reset Open-Science data on Windows

Use this tool when you intentionally want to start over. Reinstalling the app retains your data; this tool permanently removes the local data listed below. It does not repair or back up that data. Copy anything you need somewhere else first.

Run

1. Save both reset-open-science.cmd and reset-open-science.ps1 into the same folder outside your Open-Science data directories. When downloading from GitHub, use each file's Download raw file action rather than saving the HTML page.
2. Exit Open-Science, including its tray process. Finish and close its Notebook, agent, headless, and WSL processes. Keep the app closed until reset finishes.
3. Double-click reset-open-science.cmd as the Windows user who uses the app. Administrator mode is not required; do not run it as another user.
4. Review every listed path. Type RESET OPEN-SCIENCE exactly to delete it. Any other response cancels. The window stays open to show the result.
5. Start Open-Science again, choose your desired data location, and configure providers and runtimes again. Managed runtimes need installation/download.

Windows PowerShell 5.1, included with Windows, is sufficient. The CMD launcher uses the system PowerShell with -NoProfile; execution-policy bypass applies to that invocation only and does not change your saved execution policy. If your organization blocks scripts, follow its policy rather than disabling protections.

For a preview without deletion, run from Command Prompt:

reset-open-science.cmd -Preview

Or use PowerShell directly:

.\reset-open-science.ps1 -Preview

What is removed

Location	Contents
%USERPROFILE%\.open-science	Settings, saved provider credentials, conversations, personal/imported Skills, application databases, agent state, and any legacy data/runtime here
%USERPROFILE%\Open-Science and legacy %USERPROFILE%\OpenScience	Default data, managed workspaces/files, uploads, notebooks, artifacts, models, and runtime
The dataRoot saved in .open-science\settings.json	Custom data and runtime, including a location on another local drive
%APPDATA%\Open-Science and legacy %APPDATA%\Open Science	Electron profile, cache, and local browser state
Proven application-owned runtime caches	Current and historical cache identities for the default, legacy, and selected data roots

Both default and configured locations appear in the preview because an earlier move can leave runtime/data in the default location. Missing folders are harmless. No disk-wide scan is performed. Abandoned custom locations that are no longer recorded in settings are not discovered or erased.

External project folders reached through links are preserved; the links inside deleted directories are removed. Separate Python/R/agent installations, remote hosts, WSL distributions, exported backups outside the listed paths, development data (.open-science-project, Open-Science-DEV, or OpenScience-DEV), and the application installation are preserved. This is a data reset, not an uninstall or a credential revocation service: external provider accounts and separately installed CLI sign-ins remain.

Windows AppContainer, firewall, and ACL ownership records under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Aipoch\OpenScience\notebook-sandbox are preserved. Their owner is the app's uninstaller; deleting those records directly would lose the information needed to release OS resources. Small shared cache-parent markers also remain.

If reset stops

• An application/runtime process is listed: close it normally and retry. The tool never kills processes. All wsl.exe processes block reset because their relationship to Linux-side runtime work cannot be established reliably here. Uninspectable Electron/Node/Python/R/micromamba and native agent processes also block reset. The tool excludes its own observed launcher-shell ancestors.

• Settings is corrupt or has recovery files: review the actual data location first. Supply its full path explicitly, including the final Open-Science or legacy OpenScience folder:

  reset-open-science.cmd -Preview -DataRoot "D:\Research\Open-Science"
  reset-open-science.cmd -DataRoot "D:\Research\Open-Science"
  

  -DataRoot replaces settings-based discovery; it still includes the default and legacy folders. For an installation that only used the default location, supply the actual %USERPROFILE%\Open-Science or legacy %USERPROFILE%\OpenScience. It does not recover corrupt settings or discover previously configured folders automatically.

• Custom Electron profile: the tool only includes the two standard profile directories. Profiles selected with OPEN_SCIENCE_USER_DATA or derived from a configuration override require manual review; it does not discover or delete arbitrary profiles.

• Unsafe path or ownership failure: nothing is deleted during plan discovery. Drive/profile/system roots, network paths, nonstandard custom folder names, and target/ancestor junctions are refused. Do not rename folders or rewrite cache ownership markers to bypass a refusal; ask for manual support.

• Access denied, path too long, or locked file: cleanup stops and returns exit code 1. Read-only attributes on application-managed Skill trees are cleared as part of deleting the owned tree; an access-denied failure after that usually means a file is locked or its ACL is not usable by the Windows account running the reset. Some earlier files may already be removed. Configuration is processed last to retain custom-path discovery when data deletion fails. Resolve the reported failure and rerun the tool; it accepts already-missing folders.

Exit code 0 means completion, preview, or cancellation; read the final message. Process checks run before confirmation and again before each target is removed. They cannot atomically prevent another app launch during deletion. Do not reopen Open-Science or start background runtime work while reset is running.

Maintainer validation

Run npm test -- scripts/windows-data-reset.test.ts from the repository root on Windows. It uses disposable fixtures and tests PowerShell 5.1, process refusal, confirmation, path/link boundaries, corrupt settings, locked files, and the CMD launcher. The standalone PowerShell file includes the installer owner's cache validation functions so users need only the two downloaded files. A portable contract test requires those functions to remain identical to build/windows-runtime-cache-uninstall.ps1.

There are no application schema changes or new durable states. Historical support is limited to the legacy configuration-root data layout and known managed cache identities; unknown custom layouts require manual review.