Move to a new Mac

Moving takes four things: the program, a model, your vault, and your settings. The vault and the config are plain files, so this is a copy and a check. Work through it in order.

On the old Mac

1. Stop the nightly job

So two Macs do not work on one vault at once:

sb schedule uninstall

2. Make sure the vault is current

Run sb index: it commits, and pushes if you have a remote.

3. Copy these

To a drive, a cloud folder or the git remote:

What	Where
The whole vault folder	The vault path in your config, for example ~/Documents/Obsidian/esbi
The config file	~/.config/esbi-cli/config.toml (sb info prints its path)
Your golden questions, if any	<vault>/.esbi/golden.jsonl: inside the vault folder, so it comes with it if you copy the folder

With a git remote the notes, SCHEMA.md and your golden questions travel through it, but your other own files (inbox/, .obsidian/) do not: copy the whole folder, or read Back up and restore.

4. Email only

Note the Gmail address. You will store the app password again; it stays in the Keychain and is not copied.

On the new Mac

1. Install the program

See Install.

2. Get a model

For a local model, install Ollama and pull the same models (ollama list on the old Mac shows which): Install Ollama and a model. For your Claude subscription: claude auth login; for a ChatGPT plan: codex login.

3. Copy the vault and the config

Put the vault in the same place (or any place) and the config at ~/.config/esbi-cli/config.toml. If the vault's path is different, edit vault in the config.

4. Check everything

sb doctor

Fix what it says: a model to pull, a login, the Obsidian vault to open (Open folder as vault).

5. Email only

sb email set-password

Then sb email fetch to test.

6. Install the nightly job

sb schedule install

Allow Documents access when macOS asks (Run it every night).

7. Web Clipper only

Install the extension again and import the templates with sb setup clipper: they are not stored in the vault.

What does not move

• The queue. It lives in <vault>/.esbi/ and comes along if you copy the folder. If you moved through git it is gone: sources not yet processed need adding again.
• The Keychain password. Store it again.
• Ollama's models. Pull them again.
• launchd's job. Install it again on the new Mac.

Do not run the nightly job on both Macs against a vault in a synced folder at the same time: the run lock is a file lock on one machine, so it cannot protect two.