Export & import your settings

Everything you set on Risk & Caps, Strategies, and Universe, including the symbols in your trading universe, can leave SleeveFolio as one small, human-readable JSON file and come back in through a review. Keep it as a backup, hand it to a friend, paste it into a chat, or use it to set up a brand-new account the way your old one was (see Restore on a new account). Settings → Account carries the Export settings and Import settings cards for the whole configuration; each of the three tabs carries its own ↓ Export and ↑ Import buttons for just that tab’s settings.

What the file contains

The file is plain JSON in the units the screens show (percents, dollars, trading days), grouped the way the tabs are, so you can read and even hand-edit it. It carries every setting on the three tabs:

• Risk & Caps: sleeve budgets, position caps, the order limits (the per-trade and per-day dollar caps, max trades per day, the drawdown de-risk trigger, and the Risk caps switch), the strategy allocation settings (auto-allocate, preference, cash reserve floor), and the advanced cap switches.
• Strategies: your whole mix. For each strategy: its factor weights (including the weight a switched-off factor keeps, so it comes back the same when you switch it on again), its backtest window, its share of your account (used only while auto-allocate is off), its built-in stop-loss and take-profit (the protection some presets carry, such as Steady Harvest’s automatic sell when a holding falls a set amount and its trim of a winner into cash), and its own list (the published list it follows when its followed list is set to Automatic). A custom strategy you built by hand travels too. Then the account-wide controls: Auto-execute (whether automated trading runs; the file carries it, but an import never changes yours), Strategy-managed risk (whether each strategy’s built-in protection applies), sell-to-fund rotation, and your stop-loss.
• Universe: the Automatic management switch (whether your followed published lists may update your universe) and Let list updates replace my own picks; your whole trading universe, stocks and crypto, split into your hand picks (symbols you added yourself) and your list symbols (symbols that came in through a followed list); your filings watchlist; and for each strategy, its followed list (a pin, or Automatic) with its Follow list updates switch (whether that strategy takes its list’s adds and removals; the file carries it, but an import never changes yours). Symbols already on their way out of your universe (marked exiting) are left out.

The per-trade and per-day dollar caps go along by default, so a backup restores them. Untick Include dollar caps on the export card before you share a file: dollar amounts hint at your account size, and a flat cap pasted into a differently sized account is meaningless or dangerous. A file without them records that they were left out, and whoever imports keeps their own. Even a file that carries them leaves yours in place unless the person importing chooses the file’s.

A short note for the recipient is optional (200 characters, shown to them as a quote from you, never as app guidance). The file name is sleevefolio-settings-YYYY-MM-DD.json, or sleevefolio-universe-YYYY-MM-DD.json and the like for a single tab. The file has no field for what plan you are on or what you hold. A file in the older format (the review shows format v1) still imports: it lacks the newer parts (list symbols, the two management switches, Follow list updates, Auto-execute, and each strategy’s built-in protection, switched-off weights, and own list), and anything a file doesn’t carry keeps your current value.

Settings the file carries but never applies

An import does what a plain save on Risk & Caps, Strategies, or Universe can do, and never what needs a confirmation step of its own. So the file carries the two automation switches, but an import never changes either of them, on or off, and one more setting is set only for strategies the import adds:

• Auto-execute: yours stays exactly as it is, whatever the file says. If the file has it off and yours is on, automated trading keeps running, so the changes you import are traded from the next run (or once you Resume, if trading is paused); the confirmation says so, and you can tick Pause trading first or switch Auto-execute off yourself after the import. If the file has it on and yours is off, turning it on is yours to do: type ENABLE AUTO, with your paper keys saved and, if you use two-factor authentication, a verified session. When the file and your account differ, the review shows the switch, grayed out, with what switching it would do, and the import’s result offers it as a working switch, so you can switch it right there or later on Settings → Strategies (see After an import).
• Follow list updates: every strategy keeps its own switch, whatever the file says, and a strategy the import adds joins with it off. Turning it on lets a published list’s updates trade that strategy, and agreeing to a list’s rules is yours to do, so you switch it yourself. When the file’s value differs from yours, the review says so and shows the switch, grayed out, with what switching it would do, and the import’s result offers it as a working switch, so you can switch it right there or later on the Universe page. For the same reason, a strategy that already follows list updates moves only to a list you’ve agreed to: if the file asks for any other list, the review says that strategy stays on the list it follows now and offers Agree…, which opens the same agreement window as the Universe page. Agree there and the review updates: the strategy moves with the import and keeps following list updates. Your agreement is saved only when you apply the import, together with that move; closing the window or the import saves nothing. An agreement covers the whole list, so if another strategy already follows that list while its agreement waits to be renewed, agreeing renews it for that strategy too, and the review lists what that can sell. If you don’t agree, the strategy stays where it is and the import result names it.
• A strategy’s own list: set only for a strategy the import adds. A strategy you already have keeps its own; the review shows the file’s list beside yours, changes nothing, and links to that strategy on the Universe page. To have it follow a different list, pin one (in the file’s followed lists, or on the Universe page).

What is never imported

These three stay exactly as you have them, whatever a file says. The file has no field for them; a file that tries to set one is called out at the top of the review, and that key is ignored.

• Kill switch: a pause is yours to set and to lift, so a file can never resume trading you paused. (The confirmation’s Pause trading first can pause; nothing in an import resumes.)
• List agreements: agreeing to a published list is your own consent, so a file never agrees for you. You agree on the Universe page, or in the review with Agree… when the file moves a strategy that follows list updates to a list you haven’t agreed to; that agreement is saved with the move, when you apply the import.
• Broker keys: secrets that are stored encrypted and never sent back to your browser once saved, while a settings file is plain text that gets pasted into chats.

Keys the format doesn’t know are listed as not recognized and ignored too, so a file from a newer build still reviews.

Exporting

On Settings → Account, tick the sections you want, decide about the dollar caps (Include dollar caps starts ticked; untick it before sharing), add a note if you like, then ↓ Download JSON (a file) or ❐ Copy JSON (to your clipboard, handy for chat). Preview file contents shows exactly what either produces. Export always reflects your saved settings, never an unsaved draft: on Risk & Caps the buttons are disabled while you have pending changes, so apply or discard them first. A tab’s own Export writes just that tab’s section, and the Risk & Caps one includes the dollar caps; to share Risk & Caps without them, export from Settings → Account with the box unticked.

Importing

Paste the file’s text or upload the .json file (up to 256 KB), then Review changes. SleeveFolio checks the file against your account and shows a review: one card per section with every setting that would change as before → after, the unchanged ones folded away, and under each change what it causes. A setting the file does not carry keeps your current value. A section with an invalid value (a sleeve budget that does not sum to 100%, a stop-loss outside 1–90%) cannot apply until the file is fixed; the other sections are unaffected. Each section has an Apply this section switch, and the Universe card has one per part (Automatic management, followed lists, hand-picked symbols, symbols from followed lists, and the filings watchlist), so you can take part of a file. Importing from a tab reviews only that tab’s section; a full configuration imports from Settings → Account.

On a full import from Settings → Account, the review’s summary card has a Make my settings match this file switch. On, it replaces your hand picks and watchlist with the file’s, uses the file’s dollar caps (when the file carries them), and removes strategies the file lacks: the way to restore a backup onto a new account. Everything then matches the file except Auto-execute and Follow list updates, which you switch yourself. Off (the default), the import merges: the file’s symbols join yours, you keep your own dollar caps, and every strategy you have stays. Each of the three choices can also be set on its own in its section.

What the review tells you, section by section:

• Risk & Caps: a limit that loosens is flagged; a tightened position or sector cap names the holdings already over it (nothing is sold because of a cap: new buys there are skipped and you get a risk cap breach alert); a drawdown trigger your account is already past; the effective dollar cap before and after when auto-scaling flips. A file that carries dollar caps offers Keep my dollar caps (the default) or Use the file’s.
• Strategies: strategies the file adds or re-tunes (factor weights, switched-off weights, backtest window, built-in stop-loss and take-profit). With auto-allocate off after the import, every strategy in the file, new or already yours, takes the share the file gives it (a new one the file gives no share joins at 0%); with auto-allocate on, the split is worked out for you and the file’s shares are ignored. A Split after import bar shows the result. Strategies in your mix the file lacks stay unless you tick Remove strategies not in this file. A removed strategy’s holdings stay put, with one exception: held symbols its followed list brought in that no list followed after the import carries are kept as your own hand picks by default, or sell at the next run if you untick Keep the ones I hold as hand-picked (the same choice a changed list offers under Universe, and, as there, nothing leaves while your universe is frozen). A custom strategy in the file is added when you don’t have one yet (the file must carry all four factor weights and its backtest window); a custom strategy of your own can be re-tuned but is never removed. A new or tightened stop-loss lists the holdings already past it and when each sells. A strategy’s built-in protection acts only while Strategy-managed risk is on, and the review says so. Its built-in stop-loss also steps aside while you have a stop-loss of your own (yours wins), so clearing your own stop-loss can let the built-in ones sell, and the confirmation lists that; setting one looser than a built-in stop-loss retires it, which the confirmation lists as loosening your limits, as does removing a strategy whose built-in stop-loss was protecting its holdings. A built-in take-profit trims only while it has both a trigger (how far up a holding must be) and a trim (how much of it to sell). Auto-execute stays as you have it, whatever the file says.
• Universe: Automatic management and Let list updates replace my own picks apply either way, just like flipping them on the Universe page, and the review says what each flip causes (turning on Let list updates replace my own picks is flagged as loosening your limits). A followed-list pin moves that strategy to the new list (one that follows list updates moves only to a list you’ve agreed to, already or with Agree… in the review). Its Follow list updates stays as it is, and the review says when the file’s differs. A strategy that follows list updates and moves to another list stops claiming its old list’s symbols. Of those, the ones no list followed after the import carries go: ones you don’t hold leave your universe at the next sync, and ones you hold are kept as your own hand picks unless you untick that choice, in which case they sell at the next run. That only happens while list updates can remove symbols: your universe is frozen, so nothing leaves it and nothing sells, while Automatic management is off after the import, no funded strategy follows a list, list updates don’t run on your account yet (see Automatic universe management), or a followed list’s agreement needs a fresh review. The review says so instead of listing sells. For hand picks and the watchlist, Merge with mine adds the file’s symbols after yours in file order and Replace mine makes yours the file’s (for each of stocks and crypto the file lists; a class the file leaves out keeps your picks); neither touches symbols that came from a list. In Replace mine, a hand pick of yours that the file lacks stays in your universe as a list symbol only while a list you follow after the import carries it; otherwise it is removed like any other pick. Either way it stops being a hand pick, so if you hold it, a strategy that follows a list that doesn’t carry it can sell it, and the review says so. A hand pick the file lists among its list symbols is treated as one of them: it leaves your hand picks, and the list-symbol rules below decide whether it comes back as a list symbol; with Add these as my own picks ticked it simply stays yours.

Symbols from followed lists, the file’s list symbols you don’t have yet, join as list symbols. Once you follow lists, those lists manage them: a symbol a followed list no longer carries leaves at the next sync (marked exiting first if you hold it). Tick Add these as my own picks to add them as hand picks instead. List updates never remove your own picks unless Let list updates replace my own picks is on after the import and a list needs the room; then picks no followed list carries can go, newest first, so these would be among the first. Leave the box unticked while your universe already follows lists after the import, and the file’s list symbols are shown as Left to your followed lists instead of being added: your lists fill your universe from their current members, which are fresher than the file’s.

Symbols that would not fit your plan’s universe limit (30 on Free, 200 on Pro) are skipped and shown, never silently dropped: hand picks take the room first, then list symbols, and nothing of yours is removed to make room. The review doesn’t check prices, so a new hand-picked or watchlist stock symbol that every data provider reports as unknown is skipped when you apply (left out of your universe or watchlist) and named in the result; everything else in the section still applies. A symbol the providers can’t answer for at that moment (busy or down) is kept rather than dropped. List symbols aren’t price-checked, even when you add them as your own picks: they came in through a published list. One with no price data gets no signals. As a list symbol it stays until your followed lists take over and drop it; as your own pick it stays until you remove it.

When only the switches differ. If the review changes none of your settings but the file has Auto-execute or a strategy’s Follow list updates the other way, the review’s summary says ○ No setting changes · 1 automation switch differs (or however many differ) and the button reads Continue → instead of Apply. Continue skips the confirmation and writes nothing: no setting is saved and nothing goes in the audit log. It takes you where an import would, the Done view on a tab or the result card on Settings → Account, with those switches ready to flip (see After an import). It says Your settings already match this file when nothing but the switches differs. When something else does (a strategy kept on its list because you haven’t agreed to the one the file asks for, a section or part you switched off, or a section with an invalid value), it says No setting changes applied instead and names each strategy kept on its list, with a link to it on the Universe page. With no setting to change and every switch already matching, the button reads Nothing to apply.

Confirming

Apply N changes… opens a confirmation that repeats everything that matters: the count per section, every holding the import could sell (with when: within the hour for crypto past a new or tighter stop-loss, since the crypto safety check runs hourly; at the next daily run for stocks and for crypto that leaves a list; and “once auto-execute is on” or “once you Resume” while automated trading is off), and the limits that loosen. When the file has Auto-execute off while yours is on, it also says that Auto-execute stays on: the changes are traded from the next run, so tick Pause trading first, or switch Auto-execute off yourself after the import. While trading is already paused, it says the changes trade once you Resume instead. Pause is never ticked for you because of it.

Some changes can’t name a holding yet but make a sell possible from the next run, so the confirmation lists them too:

• turning on Strategy-managed risk;
• while Strategy-managed risk is on, a strategy’s built-in stop-loss taking effect: added or lowered while you have no stop-loss of your own, or applying again because you cleared yours;
• while Strategy-managed risk is on, a strategy’s built-in take-profit becoming active (it gets both its trigger and its trim), its trigger being lowered, or its trim being raised;
• turning on Sell-to-fund rotation (a buy blocked for lack of cash may sell your weakest holding in that sleeve);
• turning on Automatic management while a strategy follows a list you’ve agreed to;
• while Automatic management is on: moving a strategy that follows list updates to another list (its holdings the new list doesn’t carry, and that you didn’t hand-pick, can sell); turning on Let list updates replace my own picks (which lets list updates sell hand picks no list carries when your universe is full); and, in Replace mine, removing hand picks you hold while a strategy follows a list that doesn’t carry them;
• an import that lets your followed lists start removing symbols again (for example by turning Automatic management back on, or by removing a strategy, or moving it to another list, when its list’s agreement needed a fresh review): held list symbols that no list you follow carries can sell, and so can held hand picks no list carries while Let list updates replace my own picks is on;
• a strategy at 0% that follows a list getting a share again (a share in the file, or auto-allocate turning on): its holdings the list doesn’t carry, and that you didn’t hand-pick, can sell;
• keeping orphaned holdings as your own picks while Let list updates replace my own picks is on: they can still be replaced, and sold, when your universe is full.

When list updates don’t run on your account yet (see Automatic universe management), the list changes can’t sell anything there yet, and the review says so.

When nothing can sell and no limit loosens, it is a plain confirm. When the import can sell or loosens a limit, you type IMPORT — the same confirm on every account. Pause trading first always starts unticked. Turning the Risk caps switch off through a file also asks for the same acknowledgment the switch itself does.

Pause trading first runs the usual kill-switch pause (it stops automated and hand-placed orders until you Resume and sends the usual email), so you can look over the result before anything trades.

After an import

Everything applies from the next signal run, or is simply saved while auto-execute is off. A change to your symbols starts a fresh signal run, as a hand edit does. Before you confirm, the review’s After import card previews the automation switches the import leaves to you, under After applying, you can switch these to match the file. It lists only the ones whose value differs from the file, with Auto-execute last. Each row shows the file’s value (Imported setting: On or Off), a switch at your current value, grayed out because nothing switches before the import applies, and one sentence on what switching it would do:

• Follow list updates, for each strategy whose switch differs from the file’s. Switching it on means that strategy then trades only its list, so the row says its holdings that list doesn’t carry (and you didn’t hand-pick) can sell at the next run, and names any held symbols that would leave your universe and sell because list updates start removing symbols again. Turning it on asks you to agree to that strategy’s list first, if you haven’t. Switching it off means the strategy trades your whole universe; the row names the held symbols that would leave with its list, kept as your own picks while Keep the ones I hold as hand-picked is ticked, otherwise leaving and able to sell. They leave at the next sync, except when that strategy is the only one following a list: with no list followed your universe stays as it is, so they leave only once a strategy follows a list again.
• Auto-execute, when the file has it differently. Turning it on means typing ENABLE AUTO; until you connect the Alpaca keys it needs, the row says Connect paper keys first with a link to Settings → Broker.

A row whose switch can’t take effect yet says so: Takes effect once Automatic management is on, Takes effect once this strategy gets a share, Takes effect once you Resume trading (Auto-execute while trading is paused), or List updates don’t run on this account yet. While a followed list’s agreement needs renewing, the Follow list updates rows say they are paused until you renew it. These rows never change the count, what the review says can sell, or what the confirmation asks of you. Once the import applies, the same switches come back as working switches (below). Every link in the review opens in a new tab, so the review stays open.

Once the import applies, you see what it did. An import from a tab’s ↑ Import keeps the import window open on a Done view instead of a short message: how many changes applied, whether that tab’s section applied (or why it didn’t), any symbols skipped because no provider could price them (Skipped (no price data)), each strategy the import kept on its list because you hadn’t agreed to the one the file asked for (with a link to that strategy on the Universe page), whether trading was paused first, then the switches below; Done closes it. After a full import from Settings → Account, the result card shows the same for all three sections, with the switches inside the card. The Universe section was reviewed against the other two, so if Strategies fails to save, or Risk & Caps fails while changing your allocation settings (auto-allocate, preference, or cash reserve floor), Universe isn’t applied either; review the file again to apply it. A section that failed also brings up an Import partly applied notice. If nothing applied at all (every section that tried to save failed), the result says Nothing applied instead of a change count, the notice says Import didn’t apply, and the last line about when changes take effect is left out, since no imported change is waiting.

Under Automation switches · not applied by the import — switch them yourself to match, the result lists the automation switches whose value differs from the file’s, Auto-execute last, each with the file’s value (Imported setting: On or Off), a working switch that always shows your current value, and one sentence on what flipping it from your current value does. Flipping one saves it right away, whichever way you flip it, and the switch moves only once the save goes through:

• Turning Auto-execute on asks you to type ENABLE AUTO, the same confirmation as on Settings → Strategies; turning it off saves at once. If the save is refused (for example, two-factor authentication needs a fresh check), the row says why.
• Turning Follow list updates on checks your account again first, then asks you to agree to that strategy’s list, if you haven’t, in the same agreement window as on the Universe page; your agreement is saved only for the list that window showed. If the strategy is on a different list by then than the one its row describes, nothing is saved and the row links to that strategy on the Universe page, where you can switch it on knowing which list it follows. Turning it off, whichever way the file has it, follows the review’s Keep the ones I hold as hand-picked: while it was ticked, the held symbols that would leave with that strategy’s list are kept as your own picks right after the switch saves; unticked, they can leave and sell. Your account is checked again right before the switch saves, using the list that strategy follows at that moment (even if you moved it after the import), and the row names those symbols.

Closing a confirmation or agreement window without confirming leaves the switch as it was (Not changed). If a save’s answer never arrives (say your connection drops), the switch may or may not have changed, so your account is checked again and the row shows it as it is now (Couldn’t confirm the save — showing your account as it is now); a switch-off that went through still keeps the held symbols it was going to keep. If that check fails too, the row says so, and the next successful check (Try again, coming back to the page, or flipping the row again) finishes the switch-off the same way. If a save goes through but the check after it fails, the switch shows what you saved (Saved — couldn’t re-read your account) until a check succeeds. If the check right before a save finds the switch already where you flipped it (you changed it somewhere else), it isn’t saved again and shows that way. Once a switch matches the file, its row stays in the list and shows ✓ Matches the imported setting in place of the file’s value, and you can switch it back right there the same way (turning it back on asks for the same confirmation or agreement). A row can still say Takes effect once… when the switch has no effect yet, and it is paused while it waits for something: the Alpaca paper keys Auto-execute needs, a followed list’s agreement to renew, or a section of this import that didn’t apply (for example Strategies didn’t apply — import the file again first). If Strategies didn’t save, every switch waits, because what each Follow list updates row says was worked out on the strategy mix the import was going to save; so do the Follow list updates rows when Risk & Caps didn’t save while changing your allocation settings. A Follow list updates switch that is off also waits when the strategy follows a different list than the one its row describes (for example after the import kept it on its list and you switched it off): the row names both lists and you switch it on from the Universe page instead. The switches are checked again after each flip and whenever you come back to the page; if a check fails, the last ones stay with May be out of date — Try again. Every link here opens in a new tab, so the result stays open. A last line says when everything else takes effect: from the next signal run, or saved now (Auto-execute off or trading paused) and used the next time automated trading runs.

The audit log records one entry per applied section with what changed, and each entry also notes any Auto-execute or Follow list updates value in the file that differed from yours and was not applied. A switch you flip from the result afterward is recorded as your own change, not as part of the import. Importing the same file again right away reviews as no changes (apart from any symbols that were skipped or did not fit). There is no undo button; the review’s ↓ Download my current settings first link saves your own settings (dollar caps included) so you can import them back.

Restore on a new account

A full settings file can rebuild your setup on a brand-new account, whether you lost access to the old one or want a second account set up the same way. While you still can, export a full file from Settings → Account (all three sections, dollar caps included) and keep it somewhere safe. Then, on the new account:

1. 1
   Finish onboarding first

   Create the account and finish the onboarding wizard. The import needs the account settings onboarding creates, and Settings only opens once onboarding is done. You can skip the broker step, and the starter universe doesn’t matter: the import replaces it.
2. 2
   Open Import settings

   On Settings → Account, paste the file into the Import settings card or upload it, then Review changes.
3. 3
   Make my settings match this file

   Switch on Make my settings match this file at the top of the review, so the new account’s starter symbols, starter strategy, and default dollar caps give way to the file’s instead of being merged with them.
4. 4
   Review and confirm

   Look over each card, then Apply N changes… and confirm (type IMPORT if the confirmation asks).
5. 5
   Do what a file never does

   Connect your paper Alpaca keys (Settings → Broker). Then switch on Follow list updates and auto-execute from the switches in the import’s result card: turning Follow list updates on asks you to agree to that strategy’s list, and turning auto-execute on asks you to type ENABLE AUTO (you can also switch them later on the Universe page and Settings → Strategies). Set up two-factor authentication (optional on paper, required before live). If you traded live, go live through its own gate (it needs Pro, and Pro upgrades aren’t open yet), then turn on live auto-execute with its own confirmation.

A new account starts on Free, whose universe holds 30 symbols (Pro holds 200). Symbols past that are listed as not fitting rather than dropped silently. Once the account is on Pro (Pro upgrades aren’t open yet), import the same file again to add the hand picks that didn’t fit. If your lists manage your universe by then, they fill the extra room themselves from their current members, so the file’s list symbols are left to them; tick Add these as my own picks to take the file’s list symbols anyway. Nothing follows a list on a fresh account yet, so on the first import the file’s list symbols join as list symbols and stay put until your lists take over (Automatic management on, the list agreed to, and Follow list updates on); from then on the lists keep your universe in step with their current members, so a symbol a list has since dropped leaves. Tick Add these as my own picks during the import to keep them as your own picks instead: list updates leave those alone unless Let list updates replace my own picks is on (a file that has it on turns it on) and a list needs the room, in which case picks no list carries can go, newest first.

An Alpaca account can be connected to only one SleeveFolio account at a time. If the old account still exists, disconnect its broker keys there (Settings → Broker) before connecting the same Alpaca account to the new one. Holdings already in that Alpaca account have no strategy history on the new account, so they count as positions you opened yourself: no strategy sells them on its own signals, but your stop-loss still applies to them, and once your lists take over, a held list symbol a list has dropped is marked exiting and sold at the next run while auto-execute is on.