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Changing the port (and keeping your data)

The desktop launcher lets you change the port Adaptive Learner runs on (it defaults to 8501). This is handy when another app already uses that port - but there is one consequence worth knowing before you do it.

Why the port matters for your data

A web app's storage is tied to its exact web address, including the port. http://localhost:8501 and http://localhost:8502 are two different addresses as far as your browser is concerned, and each gets its own separate storage.

What this means in practice depends on how you run Adaptive Learner:

  • Server mode (the default for the desktop launcher). Your sets, lessons, and progress live in the app's own backend, not in the browser. They are not affected by a port change - the app finds them again automatically on the new address.
  • Browser storage mode (the option you can turn on in Settings > Data, and the mode the public web version uses). Your sets, progress, and self-authored exercises live in the browser, tied to the current address. After a port change the app opens on the new address with empty browser storage, so it looks like a fresh start. Your data is not deleted - it is still stored under the previous port, just not visible on the new one.

Move your data to the new port

If you use browser storage mode and you have already changed the port, your data is waiting under the old address. Bring it across with a backup:

  1. Go back to the previous port (for example http://localhost:8501). Your data appears again.
  2. Open Settings > Data > Export backup and save the .alb file.
  3. Switch to the new port.
  4. On the welcome screen choose Restore from backup and pick the .alb file. Everything - sets, progress, exercises, and your settings - is restored.

See Backup and restore for more on backups.

Avoid the surprise: back up first

The safest habit is to export a backup before you change the port, so you can restore it on the new address if anything is missing. A regular backup is good insurance in general - it also lets you move your learning between devices.

Changing the port does not open the app to the network

Whatever port you pick, the app keeps listening only on 127.0.0.1 - reachable from this computer, not from other devices. It has no login, so reaching it from your phone or another machine is a separate, deliberate step (ADAPTIVE_LEARNER_BIND_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0), and only sensible in a network you trust - see Start the desktop launcher ("Who can reach the app").