Removing Metadata from Database (CLI and Settings)

[denis-beurive]

Hello,

I'm using Git to sync my KeePassXC database across multiple devices. For this reason, I want to ensure the database file contains no unnecessary metadata, such as search history or entry history.

I have two questions:

• Is there a way to completely purge all metadata from the database via the command line? The keepassxc-cli tool doesn’t seem to offer this functionality.
• If I disable the recycle bin and set the number of historical items per entry to zero, is that sufficient to remove all metadata from the database?

Thank you!

[droidmonkey]

Entry history isn't Metadata, it is part of the database function. You can certainly set it to 0 to wipe all entry history, but why not just keep it low to begin with? Not sure the rationale behind stripping down your database.

[denis-beurive]

Thanks for your response. Let me clarify the use case to illustrate why I need to strip all metadata.

• The KeePassXC database is stored in a central Git repository.
• I use two machines: Computer A and Computer B.
• Each machine clones the repository to get a local copy of the database.

I use the database on both machines, but:

• I do not add, remove, or modify any entries — I only view them.
• The entries I look up differ between A and B.

As a result:

• Running git status shows the database file has changed (because lookup history is recorded).
• The database file differs between A and B due to this recorded metadata.

My goal: I don't want Git to track lookup history or any usage metadata. I only want it to track actual changes to entries.

[droidmonkey]

If you are just viewing entries, you won't accumulate data. Sometimes, actions like manual sort order or group expand/collapse state will be saved just before locking if you make those changes. You can disable that behavior in application settings.

Otherwise, there is no such thing as true "metadata" for keepass databases. The database is encrypted at rest so every time you save it it will appear completely changed in git. Git is 100% useless in this scenario as a change recorder.

[denis-beurive]

Interesting — I haven’t tested it myself.

But if I understand correctly, even when the database content doesn’t change, the encrypted file does. That likely means encryption uses an initialization vector (e.g., stored at the beginning of the file), which is expected.

So yes, using a GIT repository for centralized storage is useless.