---
title: Data residency
description: Where your Cloud data lives, where it moves during a single chat, which sub-processors touch it, and what stays in region versus what leaves.
---

Data residency on Cloud answers two questions every audit eventually asks: which region holds your data at rest, and which external systems touch it in flight. This page traces a single chat round-trip end to end, lists the data classes, and names every sub-processor your messages pass through.

The default region for new Cloud orgs is Switzerland. Switching region after sign-up is a migration, not a setting flip — re-creating an org in the EU region is faster than moving an existing one. Pick once; pick deliberately.

## A worked example — one chat round-trip

The user in Zürich opens Chat and sends "summarise the latest customer call". The request hits Tale's edge in the chosen region, lands on `tale-platform`, which calls into `tale-convex` (the database), reads the bound knowledge from `tale-rag`, and emits an outbound call to the model provider the agent is configured against. The model provider returns tokens; Tale streams them back across the same path. The reply, transcripts, and citations land in `tale-db`, replicated within the region.

Two arrows cross the regional boundary in this trip: the call to the model provider (always external) and any sub-processor the agent's tools triggered (web fetch, OneDrive read, MCP server in another region). Everything else stays in region.

## Primary regions

| Region         | Postgres  | Object store | DR replica |
| -------------- | --------- | ------------ | ---------- |
| Switzerland    | Zürich    | Zürich       | Geneva     |
| European Union | Frankfurt | Frankfurt    | Dublin     |

The DR replica is for disaster recovery, not active traffic. A region's data never flows to the other region's primary or replica.

## What stays in region, what leaves

| Data type                          | Region-locked | Crosses | Notes                                                                          |
| ---------------------------------- | ------------- | ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Chats and messages                 | ✓             |         |                                                                                |
| Documents and knowledge embeddings | ✓             |         |                                                                                |
| Org configuration and roles        | ✓             |         |                                                                                |
| Audit logs                         | ✓             |         |                                                                                |
| Model provider requests            |               | ✓       | Goes to the provider you configured; pick a regional endpoint when one exists. |
| OneDrive sync                      |               | ✓       | Microsoft's storage region applies.                                            |
| Web tool fetches                   |               | ✓       | Wherever the URL resolves.                                                     |

## Backups and DR

Tale snapshots `tale-db` daily and the object store hourly. Snapshots are encrypted at rest with keys held by Tale; the DR replica receives a copy within the region. Restores from snapshot are a customer-initiated operation routed through support; the SLA covers restore time.

## Changing region

A region change is implemented as an export from the current region, an import into the new region, and a DNS cutover. The procedure is the same as [Migrate to self-hosted](/cloud/migrate-to-self-hosted) except both sides are Cloud regions; expect downtime in the minutes range and a planned window. There is no in-place region toggle.

## Where this fits

Data residency is the first page every compliance review reads. Pair it with [Trust and compliance](/cloud/trust-and-compliance) (which framework covers what) and [Subprocessors](/legal/subprocessors) (the list of every external system named above). If your org is considering self-hosted because of a residency requirement, [Self-hosted overview](/self-hosted/overview) is the next read — running the stack on your hardware moves every arrow on this page inside your own boundary.
