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Your Data

Carta is a coordination platform, not a data warehouse. A core design principle is that your organization's data should remain under your control — in storage systems you own and manage.

How Data Storage Works in Carta

Carta separates coordination from storage. The platform tracks what happened, who did it, and how records relate to each other. Where the underlying data lives is up to you.

By default, Carta includes FormsDB — a built-in storage layer that lets new deployments get started immediately, without any additional setup. FormsDB is a practical starting point, not a permanent requirement.

Connecting Your Own Backend

Most organizations connect Carta to their existing data infrastructure as part of their deployment. Supported backends include cloud storage services, institutional databases, and enterprise document systems such as:

  • Google Drive
  • Dropbox
  • Internal databases and data warehouses
  • Custom storage systems via API integration

When a custom backend is configured, form submissions and structured data flow into your own systems rather than FormsDB. Carta maintains the coordination layer — permissions, provenance, relationships, workflow history — while your organization retains full ownership of the content.

Data Ownership

Contextualize does not seek to hold your data. FormsDB exists as a convenience, not a business model. The goal is for every Carta deployment to reach a state where the organization controls its own data backend, and Carta serves purely as the coordination and access layer on top of it.

If you have questions about connecting a data backend or migrating from FormsDB to your own storage, contact your Contextualize representative.