diff --git a/backend/app.ts b/backend/app.ts
index 85165c8..4c3619b 100644
--- a/backend/app.ts
+++ b/backend/app.ts
@@ -9,13 +9,13 @@ import { path, isProd } from '@tycrek/joint';
 import { epcss } from '@tycrek/express-postcss';
 
 import { log } from './log';
-import { JSONDatabase, ensureFiles } from './sql/json';
 import { get } from './data';
 import { UserConfig } from './UserConfig';
-import { MySQLDatabase } from './sql/mysql';
-import { buildFrontendRouter } from './routers/_frontend';
 import { DBManager } from './sql/database';
+import { JSONDatabase } from './sql/json';
+import { MySQLDatabase } from './sql/mysql';
 import { PostgreSQLDatabase } from './sql/postgres';
+import { buildFrontendRouter } from './routers/_frontend';
 
 /**
  * Top-level metadata exports
@@ -79,8 +79,9 @@ async function main() {
 
 	App.pkgVersion = pkg.version;
 
-	// Ensure data files exist
-	await ensureFiles();
+	// Ensure data directory exists
+	log.debug('Checking data dir')
+	await fs.ensureDir(path.join('.ass-data'));
 
 	// Set default server configuration
 	const serverConfig: ServerConfiguration = {
@@ -130,6 +131,7 @@ async function main() {
 			}
 		} catch (err) { throw new Error(`Failed to configure SQL`); }
 	} else { // default to json database
+		log.debug('DB not set! Defaulting to JSON');
 		await DBManager.use(new JSONDatabase());
 	}
 
diff --git a/backend/data.ts b/backend/data.ts
index 72e2f8c..118105f 100644
--- a/backend/data.ts
+++ b/backend/data.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,4 @@
-import { AssFile, AssUser, NID, FilesSchema, UsersSchema } from 'ass';
-
-import fs from 'fs-extra';
-import { path } from '@tycrek/joint';
+import { AssFile, AssUser, NID } from 'ass';
 
 import { log } from './log';
 import { UserConfig } from './UserConfig';
@@ -12,14 +9,6 @@ import { DBManager } from './sql/database';
  */
 type DataSector = 'files' | 'users';
 
-/**
- * Absolute filepaths for JSON data files
- */
-const PATHS = {
-    files: path.join('.ass-data/files.json'),
-    users: path.join('.ass-data/users.json')
-};
-
 /**
  * database kind -> name mapping
  */
diff --git a/backend/routers/api.ts b/backend/routers/api.ts
index e2aa2bc..d5bad9b 100644
--- a/backend/routers/api.ts
+++ b/backend/routers/api.ts
@@ -45,14 +45,9 @@ router.post('/setup', BodyParserJson(), async (req, res) => {
 		}
 
 		// set rate limits
-		if (UserConfig.config.rateLimit?.api)    setRateLimiter('api',    UserConfig.config.rateLimit.api);
-		if (UserConfig.config.rateLimit?.login)  setRateLimiter('login',  UserConfig.config.rateLimit.login);
-		if (UserConfig.config.rateLimit?.upload) setRateLimiter('upload', UserConfig.config.rateLimit.upload);
-
-		// set rate limits
-		if (UserConfig.config.rateLimit?.api)    setRateLimiter('api',    UserConfig.config.rateLimit.api);
-		if (UserConfig.config.rateLimit?.login)  setRateLimiter('login',  UserConfig.config.rateLimit.login);
-		if (UserConfig.config.rateLimit?.upload) setRateLimiter('upload', UserConfig.config.rateLimit.upload);
+		if (UserConfig.config.rateLimit?.api) setRateLimiter('api', UserConfig.config.rateLimit.api);
+		if (UserConfig.config.rateLimit?.login) setRateLimiter('login', UserConfig.config.rateLimit.login);
+		if (UserConfig.config.rateLimit?.upload) setRateLimiter('upload', UserConfig.config.rateLimit.upload);;
 
 		log.success('Setup', 'completed');
 
diff --git a/backend/sql/json.ts b/backend/sql/json.ts
index 6703ed2..173058f 100644
--- a/backend/sql/json.ts
+++ b/backend/sql/json.ts
@@ -58,8 +58,6 @@ export const ensureFiles = (): Promise<void> => new Promise(async (resolve, reje
 	log.debug('Checking data files');
 
 	try {
-		// Create data directory
-		await fs.ensureDir(path.join('.ass-data'));
 
 		// * Default files.json
 		await createEmptyJson(PATHS.files, {
diff --git a/frontend/setup.mts b/frontend/setup.mts
index c4372d8..310d3e6 100644
--- a/frontend/setup.mts
+++ b/frontend/setup.mts
@@ -113,8 +113,8 @@ document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', () => {
 						password: Elements.mySqlPassword.value,
 						database: Elements.mySqlDatabase.value
 					}
-				}
-			};
+				};
+			}
 		} else if (Elements.pgsqlTab.active) {
 			if (Elements.pgsqlHost.value != null && Elements.pgsqlHost.value != '') {
 				config.database = {
@@ -126,8 +126,8 @@ document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', () => {
 						password: Elements.pgsqlPassword.value,
 						database: Elements.pgsqlDatabase.value
 					}
-				}
-			};
+				};
+			}
 		}
 
 		// append rate limit config, if specified