A repository or database is the largest unit of data in MetaEdit+: there may be several repositories, but no data in one repository can be used or referenced directly from a second repository. A repository is composed of areas, which correspond to the MetaEdit+ user-visible concept of project.

In a multi-user environment, each repository must be started in an existing MetaEdit+ server process. Each server process can handle one repository at once. In general, each site will only be using one repository at once, and so will only be running one server process. In a single-user environment there is no server: the MetaEdit+ client accesses the repository files directly on the user’s local hard disk.

The server for MetaEdit+ is a separate program which runs as a background process or service on a shared machine. A repository must have been started in a server process before a client tries to login to that repository. The server thus normally runs on a machine that is routinely kept on all the time. As the server program has low resource requirements, and clients benefit from low latency connections with the server, this machine is often a workgroup server, but it can also be a departmental or larger server.