diff --git a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/__tests__/test-utils.node.tsx b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/__tests__/test-utils.node.tsx
index bcdebe749..76011f4af 100644
--- a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/__tests__/test-utils.node.tsx
+++ b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/__tests__/test-utils.node.tsx
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import {PluginClient} from '../plugin/Plugin';
 import {DevicePluginClient} from '../plugin/DevicePlugin';
 import mockConsole from 'jest-mock-console';
 import {sleep} from '../utils/sleep';
+import {createDataSource} from '../state/DataSource';
 
 test('it can start a plugin and lifecycle events', () => {
   const {instance, ...p} = TestUtils.startPlugin(testPlugin);
@@ -557,3 +558,29 @@ test('GKs are supported', () => {
     expect(plugin.instance.isTest()).toBe(false);
   }
 });
+
+test('plugins can serialize dataSources', () => {
+  const {instance, exportState} = TestUtils.startPlugin(
+    {
+      plugin(_client: PluginClient) {
+        const ds = createDataSource([1, 2, 3], {persist: 'ds'});
+        return {ds};
+      },
+      Component() {
+        return null;
+      },
+    },
+    {
+      initialState: {
+        ds: [4, 5],
+      },
+    },
+  );
+
+  expect(instance.ds.records).toEqual([4, 5]);
+  instance.ds.shift(1);
+  instance.ds.append(6);
+  expect(exportState()).toEqual({
+    ds: [5, 6],
+  });
+});
diff --git a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/index.ts b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/index.ts
index 3f10397c9..03b38fa55 100644
--- a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/index.ts
+++ b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/index.ts
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ export {
 } from './utils/Logger';
 export {Idler} from './utils/Idler';
 
-export {createDataSource, DataSource} from './state/datasource/DataSource';
+export {createDataSource, DataSource} from './state/DataSource';
 
 export {DataTable, DataTableColumn} from './ui/datatable/DataTable';
 export {DataTableManager} from './ui/datatable/DataTableManager';
diff --git a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/plugin/PluginBase.tsx b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/plugin/PluginBase.tsx
index 9a4376e63..5dc8c1936 100644
--- a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/plugin/PluginBase.tsx
+++ b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/plugin/PluginBase.tsx
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@
 
 import {SandyPluginDefinition} from './SandyPluginDefinition';
 import {EventEmitter} from 'events';
-import {Atom} from '../state/atom';
 import {MenuEntry, NormalizedMenuEntry, normalizeMenuEntry} from './MenuEntry';
 import {FlipperLib} from './FlipperLib';
 import {Device, RealFlipperDevice} from './DevicePlugin';
@@ -88,6 +87,26 @@ export function getCurrentPluginInstance(): typeof currentPluginInstance {
   return currentPluginInstance;
 }
 
+export interface Persistable {
+  serialize(): any;
+  deserialize(value: any): void;
+}
+
+export function registerStorageAtom(
+  key: string | undefined,
+  persistable: Persistable,
+) {
+  if (key && getCurrentPluginInstance()) {
+    const {rootStates} = getCurrentPluginInstance()!;
+    if (rootStates[key]) {
+      throw new Error(
+        `Some other state is already persisting with key "${key}"`,
+      );
+    }
+    rootStates[key] = persistable;
+  }
+}
+
 export abstract class BasePluginInstance {
   /** generally available Flipper APIs */
   readonly flipperLib: FlipperLib;
@@ -106,7 +125,7 @@ export abstract class BasePluginInstance {
   initialStates?: Record<string, any>;
 
   // all the atoms that should be serialized when making an export / import
-  readonly rootStates: Record<string, Atom<any>> = {};
+  readonly rootStates: Record<string, Persistable> = {};
   // last seen deeplink
   lastDeeplink?: any;
   // export handler
@@ -178,7 +197,7 @@ export abstract class BasePluginInstance {
         } else {
           for (const key in this.rootStates) {
             if (key in this.initialStates) {
-              this.rootStates[key].set(this.initialStates[key]);
+              this.rootStates[key].deserialize(this.initialStates[key]);
             } else {
               console.warn(
                 `Tried to initialize plugin with existing data, however data for "${key}" is missing. Was the export created with a different Flipper version?`,
@@ -289,7 +308,10 @@ export abstract class BasePluginInstance {
       );
     }
     return Object.fromEntries(
-      Object.entries(this.rootStates).map(([key, atom]) => [key, atom.get()]),
+      Object.entries(this.rootStates).map(([key, atom]) => [
+        key,
+        atom.serialize(),
+      ]),
     );
   }
 
diff --git a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/state/datasource/DataSource.tsx b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/state/DataSource.tsx
similarity index 96%
rename from desktop/flipper-plugin/src/state/datasource/DataSource.tsx
rename to desktop/flipper-plugin/src/state/DataSource.tsx
index ff881b80f..986a760ea 100644
--- a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/state/datasource/DataSource.tsx
+++ b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/state/DataSource.tsx
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import {
   property,
   sortBy as lodashSort,
 } from 'lodash';
+import {Persistable, registerStorageAtom} from '../plugin/PluginBase';
 
 // If the dataSource becomes to large, after how many records will we start to drop items?
 const dropFactor = 0.1;
@@ -91,7 +92,7 @@ export class DataSource<
   T,
   KEY extends keyof T = any,
   KEY_TYPE extends string | number | never = ExtractKeyType<T, KEY>
-> {
+> implements Persistable {
   private nextId = 0;
   private _records: Entry<T>[] = [];
 
@@ -129,6 +130,17 @@ export class DataSource<
     return this._records.map(unwrap);
   }
 
+  serialize() {
+    return this.records;
+  }
+
+  deserialize(value: any[]) {
+    this.clear();
+    value.forEach((record) => {
+      this.append(record);
+    });
+  }
+
   /**
    * returns a direct reference to the stored records as lookup map,
    * based on the key attribute set.
@@ -711,8 +723,21 @@ export class DataSource<
 }
 
 type CreateDataSourceOptions<T, K extends keyof T> = {
+  /**
+   * If a key is set, the given field of the records is assumed to be unique,
+   * and it's value can be used to perform lookups and upserts.
+   */
   key?: K;
+  /**
+   * The maximum amount of records that this DataSource will store.
+   * If the limit is exceeded, the oldest records will automatically be dropped to make place for the new ones
+   */
   limit?: number;
+  /**
+   * Should this state persist when exporting a plugin?
+   * If set, the dataSource will be saved / loaded under the key provided
+   */
+  persist?: string;
 };
 
 export function createDataSource<T, KEY extends keyof T = any>(
@@ -730,6 +755,7 @@ export function createDataSource<T, KEY extends keyof T>(
   if (options?.limit !== undefined) {
     ds.limit = options.limit;
   }
+  registerStorageAtom(options?.persist, ds);
   initialSet.forEach((value) => ds.append(value));
   return ds;
 }
diff --git a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/state/datasource/__tests__/datasource-basics.node.tsx b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/state/__tests__/datasource-basics.node.tsx
similarity index 100%
rename from desktop/flipper-plugin/src/state/datasource/__tests__/datasource-basics.node.tsx
rename to desktop/flipper-plugin/src/state/__tests__/datasource-basics.node.tsx
diff --git a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/state/datasource/__tests__/datasource-perf.node.tsx b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/state/__tests__/datasource-perf.node.tsx
similarity index 100%
rename from desktop/flipper-plugin/src/state/datasource/__tests__/datasource-perf.node.tsx
rename to desktop/flipper-plugin/src/state/__tests__/datasource-perf.node.tsx
diff --git a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/state/atom.tsx b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/state/atom.tsx
index da9ad078e..5efed5474 100644
--- a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/state/atom.tsx
+++ b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/state/atom.tsx
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 import {produce, Draft, enableMapSet} from 'immer';
 import {useState, useEffect} from 'react';
-import {getCurrentPluginInstance} from '../plugin/PluginBase';
+import {Persistable, registerStorageAtom} from '../plugin/PluginBase';
 
 enableMapSet();
 
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ export type Atom<T> = {
   update(recipe: (draft: Draft<T>) => void): void;
 };
 
-class AtomValue<T> implements Atom<T> {
+class AtomValue<T> implements Atom<T>, Persistable {
   value: T;
   listeners: ((value: T) => void)[] = [];
 
@@ -38,6 +38,14 @@ class AtomValue<T> implements Atom<T> {
     }
   }
 
+  deserialize(value: T) {
+    this.set(value);
+  }
+
+  serialize() {
+    return this.get();
+  }
+
   update(recipe: (draft: Draft<T>) => void) {
     this.set(produce(this.value, recipe));
   }
@@ -77,15 +85,7 @@ export function createState(
   options: StateOptions = {},
 ): Atom<any> {
   const atom = new AtomValue(initialValue);
-  if (getCurrentPluginInstance() && options.persist) {
-    const {rootStates} = getCurrentPluginInstance()!;
-    if (rootStates[options.persist]) {
-      throw new Error(
-        `Some other state is already persisting with key "${options.persist}"`,
-      );
-    }
-    rootStates[options.persist] = atom;
-  }
+  registerStorageAtom(options.persist, atom);
   return atom;
 }
 
diff --git a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/ui/datatable/DataSourceRenderer.tsx b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/ui/datatable/DataSourceRenderer.tsx
index a0b5235ff..90c23f433 100644
--- a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/ui/datatable/DataSourceRenderer.tsx
+++ b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/ui/datatable/DataSourceRenderer.tsx
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ import React, {
   useLayoutEffect,
   MutableRefObject,
 } from 'react';
-import {DataSource} from '../../state/datasource/DataSource';
+import {DataSource} from '../../state/DataSource';
 import {useVirtual} from 'react-virtual';
 import styled from '@emotion/styled';
 
diff --git a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/ui/datatable/DataTable.tsx b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/ui/datatable/DataTable.tsx
index c2348f079..4ffd00446 100644
--- a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/ui/datatable/DataTable.tsx
+++ b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/ui/datatable/DataTable.tsx
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ import React, {
   useReducer,
 } from 'react';
 import {TableRow, DEFAULT_ROW_HEIGHT} from './TableRow';
-import {DataSource} from '../../state/datasource/DataSource';
+import {DataSource} from '../../state/DataSource';
 import {Layout} from '../Layout';
 import {TableHead} from './TableHead';
 import {Percentage} from '../../utils/widthUtils';
diff --git a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/ui/datatable/DataTableManager.tsx b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/ui/datatable/DataTableManager.tsx
index 08d5c21cd..af400f384 100644
--- a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/ui/datatable/DataTableManager.tsx
+++ b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/ui/datatable/DataTableManager.tsx
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 import type {DataTableColumn} from './DataTable';
 import {Percentage} from '../../utils/widthUtils';
 import {MutableRefObject, Reducer} from 'react';
-import {DataSource} from '../../state/datasource/DataSource';
+import {DataSource} from '../../state/DataSource';
 import {DataSourceVirtualizer} from './DataSourceRenderer';
 import produce, {immerable, original} from 'immer';
 
diff --git a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/ui/datatable/TableContextMenu.tsx b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/ui/datatable/TableContextMenu.tsx
index 2b0a60c04..659c6a29c 100644
--- a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/ui/datatable/TableContextMenu.tsx
+++ b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/ui/datatable/TableContextMenu.tsx
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ import React from 'react';
 import {normalizeCellValue} from './TableRow';
 import {tryGetFlipperLibImplementation} from '../../plugin/FlipperLib';
 import {DataTableColumn} from './DataTable';
-import {DataSource} from '../../state/datasource/DataSource';
+import {DataSource} from '../../state/DataSource';
 
 const {Item, SubMenu} = Menu;
 
diff --git a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/ui/datatable/__tests__/DataTable.node.tsx b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/ui/datatable/__tests__/DataTable.node.tsx
index be39d2232..806b7095b 100644
--- a/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/ui/datatable/__tests__/DataTable.node.tsx
+++ b/desktop/flipper-plugin/src/ui/datatable/__tests__/DataTable.node.tsx
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 import React, {createRef} from 'react';
 import {DataTable, DataTableColumn} from '../DataTable';
 import {render, act} from '@testing-library/react';
-import {createDataSource} from '../../../state/datasource/DataSource';
+import {createDataSource} from '../../../state/DataSource';
 import {computeDataTableFilter, DataTableManager} from '../DataTableManager';
 import {Button} from 'antd';