diff --git a/daemon/src/main.rs b/daemon/src/main.rs
index 0ef81bb..7966a55 100644
--- a/daemon/src/main.rs
+++ b/daemon/src/main.rs
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ use diag::{
 use log::{error, info};
 use qmdl_store::RecordingStoreError;
 use rayhunter::diag_device::DiagDevice;
+use std::path::Path;
+use tokio::fs;
 use tokio::net::TcpListener;
 use tokio::select;
 use tokio::sync::mpsc::{self, Sender};
@@ -109,7 +111,27 @@ async fn init_qmdl_store(config: &config::Config) -> Result<RecordingStore, Rayh
             Err(RecordingStoreError::ParseManifestError(err)) => {
                 error!("failed to parse QMDL manifest: {err}");
                 info!("creating new empty manifest...");
-                Ok(RecordingStore::create(&config.qmdl_store_path).await?)
+                let mut recording_store = RecordingStore::create(&config.qmdl_store_path).await?;
+                info!("parsing existing qmdl files into recording store...");
+                let path = Path::new(&config.qmdl_store_path);
+                let mut entries = fs::read_dir(path).await?;
+
+                // We might want to sort these newest to oldest so we don't have entries in manifest.toml in random order
+                while let Some(entry) = entries.next_entry().await? {
+                    let file_name = entry.file_name();
+                    let file_name_str = match file_name.to_str() {
+                        Some(s) => s,
+                        None => continue, // skip non-UTF-8 names
+                    };
+
+                    if file_name_str.ends_with(".qmdl") {
+                        let name = file_name_str.trim_end_matches(".qmdl");
+                        info!("making entry for {}", name);
+                        recording_store.new_entry_from_existing(name.to_string()).await?;
+                    }
+                }
+
+                Ok(recording_store)
             }
             Err(err) => Err(err.into()),
         }
diff --git a/daemon/src/qmdl_store.rs b/daemon/src/qmdl_store.rs
index 389ebf8..2261b0f 100644
--- a/daemon/src/qmdl_store.rs
+++ b/daemon/src/qmdl_store.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 use std::io::{self, ErrorKind};
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
+use std::time::UNIX_EPOCH;
 
-use chrono::{DateTime, Local};
+use chrono::{DateTime, Local, TimeZone};
+use rayhunter::analysis;
 use rayhunter::util::RuntimeMetadata;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use thiserror::Error;
@@ -71,6 +73,7 @@ impl ManifestEntry {
         }
     }
 
+
     pub fn get_qmdl_filepath<P: AsRef<Path>>(&self, path: P) -> PathBuf {
         let mut filepath = path.as_ref().join(&self.name);
         filepath.set_extension("qmdl");
@@ -171,6 +174,40 @@ impl RecordingStore {
         self.write_manifest().await?;
         Ok((qmdl_file, analysis_file))
     }
+    
+    pub async fn new_entry_from_existing(&mut self, name: String) -> Result<(File, File), RecordingStoreError> {
+        // if we've already got an entry open, close it
+        if self.current_entry.is_some() {
+            self.close_current_entry().await?;
+        }
+        let mut new_entry = ManifestEntry::new();
+        new_entry.name = name;
+        let qmdl_filepath = new_entry.get_qmdl_filepath(&self.path);
+        let qmdl_file = File::open(&qmdl_filepath)
+            .await
+            .map_err(RecordingStoreError::ReadFileError)?;
+        let qmdl_meta = qmdl_file.metadata().await.map_err(RecordingStoreError::ReadFileError)?;
+        let analysis_filepath = new_entry.get_analysis_filepath(&self.path);
+        let analysis_file = File::open(&analysis_filepath)
+            .await
+            .map_err(RecordingStoreError::ReadFileError)?;
+
+        let timestamp = Local.timestamp_opt(new_entry.name.parse::<i64>().expect("Invalid timestamp"), 0).unwrap();
+        new_entry.start_time = timestamp;
+
+        // I can't think of a better way to find this 
+        let update = qmdl_meta.modified().expect("no mod date").duration_since(UNIX_EPOCH)
+        .expect("Time went backwards");
+        new_entry.last_message_time = Some(Local.timestamp_opt(update.as_secs().try_into().expect("error"), 0).unwrap());
+
+        new_entry.analysis_size_bytes = analysis_file.metadata().await.map_err(RecordingStoreError::ReadFileError)?.len().try_into().expect("file too large");
+        new_entry.qmdl_size_bytes = qmdl_meta.len().try_into().expect("file too large");
+
+        self.manifest.entries.push(new_entry);
+        self.current_entry = Some(self.manifest.entries.len() - 1);
+        self.write_manifest().await?;
+        Ok((qmdl_file, analysis_file))
+    }
 
     // Returns the corresponding QMDL file for a given entry
     pub async fn open_entry_qmdl(&self, entry_index: usize) -> Result<File, RecordingStoreError> {