Deleting frequently visited site does not re-add itself later

@PaddyMcQ

Recommended reading and study:
Brave deleted all my active tabs and favorites - #2 by 289wk


Answering: “Where are “Frequently Visited” sites stored in Brave Browser?”
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/where-are-frequently-visited-s-G2KpYbd2QpOADzB_SJFguw

EXCERPTS:

How Brave stores them

On desktop, Brave keeps almost everything (history, top sites, etc.) inside your profile folder, typically under a path like BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data\<profile>.brave+1
The “Frequently Visited” / “Top Sites” tiles on the New Tab Page are generated from this profile’s browsing history and engagement data, and details about the most frequently visited pages are kept in Brave’s internal “Top Sites” artifact within that profile.anoopcnair+1

Practical implications

Because the list is calculated from history and engagement, removing or clearing history will change what appears under “Frequently Visited.”brave+1
There is no standard user-facing option to open a dedicated file showing the raw “Frequently Visited” list; instead, it lives inside the profile data alongside other SQLite/JSON databases that Brave uses for history and related artifacts.forensafe+1


The Top Sites file is an SQLite database -type file. How to read that type of file:
Brave got rid of all my passwords - #7 by 289wk
(In that example, the Login Data file is also an SQLite database -type file.)