Your first vault

A vault is an ordinary directory. init does not create a Git repository or a vault .gitignore. Before committing one, add vault-local ignore rules for generated indexes and decide whether inbox and Bronze evidence are safe to place in version control.

Create the vault

node dist/src/cli/main.js init --root ./my-vault

init creates the vault directories and an empty trust policy. It never adds or replaces reviewer keys.

Vault layout

Path	Contents	Who writes it
`inbox/`	Untrusted capture input	You, by copying files in
`bronze/`	Canonical captured text with a verified body hash	`ingest`, using no-overwrite creation
`.ziggurat/proposals/`	Strict version-2, model-originated Silver JSON	The refine host
`knowledge/`	Operator-managed curated pages	The operator’s authoring workflow
`config/trust.yaml`	Reviewer public-key trust anchors	The trusted operator
`authorizations/`	Detached signed admission receipts	An external signer
`.ziggurat/*-index.json`	Generated indexes	`build`

Capture evidence

Copy a Markdown file into inbox/, then capture it:

cp some-note.md ./my-vault/inbox/
node dist/src/cli/main.js ingest --root ./my-vault --file inbox/some-note.md

ingest refuses unsafe source paths before any read, copy, or unlink; see the ingest path rules.

Fresh captures default to sensitivity: restricted and pii: unknown, which keeps them out of the model-readable evidence index until a human resolves their privacy state.

Build the indexes

node dist/src/cli/main.js build --root ./my-vault

build rebuilds all three isolated indexes from the current artifacts. These files are derived outputs and verified runtime inputs to query and MCP. At this point Gold is empty because nothing has been authorized; build admits only pages that already have valid external authorization and pass every other eligibility check.

Add these patterns to the vault’s own .gitignore if you use Git:

.ziggurat/gold-index.json
.ziggurat/review-index.json
.ziggurat/evidence-index.json

Query Gold

node dist/src/cli/main.js query --root ./my-vault --query "some question"

The Gold index contains authorized Gold only, so a vault with no receipts returns nothing. That is the expected result, not a failure.

The garden walkthrough shows the full poisoned-memory scenario.
Ingest and refine covers staging a Silver proposal.
Human review and external authorization covers what it takes to reach Gold.