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Vault Management

What is a Vault?

A vault is a directory of Markdown files that Stratum manages. All your notes live here as plain .md files — readable and editable by any text editor. Stratum adds a hidden .pkm/ directory for metadata cache.

Creating a Vault

On first launch, Stratum shows the Vault Picker screen. Click Choose Vault Folder and select an empty directory or a new folder.

You can also create a vault from the command line:

# Create a new vault in the current directory
stratum init

# Or specify a path
stratum -p ~/my-vault init

Opening a Vault

Stratum remembers your last used vault. You can change vaults via Settings → Vault:

  1. Click Settings in the sidebar
  2. Go to the Vault tab
  3. Click Browse and select a new vault directory
  4. Stratum reloads with the new vault

Vault Structure

your-vault/
├── note-a.md                    # Your notes
├── note-b.md
├── journals/                    # Auto-created daily notes
│   └── 2026-06-22.md
├── whiteboards/                 # Excalidraw whiteboard data
│   └── my-board.excalidraw
├── templates/                   # Reusable page templates
│   └── meeting-notes.md
└── .pkm/                        # Cache directory (rebuildable)
    ├── blocks.db                # SQLite block storage
    ├── search.idx               # Tantivy full-text search index
    └── config.toml              # Configuration file

The .pkm/ cache is fully rebuildable

You can safely delete the .pkm/ directory at any time. Stratum rebuilds it from your .md files. No data loss — just a brief reindexing delay.

Vault Information

The sidebar header shows your vault stats:

  • Block count — total number of blocks across all pages
  • Page count — total number of .md files

Multiple Vaults

Stratum works with one vault at a time, but you can switch between vaults at any time through Settings. Each vault is completely independent with its own configuration, cache, and Git repository.

Moving a Vault

To move a vault:

  1. Close Stratum
  2. Move the entire vault directory (including .pkm/) to the new location
  3. Open Stratum, go to Settings → Vault, and update the vault path
  4. Stratum re-indexes and reloads

All your notes and metadata are preserved.