Vault format

A vault is a directory you choose. It is not a proprietary database or archive, and the Markdown does not need sudonotes to be read.

Directory layout

<vault>/
├── prompts/
│   ├── review-a-pull-request.md
│   ├── release-workflow.md
│   └── release-workflow/
│       └── draft-changelog.md
├── ideas/
│   └── offline-alert-queue.md
└── .sudonotes/
    ├── index.db
    └── settings.json

prompts/ and ideas/ are the content roots. A Markdown file with a same-named subdirectory heads a collection; the files inside are its children.

.sudonotes/index.db is an FTS5 cache rebuilt from the Markdown. .sudonotes/settings.json stores whether AI assistance is enabled for this vault.

What is load-bearing?

The .md files under prompts/ and ideas/. Everything required to read the title, tags, relationships, models, project link, and body is in those files.

It is safe to remove .sudonotes/index.db while the app is closed; search rebuilds on the next open. Removing the whole .sudonotes/ directory also resets the per-vault AI preference to its default of on. It does not remove a note.

Notes without frontmatter

You can place an existing Markdown file under prompts/ or ideas/. If it has no sudonotes frontmatter, the filename supplies the title. The app adds its small header the first time it writes the note.

Filename slugs are derived from titles, with collision handling so two notes do not silently share a path. Links resolve against the frontmatter title, not the visible filename alone.

Data outside the vault

Automatic .bak files live in the app data directory outside the vault so they can survive deletion of the vault folder. The random device token, model catalog cache, updater state, and UI scale also belong to app/config or browser-local storage rather than note Markdown.

A linked project contains a second file, IDEAS.md. That is a mirror; the vault idea remains canonical.

Put a vault somewhere useful

A normal local folder, encrypted volume, Git worktree, or synced folder can all hold the Markdown. sudonotes has no built-in sync or account layer. When another program may edit the same files, read external editing and sync before allowing simultaneous writers.