First run & your first vault
A vault is just a folder of Markdown files on your computer. Altretta reads and writes plain .md files — so your knowledge stays portable, greppable, and yours, whether or not you ever open Altretta again.
Create or open a vault
The first time you launch Altretta, you'll be asked to choose a vault.
Create a new vault
Pick an empty folder (or let Altretta create one). Altretta drops in a small demo so you're not staring at a blank screen — you can delete it once you're comfortable.
…or open an existing folder
Already have a folder of Markdown notes — from Obsidian, Logseq, or anywhere else? Point Altretta at it. Your files are read in place; nothing is moved or rewritten.
Let the engine index your notes
Altretta builds a searchable, semantic index of your vault in the background. A status indicator in the bar shows when indexing is complete. Large vaults index incrementally, so you can start working right away.
You can keep multiple vaults and switch between them at any time — a personal vault, a work vault, a project vault. Each has its own graph, settings, and history.
Getting oriented
Once a vault is open, the workspace has a few key areas:
- The sidebar (left) — your file tree, search, tags, bookmarks, and the graph. Everything for finding and organizing notes.
- The editor (center) — where you read and write. Open notes in tabs, split the view into multiple panes, or pop a note out into its own window.
- Panels (right) — context that follows the note you're in: the outline, backlinks, properties, and Altretta's AI and trust panels.
- The command palette — press the palette shortcut to run any command by name, without hunting through menus.
What Altretta stores where
- Your notes stay as Markdown files in your vault folder — the source of truth.
- App settings, themes, and workspace layout are kept by the app on this device, not in the vault folder. They do not travel when you move or sync the folder.
- The signed history and index are maintained by Altretta's engine, in its own data directory outside the vault, so it can offer time-travel, grounded search, and provenance — always derived from your files, never a replacement for them.
See Vaults & workspace for the full breakdown of what lives in the folder and what lives on the device.
Next step
Your vault is ready — now write something. → Your first note.