Set up your vault

Your vault is the folder of plain Markdown files where everything Maisnie collects ends up. It’s yours: you can open it in any text editor, read it with any other tool, back it up with anything that copies files, and keep using it if you ever stop using Maisnie. The Setup page’s vault step is where you tell Maisnie which folder that is, and whether it’s a fresh folder or one you already keep notes in.

Enter a full, absolute path — for example C:\Users\<you>\Notes on Windows or /home/<you>/Notes on Linux/macOS — not just a folder name. There’s no default location and no relative-path handling: a bare name like notes resolves against whatever directory the Desk process happens to be running from, which on an ordinary install is inside your Python virtual environment, not somewhere you’d think to look — and it would be deleted right along with that environment. Pick a path outside your install and your virtual environment.

Running under Docker, the path you type has to be inside a folder the container actually has mounted, or the vault disappears the next docker compose down. compose.yml only mounts ./data:/data, so a path like /home/<you>/Notes — real advice for a plain install, above — names nowhere on the container’s own disk that survives a rebuild; everything Maisnie ever writes there would be lost with it. Either type /data/vault (it shows up as ./data/vault on your host, right next to compose.yml), or add your own second bind mount to compose.yml (for example - ./vault:/vault) and type /vault here instead. The same applies to Adopt, below: an existing notes folder you want Maisnie to read has to be mounted into the container the same way before you can point this step at it.

Create a new vault

If you don’t have a notes folder already, choose Create. The step is a two-part flow: a “Show me what will happen” button previews the exact skeleton (folders and files) in plain words before anything is written, and a separate primary button — Create my vault — is what actually writes it. Nothing lands on disk from the preview alone, and the same preview page has a Change something link if the folder or the git choice below wasn’t what you meant.

Applying writes a small skeleton — Entities/People (where a person’s note lives, if you keep one), Inbox, Notes, and Resources — three contract files that describe the shape of that structure, so Maisnie — and anything else you point at the same folder later — has something to check itself against, and a plain README.md at the vault’s root, separate from the contract, that orients anyone opening the folder for the first time. The three contract files (SCHEMA.md, INTERFACE.md, Framework.md) live under a _meta/ folder. The preview lists the top-level folders and files by name and folds the rest — _meta/’s own contents, the Entities/ subfolders, and README.md — into one line (“Plus a few of Maisnie’s own reference files”). A folder for a source you’ve turned on (calendar, mail, and so on) is a separate, later addition — it appears once you save the Sources step, not as part of this skeleton. If you gave a name and an email for version history (see below), Create also makes a first commit, so the vault has a starting point to fall back to before anything else is ever written into it.

Once it’s applied, the step shows a plain success state — “Your vault is ready”, with the folder’s path underneath — and a Next: choose your sources button, plus a secondary Use a different folder link if you want to change your mind before moving on.

Adopt an existing vault

If you already keep a folder of Markdown notes, choose Adopt. Maisnie reads what’s there, compares it against the contract it expects, and shows you a plan before it writes anything: which folders it would create, which contract files it would add, and — if your folder already has an older version of the contract — which files it would offer to update, with a full diff of the change (a “Show the changes to …” disclosure per file, so the diff itself stays out of the way until you ask for it). Nothing is written until you review that plan and press its primary button, Apply.

Two things are worth knowing about how adoption is careful with what’s already there:

• It never overwrites a file you edited. A contract file Maisnie can prove it wrote, unedited, byte for byte, is safe to update. A file that’s been touched even once comes back as a difference to review by hand, never an automatic overwrite.
• A vault whose contract is newer than what this version of Maisnie expects is left alone. You’ll see a clear refusal instead of a half-applied change, because writing notes against a contract Maisnie doesn’t actually understand yet is the kind of mistake this step exists to prevent.

Applying an adoption lands on the same plain success state Create does — “Your vault is ready”, your folder’s path, and Next: choose your sources.

Version history

If you turn on version history and choose Create, Maisnie makes your vault a git repository and records one starting commit right away. In this release, nothing commits later changes automatically — the calendar, mail, and feed connectors write their notes as plain files only and never invoke git themselves, so it’s on you (or a scheduled task you set up yourself) to commit ongoing changes if you want them in version history too. Choosing Adopt for an existing folder never runs git at all, even with this box checked; it only records that you want the vault tracked with git, for you to set up yourself (git init in that folder) or for a later version of Maisnie to act on. You give it a name and an email (used only for the commits themselves — this never has to be your real name or a working address, though it should be something meaningful to you: Dana Whitfield <[email protected]> is a fine choice). This is optional; a vault works fine without it.

What happens to your notes if you turn a source off later

Nothing. See turn on sources for what disabling a source actually does — the short version is that your vault is never cleaned up behind your back. Notes that already exist stay exactly where they are.

Next

Continue to turn on sources.