13 guides
Your vault and notes
Where your notes live and how to keep them safe.
Choosing and moving the folder
Find your vault, point the app at another folder.
- Find, choose or move your vaultSettings, Workspace, Vault names the actual folder on your machine, and lets you point NeuralVault at a different one.
- Change which folder is your vaultSettings, Workspace, Vault shows where the vault is and how many notes it holds, and "Change vault folder" points the app at another folder.
- First run: choose where your notes liveAlso hereOn a new install the first screen asks for a folder for your vault, then creates it; it cannot be skipped because without a vault the app has nowhere to save anything.Home: Getting started and installing / The first run
Backup, restore and export
Automatic copies, getting one back, taking your notes out.
- Backups: what runs on its own, and what does notLocal vault backups run automatically every few hours whatever your settings say. Copying them off the machine is a separate thing that is off by default.
- Restore your vault from a backupIn NeuralVault 2.0, Settings, Workspace, Vault has "Restore from backup", which lists the automatic copies and lets you restore into a new folder or replace your vault after reviewing exactly what changes.
- Export your vault or part of itIn NeuralVault 2.0, Settings, Workspace, Vault has an "Export vault" button that copies the whole vault, or one folder of it, to a folder you choose.
- A notice says the automatic backup is failingIn the Beta build, a toast and a line under Settings, Workspace, Vault tell you when the automatic backup starts failing; the usual causes are a full disk, a folder NeuralVault is not allowed to write to, or a missing vault folder.
Editing and tidying notes
Edit a note, and check for broken links.
- Edit a note inside NeuralVault, or in your own editorA note opened in the Vault page has an Edit button, and a refused save keeps your text. You can also edit the Markdown file in any editor; NeuralVault reads the same file straight back.
- The vault curator: link checks and optional repairsIn NeuralVault 2.0 the vault curator checks your notes for broken links and can repair a few kinds; every switch is off until you turn it on and it never calls an AI model.
- A note will not save, or will not openIn the Beta build, a note that will not save or open shows an NV-VAULT code; copy your text somewhere safe first, then fix what the message names.
- You closed the window while editing: what is keptIn the Beta build, closing the window, switching page, restarting to update or shutting Windows down while a note has unsaved edits asks you first; the words you typed in the message box are kept for next time.
Teaching the assistant about you
Standing instructions, CORTEX.md and what it remembers.
- Write standing instructions the assistant always followsAn instruction file at the root of your vault is injected into every conversation. It can be called CORTEX.md, CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md, and exactly one of them is ever in force.
- How the assistant works toward a goal, and how to edit CORTEX.md safelyIn NeuralVault 2.0 a new vault’s CORTEX.md tells the assistant to own a goal you state and only come to you when it must; an existing CORTEX.md is never changed, and when you edit one the assistant reads at most 40,000 bytes and drops the end.
- Ask the assistant to remember something, and where it is keptIn NeuralVault 2.0 "remember that" is an instruction to write to disk: a fact about you goes in your profile and a standing rule goes on the end of CORTEX.md, each behind an approval card.