Your first vault
A vault is just a folder on your disk. mdai scans it for .md files,
shows them in the file tree, and indexes every task it finds. Nothing is
imported, converted, or locked in — the folder stays a normal folder.
Open a vault
Section titled “Open a vault”- Click the Vault button in the left rail (or use the welcome screen on first launch).
- Choose Local folder… and pick any folder — an existing notes folder works fine, mdai never rewrites files you don’t edit.
- The file tree appears in the sidebar. Click any file to open it.
Writing
Section titled “Writing”- Type Markdown and watch it render inline as you write —
# headings,**bold**, lists, quotes, code. - Auto-save writes your changes to disk after a short pause. There is no “unsaved document” state to lose.
- Multiple files open as tabs; switching tabs never loses changes.
If files change outside mdai
Section titled “If files change outside mdai”Your vault may live in an iCloud/Drive/Dropbox folder or be edited by other tools. mdai watches the disk and follows one rule: it never silently overwrites external changes. If a file changed on disk while your editor copy is clean, it reloads. If both changed, mdai asks you which version to keep.
Where is my data?
Section titled “Where is my data?”Exactly where you put it. mdai adds no database and no hidden format — uninstall it tomorrow and your notes remain plain Markdown files.