FAQ
The questions people actually ask.
Highest-friction first. If yours isn't here, email — a human answers.
Requirements.
Do I need Obsidian?
Yes. Everything here is built for Obsidian — it's free, it runs locally, and it's the best tool in existence for owning your own files. If you're not willing to work in Obsidian, honestly, don't buy this; it won't fit.
The calendar system is the one exception — it lives in Google Calendar.
Do I need to be technical?
Willing, not technical. If you can install an app and follow a walkthrough — or paste the walkthrough into an AI and let it guide you — you can set this up.
Does it work on Mac, Windows, mobile?
It works wherever Obsidian works — the products are files, not software. Mobile editing works through Obsidian's apps; the maps are best worked on desktop.
Privacy and AI.
What does an AI actually get to see?
Whatever you point it at, and nothing more. The vault is local files on your machine — nothing phones home, there are no accounts on our side.
When you work with an AI, you choose the scope: one folder, one project, the business only, or everything. The tag and property structure is exactly what makes that boundary practical.
Do I need a specific AI?
No. Plain, structured text is the whole point — it's readable by any assistant you use today and whatever replaces it.
Does my personal life end up in my business AI's context?
Only if you point it there. One vault, scoped access: business and life live in the same structure, separated by metadata — so you can hand an AI the business without the journal ever entering the conversation.
Do I have to use AI at all?
No. It's a plain Obsidian vault first — everything works with zero AI involved. AI-readability is a property of the structure, not a dependency: use it never, later, or daily.
The free Core.
What's the catch with the free Core?
There isn't one. The email is optional (the bypass link is real), the files are the same quality as the paid ones, and the Core works as a complete minimal vault on its own.
If I start free and buy later, do I start over?
No — that's the design. The Core is literally the base of the paid system; modules install into it in place.
The cynic's question.
I've abandoned three systems already. Why would this one survive?
You were probably right to abandon them. Pre-built systems die of maintenance — someone else's structure that became work to keep up with — and of entropy, when no rules govern what new files look like.
This one is built so the upkeep is delegated: the rules are decisions already made, templates pre-fill the metadata, and an AI can police the schema for you.
And the honest filter: if you won't work in plain files, this one won't survive either — which is exactly why the Core is free to try first.
Doesn't all this metadata slow down capture?
It would if you typed it by hand every time. You don't: templates pre-fill the properties, capture takes seconds, and classification happens later — or gets done by an AI against the registry.
The rule this system is built on: if logging a thing is more work than remembering it, the system dies. So logging isn't allowed to be work.
Is this just more productivity homework?
Fair question — most systems in this category produce more system-tending, and the critics who say so are right. This one is judged on one output: the running business on top of it. If mapping your operation doesn't surface real bottlenecks and real automations, it failed. That's the standard, stated in public.
What you get.
What exactly do I download?
A structured vault (or module): folders, templates, the tag and property registry, the creation rules, and — depending on the product — .canvas Operating Maps. Plus a setup guide as .md, readable by you or your AI. Instant download after purchase.
What are Operating Maps?
Visual maps of your business wired to your actual files. Click a node, the real file opens; update the file, the map is current. Sold as an add-on to the structure — never standalone, because without the files underneath a map is a poster.
Do I get updates?
The updates policy is still being decided, and it will be stated plainly here and on the Pricing page — identically — before anything goes on sale.
Money.
Refunds?
30 days, no questions. Email, refunded, done.
Is anything a subscription?
No — every product is a one-time purchase. The optional community is the only recurring thing, and it's exactly that: optional (monthly or annual).
Boundaries.
Can I resell or share the files?
You can modify everything for your own business — that's the point. You can't resell or redistribute the products themselves.
What if Obsidian disappears someday?
You'd still have a folder of plain, readable markdown — organized, searchable, portable to any editor. The structure survives without Obsidian, without plugins, and without us.
Is the calendar part of the vault?
No — it's a Google Calendar system, deliberately. Same philosophy (one view for business and life, layered), different substrate. It works with or without the vault.
Is this the same as Oknola?
Related, different layer. Indexed Brain is the DIY structure you install and own. Oknola is software being built for people who want the outcome without the building. DIY here; software there.
Still deciding? Start free.
30-day no-questions refund on everything paid · a human answers