I have a Recovery Kit

If you can sign in to the account

1. Go to app.permavault.xyz and sign in with the account's email address.
2. Open History, choose a locked file and press Unlock.
3. If you are asked how to unlock, choose "Use my Recovery Kit". Enter the 12 words in order.

If you cannot sign in, or Permavault is gone

The files are kept on a public permanent storage network, designed to outlive the company that stored them. You need three things: the 12 words, the locked files, and the opening tool.

1. Save the opening tool from https://arweave.net/BLGF1Sbsek8ZRPdVV3UXXh79va5QGQcyQKZwmOqpF24 to your computer. It is one self-contained page. Its SHA-256 fingerprint is 0853b6f8a8ac001be893629e9f95ae3857994f5c5bc098e9b2b0c8e39a401186.
2. Find each locked file's ID. It is the "Stored file ID" in the owner's receipt emails, or ciphertextTxId in the Vault Index they can download from Settings. The Vault Index also lists each file's sealed manifest (the entry with role sealed-manifest), which records the file's original name and type. Opening tool 1.0.4 and later uses that name when you add the manifest with it. From 1.0.5, unsafe characters or file endings are adjusted for saving; versions before 1.0.4 save a neutral name, and opening the manifest the same way shows you the name. The "Proof record ID" is the public proof, not the file.
3. Open https://arweave.net/ followed by that ID in your browser, and save the file it downloads.
4. Turn off your internet connection, open your saved copy of the tool, enter the 12 words, and choose the saved locked file.

If you stay online, the opening tool can also fetch a locked file by its Stored file ID (tool versions 1.0.3 and later). That sends your IP address and file ID to arweave.net. The saved-file steps above work even when that gateway is unavailable.

Page 3 of the kit shows how to do the same with standard open-source tools. The full format is documented at app.permavault.xyz/private-capture-format.md.

If you are a trusted person

If the owner made you their trusted person, you saved a key file when you checked your access. It is named Permavault-Trusted-Person-Key- followed by a date, or shared-vault-key.txt if you saved it earlier. It opens the files in that vault, just as the 12 words do. Follow the steps above with the key file in place of the words: in the opening tool, choose "Trusted person key" (tools before 1.0.4 call it "Technical option: age identity from page 3"), then choose your key file or paste the line from it that starts with AGE-SECRET-KEY-. Tools before 1.0.4 take only the pasted line. The owner shares the locked files or the Vault Index with you separately.

Older kits

• If page 1 has a square code: it holds the 12 words themselves. Do not scan it with a phone or share a photo of it. Type the words instead.
• If page 2 says to choose "I have a Recovery Kit" on permavault.xyz: this is that page. Follow the steps above.
• If page 3 shows a code under "Open your files in a browser": that is an opening tool address. The earlier 1.0.1 tool still opens saved locked files, but its fetch-by-ID button no longer works. Later tools fix that button and work with the same 12 words; the newest is version 1.0.6.
• If page 3 names a GitHub address for the format documentation: the documentation is at app.permavault.xyz/private-capture-format.md.

Keep the words safe

Whoever holds the 12 words, or a trusted person's key file, can open everything in the vault. Keep the kit and the key file where you would keep an important document, and share them only on purpose.