Search your own records.
Over two days, we organized one person's records into a Personal Neutral Archive (PNA) on their own computer. A local catalog makes it possible to answer questions about those records without sending information anywhere. This page explains how it works. The technical version describes the software for builders and security reviewers.
Files and a catalog
The archive has two parts: folders containing your records and a catalog used to search them. The diagram shows them as a filing shelf and a library card catalog.
Your records are the source. The catalog makes searches faster and can be rebuilt from those records. Deleting the catalog leaves the records intact.
Your records stay ordinary files that will open in fifty years, in folders you can see. A small, free, open database reads the files and answers questions about them. This type of database is used in phones and libraries around the world. It provides a faster way to read your files; deleting it leaves the records unchanged.
A grocery receipt example
This example uses a made-up grocery receipt. No one's real information appears anywhere on this page.
olive oil 2L 21.99
bread 4.50
milk gallon 6.29
The original receipt is stored exactly as it arrived. It is never edited or retyped over. The software saves a typed copy alongside it, labeled as machine-made and dated. The catalog reads that copy.
Then you can ask, on your own computer:
“What did groceries cost this quarter?”
$32.78 — calculated on your computer. No information was sent to anyone.
The same process works with ten years of lab results, records used when caring for a parent, or home-repair paperwork collected over several months. You can search these records together in your archive.
Ownership and access
Ordinary files
Everything is stored in ordinary folders and files you can open with anything, forever. You do not need an account or subscription, and no company can block access to those files.
Old versions are kept
Each new version is saved alongside the previous versions, which are kept permanently. Every addition includes a note recording its source and date.
Free and open
The database engine is public-domain software used by libraries and archives. The U.S. Library of Congress recommends its file format for long-term storage. The two small programs built around it are intended for open publication.
Consent gate
The consent gate checks and logs every request to read records. It is built and tested on the home machine. Network access has not been implemented; connecting it is the next step. Sealed records remain invisible to anyone who has not been given access. The software never answers "refused" in a way that would reveal those records exist.
The unplug test
We run the unplug test on every version to check that the records remain usable without the catalog:
Turn off every program. Delete the catalog entirely.
Open the folders. Every record still opens and is readable, with plain filenames and notes describing where it came from.
Turn the software back on. It rebuilds an identical catalog from the stored records in moments.
This test checks whether you can use your records independently of the software. The archive passed a live test the night it was built. An automated version runs every time anything changes.
Where this stands
Version 1 is running on the founder's computer with her actual records. Automated checks run on every change. The build log is the site's single status inventory. It records the current count and the status of each component and is updated whenever the project changes.
There is no product to download yet. Backup tools and a community edition are being built in the open. The community edition includes Community Helpers to help people set up an archive. The build log records dated updates for these components.
What you can do right now: use the free starter kit on the main site to organize your records with paper and folders. It uses the same filing structure as the software.
Help and feedback
Use the main site to send feedback or offer to help. No account is required.
See a mistake, or something that worries you? Write to us → “feedback.” If it's a security concern, Write to us → “security”: we welcome people who test our locks in good faith, we won't come after you for it, and we'll credit you by name unless you'd rather we didn't. That promise is written into our Terms.
Want to build? Apply → “build.” The jobs board lists real, fundable work. The technical page describes the current implementation.
Want updates? The “New in this place” board on the home page lists each change with its date.