> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.northernlogic.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Core concepts

> Understand where knowledge lives and how access follows it.

| Concept      | What it means                                                                                            |
| ------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Workspace    | One organization's members, knowledge, and settings. The app also uses “organization” for this boundary. |
| Vault        | A separate knowledge tree with its own access rules.                                                     |
| Folder       | Organization within a vault. A folder does not create a separate membership boundary.                    |
| Page or file | An ordinary Markdown `.md` document.                                                                     |
| Revision     | A retained version or recorded change to a file or folder.                                               |
| Connection   | A machine, remote MCP client, or service endpoint with selected vault access.                            |
| Replica      | A local working copy of the vaults assigned to a machine.                                                |

## See the structure

```mermaid theme={null}
flowchart TD
  W[Workspace] --> C[Company vault]
  W --> T[Team vault]
  W --> P[Personal vault]
  C --> F[Topic folder]
  F --> D[Markdown page]
```

Vaults define access boundaries; folders organize topics. Team vault
availability depends on your plan.
[Choose the right place](/getting-started/what-goes-where) explains templates,
skills, profiles, and Follow-ups.

## Choose the right vault

**Company** holds shared business knowledge. New members normally begin as
viewers. Workspace owners and admins can administer it.

**Team** separates a team's knowledge from other members. Grant access to
specific people, agents, or groups. Team vaults require a plan that supports
them. Workspace owners and admins still have administrative access to shared
vaults.

**Personal** belongs to one person in one workspace. Workspace owners and admins
do not automatically receive access. The owner or an explicitly delegated vault
admin can share it with people or agents in that workspace.

Use a team vault when the membership should differ. Use folders when the
membership is the same but the topics differ.

## Understand copies

The cloud keeps the accepted revision history. A paired machine receives local
Markdown folders and can send permitted changes back. Several AI tools on that
machine can use the same replica.

A template is copied into an empty vault once. A skill copied from the library
becomes a separate set of vault files. Later template or library edits do not
update those copies.

Follow-ups and Agent Profiles are separate product records. They do not appear
as Markdown in a local replica or normal knowledge export.

## Access has two layers

Your vault role defines what you can do. A connection's grants further limit
what that tool can do. A connection cannot give its owner extra permissions. See
the [role table](/collaboration/vault-access).