Getting started — Ledger Help

What is Ledger?

Ledger is an IT documentation and knowledge hub for MSPs and internal IT teams. The idea in one line: Obsidian is perfect for one person; Ledger makes it a company-grade documentation hub.

Concretely, Ledger:

Stores your documentation as plain Markdown files with Obsidian-compatible YAML frontmatter and [[wiki-links]] — readable in any editor, never locked in.
Runs as a local-first static web app (plain HTML/CSS/JavaScript, no build step). It works entirely in your browser, with no account and no network, until you choose otherwise.
Adds the layer Obsidian lacks: a doc tree, org-wide search, a links/graph view, version history, review/approval governance, roles & permissions, and read-only published portals.
Stores no passwords or secrets — credential pages link to your password manager by URL only.

Local-first vs the cloud tier

This is the most important concept to understand up front, because it explains where your data lives and when (if ever) anything leaves your machine.

	Free / local-first (default)	Cloud / Pro (opt-in)
Account	None. Just open the app.	Sign in with your DosanjhLabs account (Clerk SSO).
Where docs live	Your browser's `localStorage`, on this device only.	Synced to a shared org vault in the cloud (still plain Markdown, no secrets).
Network	Zero network calls while signed out.	Calls `api.dosanjhlabs.com` only when you act.
What you get	The full editor, search, governance, roles demo, portals, import/export, local version history.	Shared org vault across the team, SSO, and "doc reviewed / exists" evidence emission.

You can use Ledger forever in the free local tier and never sign in. The cloud tier is purely additive — it never takes anything away. See Sign-in & the cloud/Pro tier for details.

Three places your docs could live, all under your control: (1) this browser's local storage — the default; (2) a real Obsidian vault folder on disk that Ledger syncs two-way; (3) the shared org cloud vault if you sign in. You choose which, and they all use the same portable Markdown.

Your first run

Open the app. Go to the app (or, if you self-host, http://localhost:8000/app/index.html — see the note below about serving over HTTP). No signup screen appears; you land straight in the workbench.
Meet the sample knowledge base. On first run Ledger seeds a realistic sample KB (see below) so every feature is explorable right away. You don't have to keep it.
Look at the layout. The top bar has your KB name, a search box, and action buttons (New doc, Templates, Import vault, Vault sync, Export all, a role picker, AI, and Sign in). The left rail — the "spine" — is your doc tree grouped by folder, with a tag cloud beneath. The main pane shows the open page.
Click a page in the left rail to read it. Try the tabs at the top of a page: Preview, Edit, Links, and History.
Try a search. Type in the search box; results filter as you type across titles, paths, tags, frontmatter, and body text.
Create your own. Click + New doc or Templates to start a page. Replace the sample content with your own whenever you're ready (creating or importing your own pages does not auto-delete the samples; delete them individually if you want a clean slate).

If the app shows "Loading…" forever or templates won't load: you're probably opening the file directly (file://…). Browsers block fetch() on file://, so the sample KB and templates can't load. Serve it over HTTP instead — see Self-hosting for the one-line command. Full diagnosis in Troubleshooting.

The seeded sample knowledge base

On first run, Ledger loads a sample KB for a fictional company, Northwind Clinic — 9 pages across 4 spaces (folders). It exists so the tree, search, wiki-links, backlinks, governance, roles, and portals all have real content to demonstrate. The pages are:

Space	Pages
Assets	Core Firewall · App Server
Network	Network — Main Office
Runbooks	Restore Internet After Outage · Backup & Recovery Runbook · Firewall Admin Credential · Server Admin Credential
Policies	Access Control Policy · Staff Offboarding Policy

Things worth noticing in the sample data:

The two credential pages demonstrate the no-secrets pattern: they link a vault item by URL, they don't store a password.
The Access Control Policy has a recent reviewed_on date, so its governance status shows reviewed (fresh).
The Staff Offboarding Policy has an old reviewed_on, so it shows needs review (stale) — a quick way to see governance in action.
Pages cross-reference each other with [[wiki-links]], so the Links tab and backlinks have something to show.

Replacing the sample data: delete the sample pages individually (open a page → Delete, available to Admin/Editor roles), or import your own vault alongside them and delete the samples afterward. To wipe everything and re-seed from scratch, see resetting Ledger.

Where to go next

Every feature, step by step — the complete tour.
"How do I…?" recipe index — jump straight to a task.
Obsidian vault sync — connect a real folder of .md files.
Security & privacy — the no-secrets posture explained.