# Quickstart > Install the app, open your first vault, choose where it syncs, invite a teammate, and point an AI at it. Source: https://baalda.com/docs/quickstart Site: Baalda, https://baalda.com Five steps, of which only the first is required. Everything after it is sync, people and AI, and you can stop at any point. This page describes version 0.1.82. ## 1. Install the app Baalda is a Tauri v2 desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux. Downloads are published with every release on GitHub, and the download page carries the installer for each platform. The app updates itself after that: it checks, downloads, installs and restarts at a quiet moment, and only shows an Update required screen if that fails. The account menu carries Check for updates with the version you are on. ## 2. Open a vault A vault is a folder of Markdown files. Open an existing folder or create a new one, and the sidebar appears while indexing continues behind it. Synced vaults are kept under a dedicated Baalda Vaults folder, and each vault carries a hidden `.context` folder for its local index, CRDT history and configuration. > Nothing above needs an account. A local-only vault is a complete product: editor, search, backlinks, tags, attachments and a local agent editing the files. ## 3. Choose where your notes live An account belongs to one server, so the app asks which server before it takes a password. On first run the sign-in dialog opens on "Where do your notes live?" with the managed service and Your own server. Choosing your own asks for a URL and checks `GET /health` before going further, and the sign-in form that follows names the server it is about to post to. Later, or on a device already signed in somewhere else, the same choice lives in Account settings, Connection. Changing the server is effectively a sign-out, because sessions are stored per server in the OS keychain. ## 4. Turn on sync and invite someone In Vault Settings, General, Turn on sync and sharing registers the open vault with the server. Then Members and access invites teammates by email, or hands out a join code for people to redeem. New vaults start shared with the team, so an invited teammate lands on a vault with something in it, and you restrict from there. ## 5. Point an AI at it A local agent such as Claude Code needs no setup at all: point it at the vault folder and it edits the `.md` files directly, with the watcher syncing every change to your team. For an agent that cannot reach your disk, create a token in Vault Settings, MCP, and register the endpoint. ```bash claude mcp add --transport http context https://api.baalda.com/api/mcp \ --header "Authorization: Bearer mcp_…" ``` ## What happens on first sync On first launch against a server, Baalda scans the vault and uploads what your plan allows, in batches. Large vaults join and sync in batches rather than one note at a time, and the sync indicator at the top describes the vault's connection rather than the open note. - [Core concepts](/docs/concepts): The vocabulary the rest of the documentation uses. - [Vaults](/docs/vaults): Local only, synced, switching, and what lives on disk.