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

# Introduction

> Long-term, tamper-evident operational log archival on Sia.

Most teams can't afford to keep their logs around for long. Tools like
Datadog and Elastic charge by the gigabyte and by the month, so logs get
deleted after a few weeks just to control cost, even though audits,
incident investigations, and compliance rules often call for keeping them
much longer.

**ObsidianLog** archives your logs somewhere cheap and permanent, without
handing them to another company. Everything is encrypted before it ever
leaves your machine, so only you can read it, and every entry is
cryptographically chained together, so you can prove later that nothing
was quietly changed or deleted. Your day-to-day monitoring tool stays
exactly as it is. ObsidianLog becomes the place logs go once you're done
actively watching them, kept safe and provably intact for as long as you
need them.

## Who it's for

| Team                                 | Why ObsidianLog fits                                                                                                     |
| ------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Solo developers and indie hackers    | You probably aren't archiving logs anywhere today. This gives you real, tamper-evident archival for close to nothing.    |
| Teams with audit or compliance needs | You need to prove logs weren't altered after the fact, not just store them somewhere. That's what the hash chain is for. |
| Sia ecosystem developers             | You're already using Sia. ObsidianLog is a natural fit for your existing setup.                                          |
| Privacy-first and Web3-native teams  | Owning your own data instead of trusting a vendor with it isn't just a preference, it's the whole point.                 |
| Open source maintainers              | A cheap, durable place to keep CI logs, release history, and telemetry around for good, not just a few weeks.            |

## How to use it

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Release binary" href="/get-started/quickstart">
    Recommended for most people. Download, extract, run. No Rust toolchain needed.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Build from source" href="/get-started/building-from-source">
    For the latest code, or if you want to build with Cargo yourself.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Docker" href="/deployment/docker-compose-quickstart">
    Run it in a container, a Compose file is included.
  </Card>

  <Card title="cargo install (coming soon)">
    Not published to crates.io yet. Use the release binary or build from source for now.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

**No install at all?** Fork the repo and run the
[GitHub Actions demo](https://github.com/emmaglorypraise/ObsidianLog/actions/workflows/demo.yml)
to watch the whole pipeline run in your browser, zero setup.

<Note>
  ObsidianLog is in active beta ahead of its public launch. If you try it,
  we'd genuinely like to know how it went, good or bad. Start with the
  [Tutorials](/tutorials/local-backend), or jump straight to
  [giving feedback](https://github.com/emmaglorypraise/ObsidianLog/issues/new?template=feedback.yml).
</Note>

## Get involved

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Suggest a feature" href="https://github.com/emmaglorypraise/ObsidianLog/issues/new?template=feature_request.yml">
    Have an idea? We want to hear it.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Give feedback" href="https://github.com/emmaglorypraise/ObsidianLog/issues/new?template=feedback.yml">
    Tried it? Tell us how it went, even briefly.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Star the repo" href="https://github.com/emmaglorypraise/ObsidianLog">
    A real, visible way to support the project.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Join the discussion" href="https://github.com/emmaglorypraise/ObsidianLog/discussions">
    Open-ended questions that aren't quite a bug or a feature request.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

Want to contribute code? See [Contributing](/project/contributing) for
the development setup, PR checklist, and conventions.

## Dig deeper

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Tutorials" href="/tutorials/local-backend">
    Step-by-step walkthroughs: the local backend, the Sia backend, and returning to an existing install.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Using the CLI" href="/cli/overview">
    Every `obsidianlog` command (`init`, `serve`, `query`, `verify`) with the full flag reference.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Storage Backends" href="/storage-backends/choosing-a-backend">
    Local, hosted (Sia Storage), or bring your own indexer: what each means and how to choose.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Architecture & Security" href="/architecture-and-security/pipeline-architecture">
    How a log batch becomes a hash-chained, encrypted archive, and the security model behind it.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

Open source and MIT-licensed. See
[Support & Feedback](/project/where-to-get-help) if you're stuck.