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The first two tutorials cover a brand new install. This one covers what happens when you come back to an install you already have, since that’s a genuinely different code path, not just “run init again.” Do this after you’ve already completed Your First Test Run at least once, so you have an existing setup to come back to.

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Scenario 1: you deleted config.toml by accident

This is a real thing that happens: you accidentally delete config.toml, or it gets lost some other way. ObsidianLog handles it safely, your encryption key survives, only the config file itself needs rebuilding. Find your config file (init printed its path when you ran it) and delete it:
You’ll be asked all the setup questions again, since there’s no config file left to read your old answers from. That part is expected. What matters is what happens to your key. Answer the prompts the same way you did the first time (local backend), and watch for this line before the final summary:
That confirms your original encryption key survived. If you archived anything in the local backend tutorial, you can prove it directly:
If your original log line still comes back, the key really was preserved, not silently reset.

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Scenario 2: rotating the key on purpose

Sometimes you do want a new key, for example if you think the old one was exposed. That’s what --force is for:
This time you’ll see a warning that previously archived data will no longer be decryptable, printed before it proceeds, --force is explicit opt-in, so it doesn’t ask for confirmation. After that, a genuinely new key is generated. If you try the same query command above afterward, it will no longer be able to read data that was archived under the old key, that’s the whole point of rotation.

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Scenario 3: adding Sia to an existing local setup

If you completed the local backend tutorial and want to add Sia to that same install, rather than starting a separate one:
When asked “Existing setup found… Reuse it?”, answer no. You’ll then be asked to confirm reconfiguring, and can choose sia this time instead of local. Your existing encryption key is preserved throughout, only a new Sia app key gets added to it.

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Tell us how it went

Please open a feedback report either way, any bugs, friction, or feature requests are worth mentioning.

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What’s next

Haven’t tried Trying Out Vector yet? That one lets you see a real log shipper feed ObsidianLog, not just a single curl request.