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Getting Started with Vaulken

Vaulken gives your AI assistant a file vault backed by an S3-compatible bucket you own. Through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), the AI can read, write, search and organize the files in it.

This guide covers creating an account, setting up a first vault, and connecting an AI tool.

Create your account

  1. Go to vaulken.dev/auth/signup
  2. Sign up with Google or email
  3. Choose a workspace name

The account is free and includes one vault. You bring your own S3-compatible bucket, so Vaulken puts no cap on storage.

Create your first vault

From the dashboard, click New vault. A vault connects Vaulken to a bucket you own (AWS, Scaleway, MinIO, Cloudflare R2):

  1. Enter the S3 connection details: endpoint, region, bucket, access key, secret key
  2. Set a path prefix if you only want to expose one folder of the bucket
  3. Click Create vault

Your files stay in your bucket. Vaulken stores the connection and its search indexes, and deleting a vault removes those, not the files.

To upload files from the dashboard, add a CORS rule on the bucket that allows the Vaulken origin. Uploads go straight from your browser to the bucket through presigned URLs.

Get your MCP URLs

The vault's detail page shows two MCP URLs:

  • Read-write: your AI can read, write, search and modify files
  • Read-only: your AI can only read and search

Copy the one that matches the access you want to grant. Starting with the read-only URL is a safe way to explore. Switch to read-write when you want your AI to create or edit files.

Connect your AI tool

Paste the MCP URL into your AI tool. Vaulken uses OAuth 2.0, so on first connection you authorize access in your browser.

The quickest test is claude.ai: go to Settings > Integrations > Add integration and paste the URL.

Per-client setup is covered in these guides:

Try it out

Once connected, try asking:

  • "List all files in my vault"
  • "Search for notes containing 'meeting'"
  • "Read the file README.md"
  • "Create a new file called hello.md with a welcome message" (read-write only)

What's included in the free plan

Feature Free
Vaults 1
Storage Your own bucket, no limit
PDF OCR 50 pages / month
Semantic search 50 queries / month

Next steps

  • Connect an Obsidian vault via S3 with the Obsidian guide
  • Set up Claude Desktop or Claude Code with the Claude guide
  • Try semantic search, PDF reading and frontmatter edits from your AI tool