Every ntropy command operates on exactly one vault. This page describes how that vault is chosen, how a project can point at a vault kept elsewhere, and how to check which vault a command would use.
Resolution order
ntropy resolves the vault in this order and stops at the first rule that matches:
--vault <path>$NTROPY_VAULT- A walk up from the current directory to the nearest ancestor holding a
.ntropy-vaultpointer file or a.ntropy/directory. The nearest ancestor wins. A pointer beats a.ntropy/in the same directory, since it is an explicit redirect. - The global default vault, set with
ntropy init --set-default.
A path given by --vault or $NTROPY_VAULT has to be a vault already, meaning a directory holding .ntropy/. If it is not, the command fails instead of trying the next rule. When no rule matches, ntropy fails with a message listing the four ways to name a vault.
Project-local pointers
Step 3 is the one worth setting up. A .ntropy-vault file is a single line naming a vault elsewhere: a path relative to the file's own directory, an absolute path, or one starting with ~.
# project/.ntropy-vault
../notes
Drop one at the root of a project and ntropy uses that vault from anywhere inside the project, so ntropy new and ntropy search work for project notes the same way they work everywhere else. A pointer whose target is not a vault, or an empty pointer file, is a hard error, never a silent fall-through to the default.
Checking which vault resolved
ntropy info prints the active vault together with the rule that resolved it (the --vault flag, $NTROPY_VAULT, a pointer file, the current directory, or the global default), then the configured default vault and statistics for the active one. ntropy info -p (--print) prints the vault path alone, for shell use.