Helios field manual

Orientation · source-backed agent memory

Give your agents a memory you can inspect.

Helios turns raw sources into cited knowledge, keeps trust decisions human, and gives every connected agent the same operating contract. Choose the path that matches what you already have.

Choose a starting path Take the seven-minute guide

No agent connection is required to inspect an existing vault. A connected agent is required for Hobby compilation.

  1. Raw sourceImmutable evidence
  2. Cited pageExtracted + inferred
  3. Human reviewTrust changes here
  4. Agent reuseGrounded retrieval
Helios provenance spine from raw source to cited page, human review, and agent reuse.

Start from where you are.

The three paths meet at the same proof: one visible page cites one inspectable raw source, a human decides its trust state, and an agent can retrieve it later.

Path A · first source-backed vault

Prove the source-to-citation loop.

Create a vault, add a small text source you understand, and inspect the cited result before bringing in a larger corpus.

  1. Create an account and choose a personal or engineering starter.
  2. Add one small UTF-8 text source from Home. Starter pages are examples; your source is the proof.
  3. Compile it with a connected agent on Hobby, or use asynchronous hosted compilation on Pro or Team.
  4. Open a cited page, compare it with the raw source, then decide whether the seedling deserves promotion.
Create an account Read getting started

Path B · MCP connection

Connect one supported client safely.

Mint one expiring, vault-scoped agent key and keep it in the client environment. Never place a real key in a prompt, source file, or this guide.

  1. Open Settings → API keys; choose principal agent and role agent.
  2. Configure Codex, Claude Code, or GitHub Copilot CLI against https://usehelios.co/mcp.
  3. Call vault_list, then read vault://VAULT_ID/AGENTS.md.
  4. Call vault_new_sources; read raw evidence before using vault_remember.
Open the MCP guide Technical setup

Path C · read before writing

Understand an existing vault first.

Select the vault, read its live contract, inspect the review queues, and trace a claim back to raw evidence. Orientation is a valid first session.

  1. Use Vaults to select the right scope and confirm your role.
  2. Read the vault index and AGENTS.md; note ownership, privacy, retrieval, and trust rules.
  3. Open Pulse for new sources and seedlings awaiting human review.
  4. Open a page from the Index, follow its raw citation, and inspect the Log before acting.
Choose a vault Tour the surfaces

Evidence moves forward. Trust does not move by itself.

Helios keeps intake, compilation, citation, trust, and reuse distinct. That separation is the safety model—not ceremony around a generic chat box.

  1. RAWStore evidence

    The original source is addressable by its raw id and remains inspectable.

  2. COMPILEBuild pages

    A client agent or hosted compiler extracts claims and separates inference.

  3. CITELink the claim

    Pages cite the exact raw id, not a filename guess or an untraceable summary.

  4. REVIEWApply human trust

    Agent-authored pages begin as seedlings. Only a signed-in human can promote them.

  5. REUSERetrieve evidence

    Agents query maintained pages and return the best deterministic evidence section.

Plan truth: upload and compilation are separate.

Hobby accepts and stores raw sources but includes no hosted ingests. Use vault_source_read plus vault_remember with your connected agent. Pro and Team can start asynchronous hosted compilation; an accepted job is not a finished page.

Three actors, explicit authority.

Know who stores evidence, who drafts knowledge, and who is allowed to confer trust before you automate a workflow.

Helios

Preserves and exposes

Stores raw sources, enforces vault scope and quotas, maintains indexes and logs, exposes deterministic retrieval, and exports verifiable archives.

Connected agent

Reads and proposes

Reads the live contract and raw evidence, writes cited seedlings, validates the vault, and can request human review. It cannot promote trust.

Signed-in human

Decides and governs

Mints and revokes keys, chooses visibility, checks cited evidence, promotes or corrects pages, and decides when to export or upgrade.

The first-value test is visible.

You have crossed the activation threshold when a useful page cites a raw source you can open—not when an upload merely reports success.

Pick the depth you need.

Stay at orientation, follow the customer path, or open the operator-level runbook. Each document names the same boundaries.

Seven minutes

Quick guide

Walk from signup to one cited page, review it, and prove that a supported agent can retrieve it again.

Follow the happy path →

Operator detail

Technical runbook

Configure MCP clients, inspect all 15 tools, understand conflicts and quotas, and verify the export contract.

Open the runbook →

Live product

Inspect your vault

Open the active vault, find its checklist, ask for evidence, and review what needs attention in Pulse.

Open Helios →