# Recovery — if something goes wrong

This page covers what you can do when you lose access to your vault, what Relicario can recover, and — just as importantly — what it cannot.

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## The two factors, plainly stated

Unlocking your Relicario vault always requires two things working together:

- **Factor 1 — your passphrase.** The phrase you type every time you unlock. Only you know it; it is never stored anywhere.
- **Factor 2 — your reference image.** The JPEG photo you chose at setup. Relicario hid a random secret inside its pixels. You keep this file yourself; it is intentionally excluded from your git repository.

Relicario mixes these two factors together to derive the key that decrypts your data. Neither factor alone is enough. If either one is missing or wrong, the vault cannot open.

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## The Recovery QR — your offline backup of Factor 2

The Recovery QR is a safety net for your reference image secret. Think of it as a printable backup of Factor 2, sealed shut by Factor 1.

Here is what that means in practice:

- **It is encrypted.** The QR encodes your image secret locked behind your passphrase. Someone who finds your printed QR still needs your passphrase to use it.
- **It is not saved to disk.** Relicario prints it to your terminal as text art and then forgets it. You must print or photograph it immediately.
- **Storing it offline (paper, safe) is the point.** A digital copy on the same device as your reference image does not add much protection.

### Making a Recovery QR

Run this inside your vault directory:

```
relicario recovery-qr generate
```

Relicario will read your reference image, ask for your vault passphrase, and print a QR code as ASCII art in the terminal. The code is **not written to any file**. Print it, photograph it, or copy the text — then store it somewhere safe and offline (a fireproof safe, a safety deposit box, a trusted family member's home).

### Using a Recovery QR (advanced / last resort)

If you have lost your reference image but still have the printed QR and your passphrase:

```
relicario recovery-qr unwrap
```

Paste the base64 payload you scanned from the QR, then enter your passphrase. Relicario prints the recovered image secret as a hex string.

Think of this as a safe for the secret itself, not a one-click restore: it proves your Factor 2 can be recovered as long as you keep the QR **and** remember your passphrase. Turning that raw secret back into a ready-to-use reference image is an advanced step — so for everyday peace of mind, the simplest safety net is to keep a spare copy of your reference image (or an [`--include-image` backup archive](sync-and-backup.md)). Then "recovery" is just putting the file back and unlocking as usual.

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## The hard truth

There is no password reset. There is no backdoor. Not even the project authors can recover your data. This is intentional — it is what ensures the server hosting your git repository can never read your vault, even under legal compulsion.

Here is what happens in each loss scenario:

| What you lose | Result |
|---|---|
| Your **passphrase** (even with both the reference image and the recovery QR) | **Unrecoverable.** The recovery QR is itself locked by your passphrase. No passphrase means nothing can be decrypted. |
| Your **reference image AND your recovery QR** (even if you remember the passphrase) | **Unrecoverable.** The image secret is gone. Without it, the two-factor key derivation cannot complete. |
| Only your **reference image** (but you have a printed recovery QR) | Recoverable — use `relicario recovery-qr unwrap` as described above. |
| Only your **recovery QR** (but you still have the reference image file) | No problem. Your reference image is your active Factor 2. Make a fresh recovery QR when you can. |

The underlying principle: losing both factors — your passphrase and your image secret — means the data is gone for good. This is not a limitation to be patched; it is the security guarantee that protects your data from everyone, including the people who wrote Relicario.

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## Do this now — a short checklist

Before you need any of this:

- [ ] **Back up your reference image.** Copy `reference.jpg` (or whatever you named it) to at least one location that is separate from your computer — an encrypted external drive, a USB stick stored safely offline, or a secure cloud backup you control. Your git remote does **not** contain it; the file is gitignored by design.
- [ ] **Print a Recovery QR.** Run `relicario recovery-qr generate`, print the output, and store the paper copy somewhere you would still find it if your devices were all lost or destroyed.
- [ ] **Confirm you can recall your passphrase.** If you are not confident, consider whether your memorization strategy is reliable. There is no recovery path for a forgotten passphrase.

For guidance on encrypted `.relbak` backup archives (which can optionally bundle the reference image), see [Sync & backup](sync-and-backup.md).

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**Next:** [FAQ](faq.md)