> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://trustodian-recovery.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How vaults recover

> Which vaults need the Recovery Kit and which are rebuilt from the chain alone

A vault is a multisig. Its address is not a key, so restoring your recovery phrase does not restore
the vault. The phrase gives you **one key out of several**, and something else has to tell a tool
what the vault is.

Where that "something else" lives differs by chain, and it decides your whole recovery procedure.

## The two families

> **Config on the chain**
>
> **EVM, Solana, Tron, XRP**
>
> The vault's owners and threshold are stored on the blockchain itself. Any tool that reads the
> chain finds them. Import your key, open the right interface, and the vault is there.
>
> The kit records **which address to point that tool at**, not material to rebuild from.

> **Config off the chain**
>
> **Bitcoin, Cardano**
>
> The chain stores only a hash of the vault's script. The script itself exists only in your
> Recovery Kit.
>
> **Without the kit these funds cannot be reached.**

> [!WARNING]
>
> For Bitcoin and Cardano vaults, every owner's recovery phrase together is still not enough. The
> script that turns those keys into the vault address is not recoverable from the keys. Download the
> [Recovery Kit](https://trustodian-recovery.mintlify.site/recovery-kit.md) from the Trustodian app before you need it, and download it again after
> creating a vault, because it covers only the vaults that existed when it was generated.

## What each chain uses

| Chain | Mechanism | What recovers it |
| :- | :- | :- |
| EVM | Gnosis Safe contract | Your owner key, plus any Safe interface pointed at the vault address |
| Solana | Squads program | Your owner key, plus a Squads interface pointed at the **config account** |
| Tron | Account permissions (owner and active, each with a threshold) | Your key, plus TronWeb — see [Tron vaults](https://trustodian-recovery.mintlify.site/tron-vault.md) |
| XRP | Signer list on the account; the account's own master key is disabled | A quorum of signers, plus xrpl.js — see [XRP vaults](https://trustodian-recovery.mintlify.site/xrp-vault.md) |
| Bitcoin | `wsh(sortedmulti(...))` output descriptor | The descriptor from your Recovery Kit |
| Cardano | Native `atLeast` script | The script files from your Recovery Kit |

> [!NOTE]
>
> On the four on-chain chains, the vault keeps working because the configuration is public and
> permanent. Your obligation is to keep your own key recoverable, which the recovery phrase already
> does, and to know the vault's address — which the kit records for you.

> [!WARNING]
>
> **Solana is the exception among the four.** The address that holds the funds is derived from the
> Squads config account and cannot be turned back into it, so knowing only where the money sits is not
> enough to reopen the vault. The kit records the config account and marks it. See
> [Solana](https://trustodian-recovery.mintlify.site/solana.md#vaults).

## When an owner joined with an imported wallet

An owner who brought their wallet into Trustodian by pasting a private key contributes a single
fixed public key. It has no HD tree above it, so there is nothing for a wallet to range over.

> [!WARNING]
>
> **A Bitcoin vault with such an owner cannot be imported into any external wallet** — not Sparrow, not
> Specter, not Bitcoin Core. The descriptor has no `/*` to walk, and importers reject it.
>
> It is not lost. Your Recovery Kit prints the script, the address, the threshold and every cosigner
> key, and the vault can be rebuilt and spent by hand with `bitcoin-cli`. But plan for that now rather
> than discovering it mid-recovery. See [Vaults that cannot be imported at
> all](https://trustodian-recovery.mintlify.site/bitcoin-vault.md#vaults-that-cannot-be-imported-at-all).

Cardano is easier: such a vault still rebuilds normally, and only that one owner signs differently.
See [If an owner joined with an imported wallet](https://trustodian-recovery.mintlify.site/cardano-vault.md#if-an-owner-joined-with-an-imported-wallet).

The kit marks the affected vault on its own page, above everything else, so the limit is the first
thing you read rather than the last.

## Which cosigner key is yours

Your cosigner key is not your personal wallet key on that chain. On Bitcoin and Cardano it lives on
a separate derivation path, which [Derivation paths](https://trustodian-recovery.mintlify.site/derivation-paths.md) lists in full.

On the four on-chain chains, the key that owns your seat in the vault is the ordinary wallet key for
that chain, at whichever index the wallet you joined with sits. Restore that wallet by following its
network page, and your seat comes with it.

## Where to go next

> **[Bitcoin vaults](https://trustodian-recovery.mintlify.site/bitcoin-vault.md)**
>
> Descriptors, Sparrow, Specter and Bitcoin Core

> **[Cardano vaults](https://trustodian-recovery.mintlify.site/cardano-vault.md)**
>
> Native scripts and cardano-cli

> **[XRP vaults](https://trustodian-recovery.mintlify.site/xrp-vault.md)**
>
> Reading the signer list and multi-signing a payment

> **[Tron vaults](https://trustodian-recovery.mintlify.site/tron-vault.md)**
>
> Reading the permissions and co-signing a transfer

> **[The Recovery Kit](https://trustodian-recovery.mintlify.site/recovery-kit.md)**
>
> What is in it and when to download it again


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