> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.zama.org/protocol/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.zama.org/protocol/confidential-vault/readme.md).

# Overview

Confidential Vaults connect confidential tokens to public ERC-4626 yield vaults. Users deposit encrypted amounts, the protocol pools them into a batch, and only the batch total is decrypted and settled against the vault. Observers see who participated and the batch total — never an individual amount.

The encrypted arithmetic runs on [Zama FHEVM](https://docs.zama.ai/protocol), which computes directly on ciphertexts on Ethereum. Balances and per-user amounts exist on-chain only as ciphertext handles, and each user can decrypt their own position.

Every step of a batch's lifecycle — dispatch, settlement, claim — is a permissionless contract call, and a user can always recover their funds with their own transactions.

## Understand the protocol

<table data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Architecture</strong></td><td>The contracts and how value moves between them.</td><td><a href="/pages/kp9iG8CEfnboHkaAJF8B">/pages/kp9iG8CEfnboHkaAJF8B</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Batch Lifecycle</strong></td><td>How a batch moves from encrypted joins to settled claims.</td><td><a href="/pages/VVpccExsJKWnkDOgR24x">/pages/VVpccExsJKWnkDOgR24x</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Confidentiality</strong></td><td>What stays encrypted, what is public, and the known limits.</td><td><a href="/pages/sD3dNCTAFbglUdu2AZ1m">/pages/sD3dNCTAFbglUdu2AZ1m</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Trust Model</strong></td><td>Who can do what, and how users recover funds on their own.</td><td><a href="/pages/a8xe3snHWUEjRpwdHdN6">/pages/a8xe3snHWUEjRpwdHdN6</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

## Build on it

<table data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Getting Started</strong></td><td>Make a confidential deposit on Sepolia from a small script.</td><td><a href="/pages/czgAfwigGroke2fdOwbS">/pages/czgAfwigGroke2fdOwbS</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Deposit into a Vault</strong></td><td>Integrate the deposit flow into an app.</td><td><a href="/pages/xb6CozJ0uq4ezbsKljkR">/pages/xb6CozJ0uq4ezbsKljkR</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Contract Addresses</strong></td><td>Deployed contracts on mainnet and Sepolia.</td><td><a href="/pages/dbhPdPbu07MQXsicuPpQ">/pages/dbhPdPbu07MQXsicuPpQ</a></td></tr></tbody></table>


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