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The Lake

Docyard is built around a simple metaphor: The Lake. The lake is a centralized storage pool where all artifacts—documents, files, digital content—live together regardless of their source. Think of it as a vast body of water where anyone can drop their artifacts, and anyone with the right keys can fish them out.

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Key Characteristics

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One Shared Pool

Unlike traditional document systems with tenant isolation, the lake has no boundaries. All artifacts coexist in one place:
  • Insurance declaration pages from carrier A
  • Loan agreements from carrier B
  • Real estate contracts from carrier C
…all in the same lake, searchable by anyone with the right keys.

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Open Access

Anyone authenticated can:
  • Drop artifacts into the lake (via ramps)
  • Fish artifacts from the lake (via docks)
No pre-relationships required. No invitation-only access. If you have the keys, you can retrieve the artifact.

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Rule-Based Security

Access isn’t controlled by complex permissions or whitelists. It’s controlled by keys and weights:
  • Distributors define what keys are needed (lock types)
  • Distributors assign weights to each key
  • Artifacts have a threshold score
  • Collectors present keys → System calculates score → Access granted if score ≥ threshold

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The Lake vs. Traditional Systems

Traditional Document SystemsThe Lake
Tenant-isolated storageSingle shared pool
Complex permission matricesKey-based access
Pre-authorized recipientsOpen to anyone with keys
Per-integration setupConnect once, access all
Document-type specificUniversal document storage

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What’s In The Lake?

Every artifact in the lake has:
  1. Content: The actual file (PDF, image, document)
  2. Artifact Type: The category/type of document (e.g., “Insurance Declaration”)
  3. Locks: The metadata fields that define access requirements
  4. Keys: The values for those metadata fields
  5. Weights: The scores assigned to each lock type
  6. Threshold: The minimum score required for access
  7. Owner: Who uploaded it (for audit purposes)

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Lake Access Points

To interact with the lake, you use specialized endpoints:
  • Ramps: Upload artifacts into the lake
  • Docks: Retrieve artifacts from the lake
These are covered in detail in their own sections.

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Visual Representation

How it works:
  • Distributors (left) upload documents through Ramps into the shared Lake (center)
  • Collectors (right) search and retrieve documents through Docks from the Lake
  • Anyone with the right keys can access any artifact—no pre-relationships needed

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Next Steps