When the grid stops, the library doesn't.
A sealed, shielded case with a real library inside — field manuals, medical references, offline maps, and a small AI that answers your question and cites the book and page it came from. No internet. No login. No expiry date.
Core Kit $519 CAD · Shielded Case $1,819 · Institutional $5,199 · Canada-wide shipping
The assistant is the interface. The parts that keep working are underneath it.
Most "offline prep" is a drawer full of PDFs you have never opened. That is a filing cabinet, not a library. The difference between knowing first aid and being able to find first aid at 2 a.m. with no power is about four seconds of search.
Plain-text archive
Everything extracted to UTF-8, with a plain-text manifest and checksums. If every other piece of electronics in the house dies, the library is still readable on any computer made in the last forty years.
Full-text index
A real search index. Works with zero AI, zero GPU, and no electricity beyond a screen. Find "pressure-can venison" in two seconds. This is the layer you will use most.
Local assistant
A small language model that runs on your own machine, reads what the index finds, and answers in plain language — with the citation attached. Nothing leaves the case.
The rule that makes the assistant trustworthy
It cites the book and page, or it says "that isn't in the library." It is not allowed to answer a dosing, chemical or temperature question without a quoted source.
That rule is enforced in the plumbing, not requested in a prompt — so it will say "I don't know" more often than you expect. That is the feature.
Pick the layer of protection you actually need
Every kit includes the full 29 GB archive, the search index, the local assistant and documented rebuild scripts — you are never locked in. The difference between them is shielding and scale.
Core Kit
- Full 29 GB archive — plain text, checksums, manifest
- Full-text search index
- Small local assistant, runs on your own machine
- 128 GB high-endurance media + USB-C reader
- Printed & laminated quick-reference binder
- Shielded storage pouch
- Documented rebuild scripts
Shielded Case
- Fabricated aluminium enclosure, gasketed bolted lid
- Individual attenuation test sheet, per unit
- Watertight carry case
- Everything in the Core Kit
- Full refund if the assembled enclosure measures below 30 dB anywhere from 1–500 MHz
Institutional
- Three Core Kits, configured and tested
- One enclosure marked for the building's use
- Install and training day on site
- Group-buy pricing for a congregation or hall
No one can honestly promise a device survives an EMP
What a seller can do is tell you exactly how much the enclosure attenuates, measured on a bench, at real frequencies, with the method named. That is the whole position. Batches are built after the first enclosure is measured, and the measured dB table is published before any case ships.
Every unit ships with its own test sheet
| Band | What lives there | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 1 – 30 MHz | HF; long-conductor coupling | published at ship |
| 30 – 300 MHz | VHF; the E1 band that matters most | published at ship |
| 300 – 500 MHz | UHF; seam and aperture leakage | published at ship |
The guarantee that lets you reserve anyway: every case ships with its own per-unit attenuation test sheet, and if the assembled enclosure measures below 30 dB anywhere from 1–500 MHz, we refund in full.
We state the bar out loud — 30 dB, 1–500 MHz — so you can judge whether it is good enough before you pay rather than after. A 7-day cooling-off period, and a full refund if delivery runs more than 30 days past the promised date, apply on top of that.
We don't sell you the content
Every commercial offline library in this category runs free, open software — Kiwix, Wikipedia, Project Gutenberg, public-domain government manuals — and you can download all of it yourself today, for nothing. We encourage it. So we don't sell you content. We build the parts you can't download: a fabricated, measured enclosure, a curated core that has actually been read and checked, and a support-and-rebuild path.
If you have a spare PC and a weekend, building it yourself is the right answer. Buy from us if you want the enclosure and the support path — or if your weekend is already spoken for.
| What we will never say | What we say instead |
|---|---|
| EMP-proof / EMP-proofed | "Measured attenuation: X dB, 1–500 MHz. Individual test sheet included." |
| Military-grade / mil-spec | "0.8 mm aluminium, welded seams, conductive gasket, bolted flange lid." |
| Survives a nuclear event | "Designed to mitigate electromagnetic coupling. No product guarantees survival." |
| FEMA approved / certified | "Includes public-domain FEMA and US Army field manuals." |
| Medical-grade / doctor-recommended | "Not a medical device. Cited references only." |
Built to order in Ontario
Full specifications, the measurement plan, competitor comparison and the pre-order terms are on the Coldstart site. Questions people actually ask are answered there too.