Air-Gapped Deployment

Deploy and operate Knowledge Tree in air-gapped, offline, and high-security environments with no external network dependencies.

Overview

Knowledge Tree supports deployment in air-gapped and offline environments where internet access is restricted or unavailable. The platform is fully self-contained -- all components, including the database, graph engine, and AI enrichment service, can run without external network dependencies.

Defense and regulated industries

Air-gapped deployment is designed for defense, intelligence, financial services, and other regulated industries that require isolated network environments.

Deployment options

Component	Air-gapped option
Application	Pre-built Docker images shipped via private registry or USB
Database	Bundled PostgreSQL + Apache AGE + pgvector in deployment
LLM enrichment	Local models via Ollama, llama.cpp, or vLLM (no API calls)
Plugin marketplace	Private marketplace or side-loaded plugins via tarball
License validation	Offline license files with hardware-bound activation
Updates	Versioned release bundles for manual installation

Offline operation

Knowledge Tree operates fully offline with no external network calls:

No phone home -- no telemetry, usage reporting, or license checks require internet
Local LLM -- AI enrichment runs on local models (Ollama, vLLM, or llama.cpp)
Embedded database -- no external SaaS dependencies for database or storage
Offline documentation -- all documentation is bundled with the deployment
No external API calls -- cloud provider APIs are accessed from within the network

License management

Enterprise licenses for air-gapped deployments use offline activation:

Hardware fingerprint -- the deployment generates a unique hardware identifier
License request -- the fingerprint is sent to the licensing authority (via secure transfer, email, or postal mail)
License file -- a signed license file is generated and returned
Installation -- the license file is placed in the Knowledge Tree configuration directory
Validation -- Knowledge Tree validates the license signature on every startup

# Generate hardware fingerprint for offline license
kt-server license fingerprint

{
  "fingerprint": "KT-ABC123-DEF456-GHI789",
  "machine_id": "M-2024-001",
  "generated_at": "2025-06-01T00:00:00Z"
}

# Install license file
kt-server license install /path/to/license.ktlicense
# Output: License valid. Expires: 2026-06-01. Tier: Enterprise.

Disconnected environments

Knowledge Tree supports several disconnected deployment patterns:

Fully air-gapped -- no network connectivity at all. All components local.
One-way data diode -- data can flow into the environment but not out. Discovery data is imported via secured transfer.
Periodic sync -- the environment is periodically connected for updates, then disconnected for operation.
Multi-level security -- multiple isolated instances at different classification levels with manual data transfer between them.

LLM requirements

For AI enrichment in air-gapped environments, you must provision a local LLM server (Ollama, vLLM, or llama.cpp). The model must be loaded onto the local network. Knowledge Tree supports any OpenAI-compatible API endpoint running locally.