diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index bb5b310..003ba7f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,6 +1,14 @@
 
 vault-error.log
 
+# Vault database — contains user secrets (encrypted but still secret).
+# Auto-created on first run by the Delphi/PHP backend via InitDatabase().
+# Never track this file. Use vault.db.example for schema reference if needed.
+vault.db
+vault.db-journal
+vault.db-wal
+vault.db-shm
+
 # Delphi build artifacts
 *.dcu
 *.dcp
diff --git a/vault.db b/vault.db
deleted file mode 100644
index 6eb1b9a..0000000
Binary files a/vault.db and /dev/null differ