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

# CDD Vault

Connecting Lab Atlas to your CDD Vault

Lab Atlas can connect to [CDD Vault](https://www.collaborativedrug.com/) and use it as your electronic laboratory notebook. Once connected, Lab Atlas creates a notebook entry each time you register a study or an assay, so the record in Lab Atlas and the write-up in CDD Vault stay tied together without anyone copying identifiers between the two.

CDD Vault is an **organization integration**: an admin connects it once, using a single API key, and everyone in the organization uses that connection. See [Third-Party Connectors](/managing-your-organization/third-party-connectors.md) for how organization and personal integrations differ.

## What Lab Atlas does with it

* Creates a notebook entry for each new study, in the CDD Vault project linked to the study's parent Lab Atlas project.
* Creates a notebook entry for each new assay.
* Links existing CDD Vault projects to Lab Atlas projects, from the project form or a project's ELN tab.
* Reads back entry content so it can be viewed from within Lab Atlas.

{% hint style="info" %}
CDD Vault does not have nested folders the way Benchling does. Where Benchling gives a study its own folder, CDD Vault entries are created directly in the linked project.
{% endhint %}

## Preparing CDD Vault

You need an **API key** from a CDD Vault account with access to the vault and projects you want Lab Atlas to write to.

{% hint style="warning" %}
Every action Lab Atlas performs is carried out as the user that owns the API key, and entries it creates are attributed to that user. Use a dedicated service account rather than a person's own login where you can — a key tied to an individual stops working the day they leave.
{% endhint %}

To generate one, sign in to CDD Vault, open your account settings, and create an API key. Make a note of the value; you will paste it into Lab Atlas in the next step.

Confirm that the account holding the key has write access to each project you intend to link. Lab Atlas cannot create a project in CDD Vault — the project must already exist.

## Connecting in Lab Atlas

Click **Integrations** in the sidebar and select **CDD Vault**, then click the button to add a registration. Fill in:

* **URL** — optional. The root URL of your CDD Vault tenant, only if it differs from the default.
* **API Key** — the key you created above. It is stored encrypted and never displayed again.
* **Vault** — once the API key is entered, Lab Atlas queries CDD Vault for the vaults the key can reach and offers them in a dropdown. Choose the one you want to use.

Submit the form. Lab Atlas tests the credentials before saving, so a failure here means the key is wrong or lacks access, rather than something being wrong later.

{% hint style="info" %}
If you edit an existing registration you will be asked to re-enter the API key. Lab Atlas cannot show you the stored value, so it needs the whole key again to re-validate and re-encrypt it.
{% endhint %}

## Linking projects

With the integration connected, you can associate a CDD Vault project with a Lab Atlas project — either when creating the project, in the 'Electronic Laboratory Notebook Folder' section of the New Project form, or afterwards from the project's **ELN** tab.

Once a Lab Atlas project is linked, studies and assays created within it will offer to create a CDD Vault notebook entry. A project can be linked to more than one ELN, and the same CDD Vault project can back several Lab Atlas projects.

If a study form reports that the selected project has no usable CDD Vault folders, the parent project has not been linked yet — add the link from its ELN tab and try again.