Tornado note recovery

A long-form troubleshooting and execution guide.

1) Recovery precondition matrix

Context quality	Typical result	Operational note
Chain + denomination + artifact set present	Often recoverable	Proceed with path-aware workflow
Only tx hash and address	Usually insufficient	Need private artifact reconstruction
Chain uncertain	High false negative risk	Fix assumptions before further scans
Denomination uncertain	Frequent miss	Rebuild deposit context first

2) Artifact priority and evidence quality

Hard ground truth: chain + denomination + deposit interval
Wallet/session context around deposit activity
Local exports and encrypted note/account remnants
Path-separated recovery results for audit

Ordering matters. Good sequencing prevents wasted scans and false conclusions.

3) Account model: backup wallet vs note context

A common recovery mistake is assuming that the deposit sender address, backup wallet, and note decryption context are always the same identity. In practice, recovery tools may need to reason about them separately.

Backup wallet: often the wallet used during setup or deposit interaction.
Note material: private witness context required to produce a withdrawal proof.
Sender scope: onchain event filtering context that may not be identical to the note owner context.

This is why path-aware recovery matters: one path may find backup context while another path may be needed to inspect encrypted note material more broadly.

4) Failure interpretation guide

High failed decryptions can still coexist with valid recovered notes.
Backup-style path returning zero notes does not prove total failure.
A fast empty result often means wrong assumptions, not impossible recovery.
Merging all path outputs too early can hide valid signals.

5) Data sources used in recovery analysis

Professional recovery is not a single lookup. It combines public event history with private user-side artifacts.

Deposit events: confirm pool, denomination, and commitment existence.
Withdrawal events: determine whether a matching note appears already spent.
Encrypted note records: may help reconstruct note context if decryptable.
Local artifacts: exports, browser traces, backups, or old device state.

6) Recommended execution flow

Freeze assumptions and record them explicitly.
Run recovery path A and log output independently.
Run fallback path B only after A is interpreted correctly.
Compare path-level outcomes before deciding final status.