diff --git a/ochrance-core/Ochrance/Scratch.idr b/ochrance-core/Ochrance/Scratch.idr
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..739d7fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ochrance-core/Ochrance/Scratch.idr
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+||| Stage-1 scratch: helper lemmas for buildMerkleTree correctness.
+||| Iterated here (no Ochrance deps) before folding into Merkle.
+module Ochrance.Scratch
+
+import Data.Vect
+import Data.Fin
+import Data.Fin.Split
+import Data.Fin.Properties
+
+%default total
+
+||| Indexing into the left half of an append: weakenN selects from xs.
+public export
+indexAppendLeft : (a : Fin m) -> (xs : Vect m e) -> (ys : Vect n e) ->
+                  index (weakenN n a) (xs ++ ys) = index a xs
+indexAppendLeft FZ     (_ :: _)  _  = Refl
+indexAppendLeft (FS a) (_ :: xs) ys = indexAppendLeft a xs ys
+
+||| Indexing into the right half of an append: shift selects from ys.
+public export
+indexAppendRight : {m : Nat} -> (b : Fin n) -> (xs : Vect m e) -> (ys : Vect n e) ->
+                   index (shift m b) (xs ++ ys) = index b ys
+indexAppendRight b []        _  = Refl
+indexAppendRight b (_ :: xs) ys = indexAppendRight b xs ys
+
+||| Transport cancellation: indexing a length-transported vector with the
+||| matching length-transported index is the same element.
+public export
+indexReplace : (eq : m = n) -> (i : Fin m) -> (v : Vect m e) ->
+               index (replace {p = Fin} eq i) (replace {p = \x => Vect x e} eq v) = index i v
+indexReplace Refl _ _ = Refl
+
+||| A length transport preserves the underlying Nat of a Fin.
+public export
+finToNatReplace : (eq : m = n) -> (i : Fin m) ->
+                  finToNat (replace {p = Fin} eq i) = finToNat i
+finToNatReplace Refl _ = Refl
+
+||| splitAt's two halves re-append to the original (the concat half of splitAt).
+public export
+splitAtConcat : {m : Nat} -> (k : Nat) -> (xs : Vect (k + m) e) ->
+                fst (splitAt {m} k xs) ++ snd (splitAt {m} k xs) = xs
+splitAtConcat Z     xs        = Refl
+splitAtConcat (S k) (x :: xs) with (splitAt {m} k xs) proof eq
+  _ | (tk, dr) = cong (x ::) (replace {p = \z => fst z ++ snd z = xs} eq (splitAtConcat k xs))