diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index abbcfdb..982e77f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ vault add https://example.com/a.pdf   # download and store a URL
 vault migrate ./photos           # like add, then delete the originals
 vault mirror https://example.com/     # crawl a site into example.com/, links rewritten
 tar -cz photos | vault absorb backup  # every file in a tar (or .tar.gz) under backup/
+vault absorb backup < photos.tar.gz   # same, from an existing archive
 vault list                       # everything
 vault list work                  # everything under work/
 vault get work/2026/report.pdf   # writes ./report.pdf
diff --git a/docs/vault-absorb.1 b/docs/vault-absorb.1
index 15837cd..4d121f3 100644
--- a/docs/vault-absorb.1
+++ b/docs/vault-absorb.1
@@ -53,6 +53,13 @@ Passphrase, instead of prompting on the terminal.
 1 if the archive is malformed or ends early, holds no regular files, or
 anything fails; files stored before the failure stay in the vault.
 .SH EXAMPLES
+Unpack an existing archive into the vault under
+.BR backup/ :
+.PP
+.RS
+vault absorb backup < photos.tar.gz
+.RE
+.PP
 Store a directory under
 .BR backup/photos/ :
 .PP