In this paper we analyze the Cauchy problem for the Einstein–Maxwell equation in the case of non-characteristic initial hypersurface. To find the correct notions of characteristic and Cauchy data we introduce a complex, which we call the Einstein–Maxwell complex. Then the Cauchy problem acquires correctness in terms of an associated spectral sequence. We define a Cauchy data in such way that they allow us to reconstruct a cohomologously unique formal solution.