Files

Each assistant's workspace has a real folder of files. What the assistant creates there stays put: between one task and the next, and after the workspace goes to sleep and wakes again. You do not need to ask it to save anything.

What persists#

Installed tools persist the same way. The first start sets up the assistant's tools, and later starts skip that step.

Browse and preview#

Open the Computer page, or the Computer tab in a chat, and choose Files.

• A breadcrumb at the top starts at Home, the assistant's working folder, and shows where you are.
• Open a folder to list what is inside. Open a file to preview it.
• Previews are capped in size. A binary file shows only its size.
• Images such as screenshots from the browser preview as pictures when they are small enough.
• Nothing is cached. The view loads fresh each time you open it, and Refresh reloads it while you watch a task run.

You can only see inside the assistant's working folder. Paths that try to leave it, including with .., are refused.

Repositories live in the workspace#

When you connect a source-control tool such as GitHub, the Coder clones your repository into its own workspace, before its first task. It never clones onto your computer and never works in a folder on your machine.

That has a few practical effects:

• Your own copy of the repository is never touched while the Coder works.
• Each Coder has its own copy, so several Coders never trip over each other's files.
• Your login for the repository is passed to a single command at a time. It is never written into the repository settings or shown in the Files view.
• If the clone fails, the job stops as Blocked before any coding, with a plain sentence saying what to fix, such as the token not being able to read that repository.

What happens to the work afterwards depends on your house rules. The Coder can open a pull request for review, and merge when your house rules allow it. Pushing waits for your Approve unless your house rules allow it. See approvals and house rules.

Good habits#

• Ask for a short summary of where things are: "Coder, list the files you changed and where they are."
• Keep large generated files out of the repository. Ask the Coder to save them in a separate folder instead.
• Keep what matters in your repository or a document you control. A workspace is the assistant's desk, not your archive.

Coder, list every file you created or changed in your workspace for [task], with one line on what each is for. Tell me where the folder is.

Coder, write your findings on [topic] to a file called [report-name].md in your workspace, then tell me the path so I can open it in the Files view.