> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.alkera.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Workspaces

> A shared place for one piece of work: its chats, notebooks, and files live together and run on the same machine.

A **workspace** is where a piece of work lives. Its [chats](/workspaces/chats), [notebooks](/notebooks/overview), and [files](/workspaces/files) sit together in one folder, and everything in it runs on the same [machine](/workspaces/machines). A notebook the agent writes in one chat is right there for the next chat, and for anyone you share the workspace with.

```mermaid theme={null}
flowchart LR
  ws["Workspace"] --> chats["Chats"]
  ws --> folder["Folder: notebooks and files"]
  ws -. runs on .-> machine["Machine"]
```

## Main and project workspaces

There are two kinds of workspace.

* **Main.** Every member has one. It is private to you until you share it, and it cannot be renamed or deleted. Chats you start from [Slack](/workspaces/slack) land here.
* **Project workspaces.** Create one for each piece of work you want to keep together, such as an analysis, a pipeline fix, or a recurring report.

### Create a workspace

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the dialog">
    Click **Chat** in the sidebar, then **New workspace** at the top of the workspace list.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Name it">
    Enter a **Name**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose where it runs">
    If your organization has machines you can use, pick one under **Run on**. Otherwise it runs on **Standard**, Alkera's shared compute. You can [move it](/workspaces/machines#move-a-workspace-to-another-machine) later.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create">
    Click **Create**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## The workspace list

The sidebar on the **Chat** page lists your workspaces, with **Main** first, then your chats, then everything **Shared with me**.

Each workspace row shows:

* An unread count.
* A status dot whenever the workspace is doing something, such as starting, working, or waiting on you.
* A **Chat** button to start a new chat in that workspace.
* A **⋮** menu with **Open**, **Mark all as read**, **Rename**, **Share…**, and **Delete**.

Expand a workspace to see its chats. A chat that needs you shows **Needs your answer**.

## The workspace page

Open a workspace to see its page. It shows:

* The workspace's status and the machine it runs on.
* **Here now**: who is in the workspace, which chat each person is in, and which chats have the agent working.
* Its chats, with **New chat**.
* **Open Files**, which opens the workspace's folder.

Opening the page wakes the workspace.

## Sleep and wake

Chats and workspaces sleep when nobody is using them, so they do not hold a machine's memory while idle. They wake on their own when someone comes back. You never start or stop them yourself.

Each chat sleeps and wakes on its own. A workspace is awake while any of its chats is awake or someone has it open, and goes to sleep once all of them sleep.

### When a chat sleeps

A chat goes to sleep after **24 hours** with no activity. Activity is anything that touches the chat: a message, an answer to a question, someone opening it or being in it, the agent producing output, or an edit to the chat's files.

These keep a chat awake, however long they take:

* The agent is working on a turn.
* A message is queued behind the current turn.
* The agent asked a question and is waiting for your answer.
* A background job or another process is still running on the machine.

If a machine runs short of memory, the chat that has gone longest without use goes to sleep early. A chat that is working, or waiting on you, is never put to sleep early.

### What sleep keeps and what it clears

When a chat sleeps, Alkera saves every file in its folder to [Files](/workspaces/files), including large files, then clears the folder from the machine. See [Where workspace files live](/workspaces/files#where-workspace-files-live).

| Kept | Cleared |
| - | - |
| The chat's history | Anything in memory, including notebook variables |
| Every file in the folder, saved to Files | Running processes and background jobs |
| Notebooks, with their saved outputs | Packages installed from the shell, such as with `pip install` |
| The [notebook environment](/notebooks/environment#packages-after-sleep)'s package list | Caches and build folders, such as `.venv`, `node_modules`, `.cache`, and `__pycache__` |
| | Files matched by a `.gitignore` |

When you come back, re-run your notebook to restore its variables. Ask the agent to reinstall anything it installed from the shell, or add those packages to the notebook environment so they come back on their own.

### What wakes a chat

* Opening the chat, if you can edit it.
* Sending a message or answering a question, including from [Slack](/workspaces/slack).
* Opening the workspace, which wakes its most recently active chat.
* Opening a notebook or running a cell.

Waking copies the chat's folder from Files back onto the machine. It usually takes a few seconds. If the workspace runs on an org [machine](/workspaces/machines) that is stopped, waking starts the machine first, which takes a minute or two. A message you send while the chat wakes is sent as soon as it is ready.

### Status

| Status | Meaning |
| - | - |
| **Asleep** | Idle. A message wakes it. |
| **Waking** | Starting on its machine. |
| **Queued** | Waiting for room on its machine. |
| **Awake** | Running and ready. |
| **Working** | The agent is working in one of its chats. |
| **Moving** | Moving to another machine. |
| **Can't run** | Nothing is able to run it right now, for example because the organization is out of credit. |

If a chat's turn is interrupted, for example because its machine was stopped, the chat says **Stopped** and why. Send a message to continue.

### When its machine is gone

A workspace remembers its machine. If that machine is deleted, the workspace falls back to **Standard**.

## Sharing

Share a workspace to work on it together. Sharing a workspace shares all of its chats, notebooks, and files.

Open the workspace's **⋮** menu and choose **Share…**. Under **Add people and teams**, enter a name, an email, or a team, pick their access, and click **Share**. **Copy link** copies a link to the workspace.

| Access | What it allows |
| - | - |
| **Can view** | Read chats, notebooks, and files. Copy and export them. |
| **Can edit** | Also send messages to the agent, edit notebooks and files, and rename. |
| **Full access** | Also share with others, delete chats, move the workspace to another machine, and delete it. |
| **Owner** | Everything. Ownership moves only by transfer. |

The same access levels apply to [files and folders](/workspaces/files#sharing).

<Note>
  **Sharing a workspace lends your data connections.** People you share a workspace with who have edit access can query data through your [connections](/foundations/plugins-and-connections) from its chats.
</Note>

Inside a workspace, you share the workspace rather than a single chat. Model usage is billed to whoever sends each message.

## Delete a workspace

Open the workspace's **⋮** menu and choose **Delete**. Its chats and files move to the [trash](/workspaces/files#trash), where you can restore them for 30 days. The owner and people with **Full access** can delete a workspace.

## Related

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Chats" icon="comments" href="/workspaces/chats">
    Working with the agent inside a workspace.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Machines" icon="server" href="/workspaces/machines">
    Standard compute, org machines, and moving a workspace.
  </Card>
</Columns>


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