Workspaces

A workspace is a folder on your computer. Point Palette Desktop at it and that folder is your workspace.

The folder is the workspace

There's no separate database, no cloud workspace, no Palette account that owns your files. The folder on your machine is the source of truth.

That means:

• You can open the folder in Finder and see everything that's in your workspace
• You can edit any file outside of Palette and the change is there next time you open it
• If you stop using Palette, your folder is still your folder

What the agent reads

When you start a session, the agent has access to everything in the workspace folder:

• Markdown notes and docs
• Plain text files
• HTML and other text-based formats
• The folder structure itself, which the agent uses as context

The agent can read across the whole workspace. That's how it knows what your project is, what's in flight, and what's been decided.

What the agent writes

The agent can create files, edit existing files, and reorganize folders inside the workspace.

It doesn't write directly to your folder. Every change goes through a session first, where you review before anything saves back.

Multiple workspaces

You can have several workspaces open in Palette Desktop at the same time. Each one is its own folder, with its own sessions, chats, and agent context.

Switch between them in the sidebar. Useful when you keep different kinds of work in different folders, like a team workspace and a personal one, or one workspace per area.

Why folders

Folders are how teams already organize knowledge. They work across tools and do not depend on one vendor's database.

Folders are also the right unit of context for an agent. A well-structured folder gives the agent everything it needs to do good work, without you pasting background into every chat.

A new way of working

Most teams haven't worked this way before. Working in plain markdown files, structured for both humans and agents to read, is new behavior.

Three ways to start a workspace:

• Start a new folder
• Point Palette at a folder you already have
• Start from Marketplace with a folder system or workflow

Next

• Sharing workspaces, how your team works in the same folder
• Sessions, what happens when you start working
• Marketplace, folder systems and workflows