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Workspaces & Navigation

Workspaces establish the project boundaries and file scope for Orbicus. When you attach Orbicus to a repository, it indexes the directory tree, tracks session history for that project, and confines all tool execution within that file tree.

Workspace Isolation

Each workspace operates as an independent execution boundary. This guarantees that code searches, symbol lookups, and file modifications remain strictly scoped to the active project.

Key isolation characteristics:

  • Isolated Sessions: Conversation histories, task lists, and workdocs are saved per workspace. Switching projects immediately swaps the active context without mixing conversation history.
  • Path Confinement: Agent operations cannot read, modify, or delete files outside the workspace root unless explicitly allowed in your protection rules.
  • Git Awareness: Orbicus respects your repository's .gitignore and .orbicusignore files, automatically excluding build artifacts, dependencies (node_modules, target, vendor), and temporary files from search results.

Orbicus provides consistent workspace management across the Desktop App, CLI, and IDE Extension.

Opening a Project

  • Desktop Workspace: Click Open Folder in the sidebar navigation or press Cmd/Ctrl + O to select any repository on your local machine.
  • Terminal CLI: Run orbicus directly from within any directory. The current working directory is automatically mounted as the root workspace: 
    cd ~/projects/my-service && orbicus
  • VS Code Extension: When you open a folder or multi-root workspace in VS Code, Orbicus automatically attaches to your open project.

Switching Between Workspaces

You can maintain multiple active workspaces simultaneously. Switching to a different repository suspends the active view without killing running background tasks or losing unapplied diffs in your previous project.

Session Organization

Within any workspace, you can organize your work into discrete sessions:

  1. Feature Threads: Create a dedicated session for each pull request, bug investigation, or refactoring task.
  2. Session Search: Use the session search bar (/ shortcut) to query past session transcripts and recall previous design decisions or code snippets.
  3. Session Archival: Delete or prune completed sessions to keep your sidebar focused on active priorities.