Workspaces Overview
A workspace is a folder on your computer that holds one or more Dashboardx Designer files. You pick the folder — a project folder in Documents, a folder on an external disk, anywhere you like. Everything about the project lives in and around that folder, and Dashboardx Designer keeps the projects apart so a conversation, a saved approval, or a set of datasets never drifts from one project into another.
What belongs to a workspace
| Thing | What it is | Where you find it |
|---|---|---|
| Workspace | A folder you chose; the unit of "current project" | The folder you picked |
| Dashboard files | The .dxf files you save | In that folder — yours to copy, back up, or send to someone |
| Conversations | Your chats with the agents, including history and plans | Listed in the Agent Perspective while that workspace is open |
| Saved approvals | Tools you chose Always Allow for this project | Settings → Permissions |
Your dashboard files stay plain files in your folder. Conversations and approvals are kept by the app and associated with the workspace — they are not dumped into your folder, and deleting them does not touch your files.
Starting a workspace
File → Open Directory (⌘⇧O) asks for a folder and makes it the current workspace. If the folder already contains a dashboard file, the most recently edited one opens; otherwise you start with a blank dashboard that will be saved into that folder.
File → Recent Workspaces lists the folders you have used, most recent first. The app also reopens the folder you last worked in when you launch it again.
Opening a folder that is already open brings its existing window to the front instead of opening a second one.
Why it matters for the agents
The agents work inside the current workspace folder. They can read and write files there (always asking first — see Settings → Permissions), and a path that escapes the folder is refused outright. If an agent genuinely needs something in a different folder, it has to ask you for that folder separately, and your answer covers that folder only.
Practically, this means you can point an agent at a folder containing your CSV exports and reference documents, and it can use them — while everything else on your disk stays out of reach.
Folder access on the Mac App Store version
The Mac App Store version is sandboxed, so it can only read what you have granted. Choosing the folder in File → Open Directory is that grant, and it covers the files inside it — you are not asked file by file, and the grant survives relaunching the app.
If macOS withdraws the grant — the folder was moved or renamed, you restored it from a backup, or you are on a different user account — the app tells you the folder is no longer reachable and asks you to choose it again, rather than failing on each file. See Manage Workspaces.
Working on several projects
- Switch projects from File → Recent Workspaces, or open a new folder.
- Each project keeps its own conversations, approvals, and dashboard files.
- Two projects can be open at the same time, in separate windows.
- Remove a project you are done with from File → Manage Workspaces — your files stay on disk.
Where to go next
- Manage Workspaces — the workspace manager
- Settings → Permissions — what the agents may do
- Agent Perspective Overview — the agents that work in the folder