# Workspace

> A private machine an agent can keep files on and run commands in — provisioned when the work needs one, and gated by approval for anything that writes.

A **workspace** is a sandbox that belongs to one agent: a filesystem it can read and write, and a shell it can run commands in. It is how an agent does work that needs somewhere to put things — checking out code, generating a report from data, keeping a scratch directory between conversations.

## When you get one

You do not create it up front. Ask an agent for work that needs a machine and it prepares one, telling you in the conversation while it does. Preparation takes a moment the first time; after that the same workspace is there for the next conversation.

The chat shows the preparation as its own step, so a slow first run is legible rather than mysterious.

## What the agent can do in it

Read files and directories, write and move them, and run commands.

<Aside type="caution" title="Writing and running always ask">
  Reading is free. Everything that changes the workspace — writing, moving,
  copying, deleting, running or stopping a command — stops for your
  [approval](/docs/work/approvals/) first, with the exact operation shown. There is no
  setting that turns this off, and an unattended run refuses those operations
  rather than waiting.
</Aside>

## Looking inside

The Workspace section in [Agent Builder](/docs/build/agent-builder/) shows what is in there: the file tree, the contents of a file, and the processes currently running.

It is **read-only, deliberately**. The only way to change a workspace is to ask the agent and approve what it proposes — a browser that could also write would be a way around the approval gate.

The view does not refresh by itself, because the thing changing the files is the agent, not you. Refresh when you want the current state.

<Screenshot
  name="studio-workspace"
  alt="The workspace section: the connected workspace agent with its status, and below it a file tree showing a data directory expanded beside two files."
  caption="The tree is read-only. Anything that writes goes through approval in the conversation."
/>

## Limits

- One workspace per agent.
- It is a machine in Endue's infrastructure, not your computer. For work on your own files, see [devices](/docs/build/devices/) and the desktop app's local runtime.
- If the workspace is offline the panel says so; ask the agent for something that needs it and it will be brought back.
- The browser lists and reads. It does not upload, edit, or delete.

## Related

<CardGrid>
  <LinkCard
    title="Approvals"
    href="/docs/work/approvals/"
    description="The gate every write and command goes through."
  />
  <LinkCard
    title="Artifacts"
    href="/docs/capabilities/artifacts/"
    description="Where results belong once they are worth keeping."
  />
  <LinkCard
    title="Devices"
    href="/docs/build/devices/"
    description="The other kind of machine — your own."
  />
</CardGrid>