# Workspaces overview

Workspaces are a grouping layer above projects — each project lives in exactly one workspace, and each Solo window has one active workspace at a time. Separate windows can show different workspaces simultaneously. Use them to separate clients, jobs, or areas of work so the sidebar only shows the projects you care about right now.

## How workspaces work

Every Solo install starts with a single workspace (named **Default Workspace**), and with only one workspace the app looks and behaves exactly as if workspaces didn't exist. Once you create a second workspace, the **workspace rail** appears automatically and you can start organizing.

Switching workspaces swaps the entire sidebar to that workspace's projects. Processes in other workspaces keep running in the background — switching never stops anything.

## The workspace rail

With two or more workspaces, a narrow vertical rail appears on the left edge of the sidebar. Each disclosed workspace appears as a small icon — its initials, color, or custom image (see [Managing workspaces](./managing-workspaces.md)).

When inactive workspace identities are disclosed, the rail is split into two groups:

- **Top group** — workspaces open in the current window. The active workspace has a highlighted border.
- **Bottom group** — all other workspaces, shown dimmed. These are either open in another window or not open anywhere yet.

Hovering a disclosed icon shows the workspace name and its project count. The **+** button at the bottom opens the rail's native menu. When inactive identities are disclosed, this menu includes **Open** entries for workspaces outside the current window; it always includes **Hide inactive workspaces**, **New workspace**, and **Manage workspaces**.

Right-clicking an empty area of the rail opens the same native menu. Right-clicking a disclosed workspace icon adds **Rename workspace** and **Open in new window**. If that workspace belongs to the current window, the menu also adds **Close workspace**; closing removes that workspace view from this window without deleting the workspace.

The rail supports keyboard navigation over its disclosed, focusable items: `↑ / ↓` move among workspace icons and the `+N` stack when it is present, `Home / End` jump to the first or last item, and `Enter` or `Space` activates the focused workspace or toggles the stack.

### Hiding inactive workspaces

Enable **Hide inactive workspaces** from the rail's native menu or **Settings > Workspaces**. It collapses every workspace except the current one into a single `+N` button. While the stack is collapsed, those workspaces have no individual rail icons, **Open** menu entries, keyboard targets, or notification badges. Activate `+N` to reveal those identities; activate it again to collapse them.

## Unread badges

When a process in another disclosed workspace has unread notification activity, that workspace's rail icon shows a badge with the number of unread processes (capped at `99+`). When the inactive-workspace stack is collapsed, badges for those hidden workspaces are withheld until you reveal them. A disclosed badge clears as you read the activity, so you can tell at a glance which workspaces need attention. See [Indicators](../notifications/indicators.md) for how unread state works generally.

## Switching workspaces

There are several ways to switch:

| Method | How |
|--------|-----|
| **Click** | Click a disclosed workspace icon in the rail. Dimmed icons open that workspace or focus the window that already has it open. |
| **Command palette** | The Go to results include a **Switch to \<workspace\>** item for every workspace except the current one, labeled with a **Workspace** scope. |
| **Hotkeys** | **Switch to workspace 1-9** commands jump to the Nth workspace in your configured order. They ship unbound — assign keys in **Settings > Hotkeys**. |

The numbered hotkeys use the configured global workspace order. Each window's top rail group keeps its own order, which can differ. To change a window's rail order, drag only workspace icons open in and owned by that window (see [Managing workspaces](./managing-workspaces.md)). See [Customizing keyboard shortcuts](../keyboard-shortcuts/customizing.md) for how to bind the workspace commands.

## Command palette scope

By default, the [command palette](../command-palette/using.md) searches only the current workspace. With two or more workspaces, a scope pill appears next to the palette's search field showing the current workspace name.

- Press `Tab` (or click the pill) to toggle between searching **this workspace** and **All workspaces**.
- When searching all workspaces, results from other workspaces include their workspace name so you can tell where a match lives, and you can match on the workspace name itself.
- The scope resets to the current workspace when you switch workspaces.

The toggle is available at the palette's top level; once you drill into a specific project, results are already scoped to that project.

## Related pages

- [Managing workspaces](./managing-workspaces.md) — creating, renaming, reordering, deleting, and icons.
- [Multiple windows](./multi-window.md) — opening workspaces in separate windows.
- [Workspace MCP tools](../mcp-tools/workspaces.md) — managing workspaces from agents via MCP.

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Are you a human? Read this doc on the web: https://soloterm.com/docs/workspaces/overview