Registering a working directory

What you will learn What a working directory is and how to split them. This choice shapes how you work later.

If paths are unfamiliar, start with Files, folders, paths.

A working directory is a folder to work in

You register a path. If the path does not exist, it is created for you.

Once registered, one folder is one card on the dashboard.

Registering is setting the scope

This is the important part. A working directory is the agent's area of operation.

graph TD
  W["Working directory<br/>/projects/shop-api"] --> A["What the agent can see"]
  A --> F1["Files in this folder"]
  A --> F2["Subfolders"]
  X["Outside the folder"] -.->|"not accessed by default"| A

So how you draw the folder is also a safety mechanism.

Do not register your home folder or the root. Drawing it only as wide as needed is least privilege.

Registered folders stack up as cards, each showing how many tasks are running.

How to split them

Criterion 1 — by project

The most natural. One repository, one folder.

Splitting lets you run work in parallel. Frontend work and API work do not wait for each other — the same independence as in micro-sprints.

Criterion 2 — split when the character differs

Different character means different instructions. Mixed together, you re-explain the context every time.

Criterion 3 — split when the risk differs

Keep the folder containing production deployment scripts separate from your experimental folder, because you can give them different autonomy levels — the subject of the next chapter.

What you set at registration time

Each folder can carry defaults.

Writing the description means not explaining it every time.

This is writing down the context part of a good instruction once, per folder.

Common mistakes

Drawing the folder too wide

Registering /Users/me/projects as one seems convenient, but:

• The agent's visible scope widens and it may touch the wrong files
• Work on several projects gets mixed into one card
• No parallel execution

Not writing a description

You end up rewriting "this project is Node.js and…" for every task. Write it once.

Registering temporary folders and never removing them

Delete folders you no longer use. As cards accumulate, the important ones stop standing out.

Check yourself

1. Why should a working directory be drawn narrowly?

2. What do you gain by splitting a project into several folders?

3. What changes when you write a folder description?

Now hand over your first task → Your first task