Workspaces and files

A workspace is the branch and git worktree an issue works in. Worktrees live under Otomat's own data directory, registered with your repository through git worktree, so your checkout stays on the branch you left it on.

Where a workspace lives

• Settings → Project → Workspaces lists every worktree of the project on each host with its state: active while the issue's cycle holds it, cleanup required once the cycle closed with the directory still on disk, stale or missing when git and Otomat disagree, and unmanaged for a worktree Otomat did not create — it never touches those.
• The run actions menu (⋯) and the issue header carry Open in VS Code and Open in terminal for the run's worktree. A remote worktree opens through VS Code's SSH remote; a remote terminal is a copyable ssh command Otomat never runs itself.
• Otomat reads the real git state on every read; nothing about a workspace is cached in a way a restart could make stale.

Edit files

The run cockpit's Files tab lists the whole worktree — uncommitted and untracked work included, ignored files excluded — and opens any text file in an editor with find, folding, multiple cursors and the command palette (F1). ⌘P jumps to a file by name. Git status decorates names and folders; a deleted path stays listed and opens its diff.

Saving checks that the file on disk is still the one you opened: a save over a file an agent changed meanwhile is refused with a Reload that discards your edit, never a silent overwrite. An archived worktree opens read-only. Saving writes the file and refreshes the diff; it starts no agent turn and is not part of the run's history.

Changes, beside Files, is a staging area: Staged Changes and Changes diffs, Stage, Unstage or Discard changes for a file, a block or a line selection, and a commit form that commits the index with your configured git identity — hooks and signing apply. Discarding asks first and is irreversible.

The Files view in the sidebar does the same on the project's real checkout: browse, edit, stage, commit, and publish a pull request from your own branch without any run involved.

Clean up

Otomat deletes a worktree only when the issue's cycle is closed, nothing is writing to it and the tree is clean; otherwise it names the blocker. Every surface goes through the same confirmation.

• Clean workspace… in the run actions menu, or the row action in Settings → Project → Workspaces, removes one worktree. Git's own refusal — uncommitted work — is reported and nothing is forced.
• Automatically delete this project's workspaces after merge, in Settings → Project → Workspaces, lets Otomat remove the worktree of a merged pull request by itself. A merge made outside Otomat is noticed on the next reconciliation pass; unmerged cycles always wait for you.
• Deleting a worktree never deletes a branch or a commit. Branches stay in the repository until you remove them yourself.