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Spaces

A space is a group of projects for a team or client. It controls access to their work and credentials, and all its projects run on one machine.

The app lists spaces under Teams in the sidebar. In the API and CLI, a space is a pod.

Your default spaces

You start with two spaces:

  • Personal: your private space. Only you can see its projects, chats, and tasks. It comes with a project named Default, and Slack DMs to Ren run there.
  • General: one shared space per organization. Every member is added to it when they join, so use it for work the whole company shares.

Space or project?

Create a space when work needs different members, tool accounts, or a machine. For example, separate client spaces keep each client’s work and accounts accessible only to that client’s team.

Create a project when the members and machine stay the same but the work needs different instructions or tools. For example, Code review and Incident triage can share an Engineering space while using different instructions and apps.

Create a space

You need a name. Everything else is optional or has a default.

  1. Select Teams in the sidebar, then select New team. Organization admins and owners select Create or join a team (+), then Create team.
  2. Enter a Name. You can also pick an icon and add a Description.
  3. Under Visibility, choose Organization for a shared space, or Private for a space only you can use. Select Continue.
  4. Pick the machine the space runs on. Medium (2 vCPUs, 2 GB) is selected by default. Choose a larger size for heavy work, or a custom environment.
  5. For a shared space, add members and choose each one’s role. You join as owner.
  6. Review the details and select Create team.

Ren creates the space with a project named after it, like Acme project, and starts its machine.

To archive a space, open it, select Team actions (⋯), and select Archive team. The space and its projects leave your organization, and only the API can restore them. You can’t archive General or Personal spaces.

Members

Owner and Member have the same access within a space. Both can use its resources, manage members, and change settings. Personal spaces have no Members tab.

Only people in your organization can join a space. Removing someone from a space doesn’t remove them from the organization.

You can also add someone you’ve invited to the organization before they accept. They get no access until they accept. When they do, they join the space with the role you chose. The assignment stays if the invitation expires or you resend it.

  1. Open the space from Teams, then open the Members tab.
  2. Select Add member, pick a person, choose a role, and select Add member.
  3. To remove someone, select Remove on their row.

Invited people appear in the members list by email, marked Pending, Invite expired, or No active invite. Removing one means they won’t join the space when they accept.

Join a shared space

Organization admins and owners can add themselves to any shared space in the organization. Being an admin doesn’t show you a space’s work until you join it. You join with the Member role. Private spaces can’t be joined.

  1. Select Teams in the sidebar, then select Create or join a team (+).
  2. Select Join team. The list shows the shared spaces you aren’t in yet.
  3. Search for the space, select it, then select Join team.

Ren opens the space once you’ve joined.

Instructions and default model

Space instructions apply to every chat in the space. Ren reads them after organization instructions and before project instructions. See how instructions combine.

The space’s default model applies to every project in the space that doesn’t set its own, and overrides the organization’s default model.

  • Open the space’s Instructions tab to edit its instructions.
  • Open the Overview tab and choose a Default model. You can also edit the icon, name, and description there.

Environment

Every space has one machine, and all of its projects and chats share it. The machine pauses when nobody is using it and resumes when the next chat starts.

To change the machine, open the space’s Environment tab and select Change. Choose another size or a custom environment. See Environments for what a custom environment can install and when a change takes effect.

Usage

The space’s Usage tab shows what the space’s chats have cost. Switch between Spend and LLM calls, choose the last 7, 30, or 90 days, and open Per session to see the cost of each chat.

Credentials

A shared space has its own credentials, like a client’s ad account or a team’s GitHub token. Only members of the space can use them, and every project in the space can use them. Manage them in Settings → Credentials.

Your personal space has no separate credentials. It uses your personal credentials first, then credentials from your shared spaces, then organization credentials. See Which credential Ren uses for the full lookup order.