Workspaces

Workspaces let you save a DevKnife window as a named working context.

A workspace remembers the state of tools in that window, such as editor drafts, selected files, generated data, query inputs, layout choices, and other window-specific tool settings. This is useful when you regularly return to the same task, project, API, dataset, or debugging session.

Temporary windows still work as before. A new DevKnife window starts as a temporary workspace until you choose to save it.

When to use a workspace

Use a workspace when you want to preserve a set of DevKnife tools and inputs for later.

Examples:

• A JSON Editor setup with query text and formatting preferences.
• An HTTP Client scratchpad for a project API.
• A CSV editing session you want to return to.
• A Regex Tester setup with a pattern and sample text.
• A JWT or encoder workflow used for a specific environment.
• A Ruler, Data Generator, or Text Compare session tied to a task.

Save a window as a workspace

To save the current DevKnife window:

1. Open the Workspace menu.
2. Choose Save Window as Workspace….
3. Enter a workspace name.
4. Confirm the name.

The current window becomes a saved workspace. DevKnife shows the workspace name as a subtitle in the title bar.

Saving a workspace does not move your files or create a project folder. It saves DevKnife’s window-specific state and gives that state a name.

Open a workspace

To open a saved workspace:

1. Open the Workspace menu.
2. Open Open Workspace.
3. Choose a saved workspace.

If a DevKnife window is active, the selected workspace opens in that window.

If no DevKnife window is active, or all DevKnife windows are closed, DevKnife opens a new window for the selected workspace.

If the selected workspace is already open in another window, DevKnife brings that window to the front instead of opening a second copy. This prevents two windows from editing the same workspace state at the same time.

Temporary windows

New windows are temporary until saved.

If you try to open another workspace from a temporary window that already contains tool state, DevKnife asks what to do:

• Save as Workspace… saves the temporary window first, then opens the selected workspace.
• Discard switches away without saving the temporary window as a named workspace.
• Cancel keeps the current window unchanged.

Discarding does not delete external files you opened from disk. It only means the current temporary DevKnife window state will not be saved as a named workspace.

Rename a workspace

To rename the current saved workspace:

1. Open the workspace window.
2. Open the Workspace menu.
3. Choose Rename Workspace….
4. Enter the new name.

Renaming changes only the workspace name. It does not move files, rename files, or change tool contents.

Duplicate a workspace

To create a copy of the current workspace:

1. Open the workspace window.
2. Open the Workspace menu.
3. Choose Duplicate Workspace….
4. Enter a name for the copy.

DevKnife creates a new saved workspace with the same window-specific tool state. The duplicate is not opened automatically.

Delete a workspace

To delete the current workspace:

1. Open the workspace window.
2. Open the Workspace menu.
3. Choose Delete Workspace….
4. Confirm deletion.

Deleting a workspace removes the saved DevKnife tool state for that workspace and removes it from the workspace list. It does not delete unrelated files from your Mac.

After deleting the current workspace, the window becomes a new temporary DevKnife window.

What workspaces store

Workspaces store DevKnife’s window-specific tool state. Depending on the tools you use, this may include:

• text drafts and editor contents
• selected tool modes and layout settings
• generated output
• query inputs
• recent tool-specific values
• saved window-scoped data used by editors and inspectors

Workspaces do not replace normal file saving. If you are editing a file from disk, continue using the tool’s file save commands when you want to write changes back to that file.

Privacy

Workspace data is stored locally on your Mac. DevKnife does not upload workspace contents or send them to external services.