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BERD TASK · 0007 · SHAPE THE WORKSPACE

Attach workspaces and use the right rail

The right rail is the chat's window onto the folders it can touch: which ones are attached, what has changed in them, which files it produced, and a terminal. It is scoped to this chat's attachments, not to the project. Most "where did my files go" questions are answered here — and one action in it deletes work from disk.

Steps at a glance

  1. Attach a folder, repo or worktree to this chat
  2. Read the rail: workspaces, changes, artifacts
  3. Switch branch or worktree, and decide what happens to uncommitted changes
  4. Open the terminal at a path
  5. Remove a workspace — and read the confirmation first

1. Attach a folder, repo or worktree to this chat

Add workspace in the rail opens a dialog whose first line states the scope: the workspace will be associated with this chat. You start from a plain folder, a Git repository, a Git worktree, or a folder inside either; from a repository you can also create a new worktree before attaching it. A chat inside a project already carries the project's folders; what you add here is extra, for this conversation only.

The included-workspaces list says what that means in practice: all listed workspaces are shared with Goose for this chat. Each entry is labelled by kind — directory, repository, main worktree, linked worktree, subdirectory, non-Git directory, detached checkout — and shows clean or N changed. You can copy a workspace's path or all of them from here, which is the quickest way to paste a location into a message.

[SCREENSHOT: T07-01 — right rail with workspaces and changes]

2. Read the rail: workspaces, changes, artifacts

The rail composes a few widgets, and the tabs at the top are labelled Context, Changes and Files:

  • Included workspaces — the list from step 1.
  • Changes — Git status and diff for the attached workspace, with Fetch and Pull (the pull button counts the commits waiting). No uncommitted changes is the resting state; This folder isn't a git repo offers Initialize Git. A Pull requests widget can show related PRs, but that is an experiment.
  • Artifacts — files the chat opened or produced, and the artifact folder they land in. See Work with artifacts and MCP apps.

Berd's help calls the rail one of the most actively changing parts of the app, so the widget order and exact labels on the day you read this may differ. What the widgets are has been stable.

3. Switch branch or worktree, and decide what happens to uncommitted changes

The picker in the rail (Select worktree or branch) lists the active worktree, available branches and All branches, and can add a worktree or a branch. Switching with a clean tree just switches. Switching with uncommitted changes stops you: You have N uncommitted changes. How would you like to proceed?

  • Stash & Switch parks the changes with Git's stash and moves. The success message tells you the recovery command: git stash pop. Until you run it, those changes are in the stash, not in any file you can see.
  • Carry to Branch takes the changes with you. If they conflict with the target branch, the switch fails and says so.
  • Cancel leaves everything where it is.

If none of those three words means anything to you, choose Cancel, and ask the agent in the chat to explain what is uncommitted and why before you touch the picker again.

[SCREENSHOT: T07-02 — worktree/branch picker with dirty state]

4. Open the terminal at a path

The terminal opens from the rail at a workspace's path, with tabs, and can dock to the bottom of the window or pop out. It needs a project or folder assigned; without one it says so. Stopping a terminal terminates the shell and closes the panel — a running process in it dies with it. Use it for the things an agent should not do for you: checking git status with your own eyes, running the one command you want to watch.

[SCREENSHOT: T07-04 — terminal docked]

5. Remove a workspace — and read the confirmation first

Remove from chat on a workspace shows one of three confirmations, and they are not the same:

  1. A folder or repo you attached. This removes the workspace from the chat. Files and local changes stay on disk. Safe.
  2. A Goose-created worktree or branch. If you remove this workspace, the Goose-created worktree will be deleted from disk — and with uncommitted changes: those changes will be lost and the worktree will be deleted from disk. Not safe.
  3. A Goose-created worktree another active chat also uses. Only this chat's attachment is removed; the worktree stays on disk.

The word to look for is Goose-created. Berd cleans up what it made. It never deletes what you attached.

[SCREENSHOT: T07-03 — remove-worktree confirmation]

Watch out

Removing a Goose-created worktree deletes it from disk, uncommitted changes included — and archiving a chat that owns worktrees offers to do the same. Before either, commit or copy anything in that worktree you want to keep.

Last checked: Berd v0.6.4, 2026-09-11 — read from source and release notes, not yet tested in the app.

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Reference

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Takes
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Verified
Berd v0.6.4 · 2026-09-11 · source-read
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Guide built with Berd, Claude and Codex · verified against Berd v0.6.4, 2026-09-11 · read from source, not yet tested in the app · Buzz Guide · About · not affiliated with Block