Project context for Electron Desktop Chat
Choose a project for an Electron Desktop Chat so future turns use its workspace. Understand project context, persistence, and current selection limits.
Maintained by the Matrix OS team. Product instructions are updated with the supported workflow.
A Chat conversation can belong to one project. The saved association determines the workspace directory used for future turns, whether the project is a folder, scratch workspace, or GitHub repository. Choosing a project does not change the existing transcript.
Add a project
For an existing conversation, selecting a project saves the change immediately. The selected project appears in the composer; open that control to choose another project or select Remove project context. Wait for an active run to finish, or stop it, before changing context. The change applies to future turns and does not move or rewrite project files.
Project sidebar actions
Hover or focus the Projects heading and select + to create a project. This control remains available when the project list is empty. Pinned stays above Projects.
Project names use the full available row width at rest, with an ellipsis when needed. Hover or keyboard focus makes room for the arrow and actions; long names scroll within the remaining space unless reduced motion is enabled.
Select a project name to open its overview. Hover or focus the row to reveal the separate arrow beside the name; use it to expand or collapse that project's Chat list.
The overview's details and conversation cards use the available space above the Chat input. Long lists scroll while the input stays accessible, including in short windows. Opening the overview keeps the current floating-window or maximized-tab presentation.
In Electron Desktop, hover or focus a project row to show … and the square-pencil New chat action. New chat stays at the right edge. You can also right-click the project to open the same action menu.
- Pin / Unpin moves a project between the Pinned and Projects sections. The section shows its state, so the project row does not add a separate pin icon. The choice survives reloads.
- Edit changes the display name and description. It keeps the same project identity, folder and Chats. If saving fails, your draft stays in the dialog so you can retry.
- Show in Files opens the full Files app at the project's existing folder on the connected Matrix computer. If Files is already open, it is focused and navigates to that folder. Imported projects use their original mapped directory. You can browse folders and preview files there.
- Delete project opens the permanent-deletion confirmation. There is no trash button beside New chat. Review the confirmation before continuing: connected-folder projects preserve the original folder; managed projects also remove the managed workspace.
This guide covers Electron Desktop's project sidebar. Switching computers loads the selected computer's project metadata.
When a project is unavailable
The Matrix computer validates the saved project and its workspace before starting a turn. If the workspace is unavailable, the turn fails with an error; Chat does not silently fall back to your home directory. Your saved conversation remains available.
Check the connection and project availability, then retry. You can also choose another active project or select Remove project context. If the selected harness requires a project, choose a valid project before sending again.
If saving a project change fails, Chat shows an error and reloads the saved conversation. Check the project shown in the composer before retrying. While disconnected, the picker cannot load projects; reconnect first. If the list fails to load, use Retry projects.
Context belongs to the selected Matrix computer
Switching to another Matrix computer loads that computer's conversations and projects. Choose context from the computer where you intend to run the chat.
Scope of the project picker
The picker associates one project with the conversation. It does not select branches or worktrees, show Git status, or combine several repositories into one workspace. The Matrix computer resolves the saved project to its workspace directory; the app does not supply an arbitrary local path.
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