Workspaces

A workspace is your identity context in Runner. Think of it like a Chrome profile. Each workspace has its own connected apps, conversations, automations, and settings. Nothing bleeds between them. Most people set up two: one for work, one for personal. Some add a third for a side project. The point is that when you’re in your Work workspace, Runner only sees your work Gmail, work Slack, and work calendar. Your personal stuff doesn’t exist there.

​

Why workspaces matter

Without workspaces, Runner would mix your work emails with personal ones. Your morning briefing would include dentist appointments alongside board meeting prep. Your Slack messages from your team would show up next to messages from your fantasy hockey league. Workspaces keep everything clean.

---

​

Your first workspace

When you sign up, Runner creates your first workspace automatically. You land in it, connect your apps, and start working. That’s it. If all your apps are tied to one context (say, work), you might never need a second workspace. But the moment you want to connect a personal Gmail or a separate set of tools, create a new one.

---

​

Create a new workspace

---

​

Switch between workspaces

Click the workspace name in the sidebar and pick the one you want. Runner remembers where you left off in each workspace, so when you switch back, your conversations and context are right where you left them.

---

​

What’s scoped to each workspace

Everything that matters is isolated per workspace: Your connected accounts (the actual OAuth grants) live at the user level. So if you connect your work Google account once, you can link it to multiple workspaces without re-authenticating. But most people keep it simple: one account per workspace.

---

​

Common setups

​

Work + Personal

The classic setup. Most people start here. Work workspace: Personal workspace:

​

Work + Personal + Side project

For founders running something on the side. Work workspace: Side project workspace:

​

Multiple clients

For consultants, freelancers, or agencies juggling different clients. Client A workspace: Client B workspace:

---

​

Customize your workspace

Open Settings in Runner to customize each workspace.

​

Name and icon

Give each workspace a name and pick an icon from the icon picker. Runner has dozens of icons to choose from: briefcase, rocket, heart, coffee, globe, and more. Makes it easy to tell them apart at a glance in the sidebar.

​

Color theme

Each workspace can have its own color theme. Useful visual cue so you always know which context you’re in.

​

AI settings

Override the default AI model, connection, or thinking depth for a specific workspace. Maybe your work workspace uses a different API key, or you want a faster model for quick personal tasks.

​

Local MCP servers

Toggle whether Runner starts local MCP servers (the stdio type) for this workspace. Remote HTTP and SSE servers always work regardless of this setting.

---

​

Rename a workspace

Two ways:

• Double-click the workspace name in the sidebar. Edit it inline, press Enter.
• Settings page. Find the workspace and edit the name there.

---

​

Delete a workspace

Go to Settings, find the workspace, and click Delete Workspace. This removes the workspace and its local data (conversations, automations, connector configs). Your connected accounts survive since they live at the user level. You can’t delete your last workspace. Runner always needs at least one.

---

​

Good to know

• You always have at least one workspace. Runner won’t let you delete the last one.
• Switching workspaces is instant. Runner remembers your place in each one.
• Connected accounts are reusable. Connect once, link to multiple workspaces. But most people just connect per-workspace and keep it simple.
• Automations are workspace-scoped. A morning briefing in your Work workspace only looks at Work apps.
• Workspace data lives locally at ~/.runner/workspaces/. Each workspace gets its own directory.

---

​

What’s next?