Shared workspaces

A workspace can keep itself in sync. It stays an ordinary folder in each person’s Space, which you, the people you share it with and Kin all change directly. Space saves every change under the name of whoever made it, brings in everyone else’s and sends yours, about once a minute. Nobody needs to commit, push, pull or merge.

Underneath, the shared copy is the workspace’s repository on GitHub, and Space uses each person’s own GitHub connection to reach it.

Turn it on

A workspace kept on GitHub has a Keep in sync card on its Overview. Turn on its switch and confirm. From then on:

• an edit you save in Files is saved and sent about fifteen seconds after you stop typing;
• what Kin changes is saved when her turn ends, marked as made by you with Kin;
• anything changed elsewhere, such as in a terminal, is saved at the next check, about once a minute.

Use it for a workspace you share. A workspace you develop in with your own Git habits is better left as it is: Keep in sync commits everything that changes there.

Turning the switch off stops syncing and leaves the folder and its history as they are.

See where it stands

The end of the workspace’s bar says how it stands:

• Synced · just now in quiet ink when all is well.
• Trevor changed 2 files · just now when someone else’s changes arrive. Those files, and the folders that hold them, carry a mark in Files until you open each one.
• One file needs a choice when two people changed the same lines (below).
• Waiting to sync, with how many of your changes are kept here, when GitHub has been out of reach for five minutes. Keep working; your changes go when it can be reached.
• Can’t sync · connect GitHub when your Space has no GitHub connection, or it lapsed. Select it to open Connections and connect GitHub.
• Can’t sync · no access when GitHub refuses you the repository. Ask whoever shared it for access.
• Can’t sync · other branch when the folder is on a branch other than the one the repository shares on GitHub. Your changes wait in the folder; switch back to that branch to sync. Share asks you to do the same.

On a narrower window the line keeps a few of its words, and on a phone just its mark; its tooltip says it all. Select it to open History, or the file it names.

History

A synced workspace has History beside Source. It lists every change, newest first and by day: who made it, with Kin where Kin helped, and what it changed. Select a change to see the lines each file gained and lost, then:

• View opens the file.
• Restore puts that change’s files back as they were before it. It asks first, and the restore is a new change of its own, so nothing is lost and the change you restored stays in History.

When two people changed the same lines

Changes to different files, or different parts of one file, combine by themselves. When you both changed the same lines before either saw the other’s change, the workspace keeps syncing everything else and asks one choice. The file carries the warning mark, and opening it shows a card with both versions:

• Keep yours or Keep Trevor’s keeps that version.
• Ask Kin to combine starts a conversation in the workspace asking Kin to merge the two and show you the result before she saves it.

Whichever version you don’t keep stays in History. Either of you can settle the choice; the other sees the result. PDFs, spreadsheets and other files that can’t be combined line by line are offered the same way.

Share a workspace

You can share a synced workspace with someone you exchange letters with. Both of your Spaces need this release.

1. On the Keep in sync card, select Share with….
2. Choose the person and write their GitHub username. Space remembers it for next time.
3. Select Share. Space gives their GitHub account access to the repository through your GitHub connection, and opens your desk to them with the workspace on it and a few words you can change.
4. Seal the letter.

In their Space, the letter shows the workspace after its words with Add to my Space. That accepts the access through their own GitHub connection, copies the workspace into their Space and turns on Keep in sync. Once it is there, the letter offers Open instead.

Sharing a repository on GitHub needs admin access to it. If either of you has no GitHub connection yet, or it lapsed, Share and Add to my Space say so and offer Open Connections to connect GitHub first. Pressing Add to my Space twice adds the workspace once.

What sharing doesn’t do

• It doesn’t edit live together: each person’s Space keeps its own copy, and changes travel within about a minute.
• It doesn’t hide anything from the people you share with: everything saved in the workspace reaches them, so keep passwords and keys out of it entirely.
• It doesn’t rewrite history: every change, restore and choice is a new change.