Why is workspace.yaml on the C drive #1230

Activity

1. hu-qi commented on Jun 23, 2026

   

   hu-qi

   on Jun 23, 2026

   More actions

   This is expected behavior for workspace mode. A workspace is intentionally treated as machine-local private state, not as content owned by one linked repository. It can contain absolute local paths, opener preferences, generated editor workspace files, and local agent guidance, so OpenSpec keeps it outside the repo by default.

   On Windows, the default fallback is %LOCALAPPDATA%\openspec\workspaces, which is commonly on the C: drive.

   If you want to place it on another drive, OpenSpec already supports this through XDG_DATA_HOME, which takes precedence on all platforms:

   # Persist for future terminals
   setx XDG_DATA_HOME "D:\OpenSpecData"

   Then open a new terminal and run:

   openspec workspace setup

   New workspaces will be created under:

   D:\OpenSpecData\openspec\workspaces\<workspace-name>\
   

   Existing workspaces are not automatically moved, so they should be recreated after changing the variable.

   That said, this is not very discoverable. A --path / --workspace-root option during openspec workspace setup, or clearer output in the setup wizard, would make the behavior much easier to understand.
2. clay-good

   added

   bugSomething isn't workingSomething isn't working

   on Jun 29, 2026
3. clay-good commented on Jul 22, 2026

   

   clay-good

   on Jul 22, 2026

   Collaborator

   More actions

   Closing as resolved. The workspace feature (and the workspace.yaml it kept under %LOCALAPPDATA%) was replaced by stores in #1190, released in v1.5.0. Store locations are now entirely user-chosen: openspec store register <path> puts the store wherever you want it, C: drive strictly optional.

   Verified on current main: there are no workspace.yaml references left in the codebase. See openspec store --help for the new commands.

   👍React with 👍1Reacted by huqi
4. clay-good

   closed this as completedon Jul 22, 2026