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Tutorial

Your first project

Open a folder, learn what every part of the window does, add panels, move around the canvas and find anything from the keyboard. About ten minutes.

1. Open a folder

A workspace with no project yet shows the New workspace card. Choose Open a folder and pick the folder of a project you work on, or press Cmd/CtrlO from anywhere. Everything in this workspace now runs in that folder: new terminals start there, agents edit its files and Source Control follows its git repository.

The New workspace card with Open a folder, Clone from GitHub and Clone from a URL
The New workspace card. The chip at the top right names the computer the project will live on.
  • Clone from GitHub lists the repositories of the GitHub account signed in on this computer, and clones the one you choose.
  • Clone from a URL takes any git link.
  • Start a blank canvas skips the folder for now; you can add panels and open a project later.

Opened from this card, an empty canvas gets a few starter panels that fit the folder: for a code project, its README beside a terminal. Cmd/CtrlO points the workspace you are in at a folder without adding any, and a cloned repository starts empty. Either way, the next steps fill the canvas.

2. Find your way around the window

This is a project with three panels open: an editor, a terminal and the README. The numbers point at the parts you will use every day.

The Deska window: an editor, a terminal and a rendered README on the canvas, with the crumb at the top, rails on both sides and the bar at the bottom
1The computer you are working on. local is this one; click it to see your other computers.
2The project this workspace has open.
3The branch. Click it to switch worktrees or start a new one.
4New task hands work to a coding agent.
5Connect phone pairs your phone with this computer.
6Spaces: every workspace you have open. + adds one.
7Tools: Inbox, Source Control, Checks, Explorer and Notes.
8Add panel opens the Panel Library.
9Ask Dex, the assistant: hold to talk, tap to type.
10Inbox: every task, and which ones need you.
11Extras: quick notes, a focus timer and music.
12Zoom: out, the level (click it for 100%), in, and Zoom to fit. The buttons to its left show the minimap and panel summaries.

At the top right, next to Connect phone, are search (Cmd/CtrlK), Settings (Cmd/Ctrl,), notifications and your account. Under the bottom bar, a small meter shows how much of each coding agent’s plan you have left.

3. Add panels

Click Add panel or press Cmd/CtrlShiftE to open the Panel Library. Pick a group on the left, or just start typing a name. The new panel lands where you are looking.

The Panel Library: groups on the left, a search box and cards for Code Editor, Terminal, Browser and Sticky Note
  • Enter adds the selected panel and closes the library; ShiftEnter adds it and keeps the library open for the next one.
  • The panels you will add most have their own shortcuts, shown on their cards: a terminal with Cmd/CtrlShiftT, a code editor with Cmd/CtrlAltE and a browser with Cmd/CtrlShiftB.
  • Agent cards have an Opens as switch: Task opens the agent in a Deska thread you can follow step by step, Terminal runs its own command line interface in a terminal panel.

Every panel is a window on the canvas. The editor below shows the file name and path in its title bar, its open files as tabs, and your uncommitted changes marked in the margin.

A code editor panel showing cart.ts, with the file path in its title bar

4. Move around the canvas

  • Move a panel by dragging its title bar. Resize it from any edge or corner.
  • Pan with two fingers on a trackpad, the scroll wheel, or by dragging with the right mouse button.
  • Zoom with Cmd/Ctrl and the scroll wheel, or by pinching. Cmd/CtrlShift1 frames every panel at once (Zoom to fit).
  • Jump to a panel by name with CtrlSpace, the Panel Switcher.

Zoom out below about 45% and the canvas turns into an overview: every panel shows as a picture of itself, so a busy desk stays readable and smooth. Drag a card to move that panel, or double-click it to zoom straight into it.

The canvas zoomed out to 34 percent, every panel shown as a small picture of itself
Zoomed out, each panel is a picture of itself. Panels keep running underneath.
TipDeska saves the layout as you go. Quit, come back tomorrow, and every panel is where you left it, terminal history included.

5. Find anything

Press Cmd/CtrlK and type a few letters. The Command Palette searches the files in your project, the commands Deska knows and the panels you have open. Use the arrow keys and Enter to open a result.

The Command Palette searching for cart: three files, a README line, and actions to create a worktree or ask the agent

When what you typed is really a request, Tab sends it to your coding agent instead (Ask the agent), and the Create group can start a new worktree named after it. The full list of what the palette finds is in Command Palette & search.

Next

Your first agent taskHand a change to a coding agent, approve what it asks and commit the result.Ask Dex about your deskQuestions, voice and actions with the assistant that sees your canvas.Workspaces & the canvasEverything about spaces, projects, the canvas and its controls.Panels overviewEvery panel type, docking and the notebook.