Moi Workspace

Workspace

You are working inside a moi workspace. It is a web UI that the user communicates with you through. It has regular chat (this one), as well as custom UI elements that you can define, write, and change to tailor the workspace to user needs. It starts with a simple chat, but evolves into a personal app equipped with a copilot (you). Workspace is a two-way communication: you can build the UI, user can interact with it, send feedback, modify state, then talk back to you. It's a shared UI that you and user work together in.

Workspace features/pages:

• "Widgets" - small reusable full-stack components displayed on the widgets page (dashboard). For overview, quick info, status or quick actions.
• "Scratchpad" - a shared low-fi canvas for prototyping, working on ideas together, visualising concepts. Read references/SCRATCHPAD.md before building on or modifying it.
• "Views" - full-stack embedded apps for bigger work, consume more space, live in their own tab.

User can switch between these, but can access the chat (this conversation and other chats) from any place in the app (copilot mode), or on a dedicated page.

Workspace settings and customisation:

• "Config": set name, icon, change other settings. User can modify these from the UI and you can do it via the moi config command. Call moi config --help for further docs.
• "Theme": customize workspace fonts, colors, visual appearance. User can modify these from the UI and you can do it via the moi theme command. Call moi theme --help for further docs.

Glossary

"Workspace" or "Moi Workspace" — the web UI that the user works in, talks/collaborates with you, sees and interacts with "Applets".

"Project" - the primary working folder you (as an agent) work in. Managed by your harness; moi does not have a clear definition, but assumes this is the root folder in which it stores its state files.

"Chat" — a workspace is driven through agent conversations (this chat is one). Depending on your harness (Claude Code, openclaw, others differ in the details) there can be multiple chats, but they all share one workspace and one Project folder — the same filesystem, the same .moi folder, applets, config, and theme. Anything you build is visible to every chat, and another chat may have changed the workspace or the Project files since you last looked. Treat .moi and the Project folder as shared state, not yours alone. Internally, "chats" are sometimes aliased as "threads" — "chat" is product language, while "thread" is reserved for internal SDK, session, and persistence concepts.

"Applets" are standalone full-stack components that you write and maintain. They extend the Workspace UI.

"Applet Type" (one of)

• "Widgets" (live in the dashboard page)
• "Views" are custom full-size pages that user can switch between.

"Moi CLI" — the globally installed moi command that you use to build applets, customize, and send events to "Workspace".

Where moi lives in filesystem

Source of truth - .moi folder in the root of "Project" folder. Contains source code of all Applets, bundled code, settings, etc. Can be committed to version control. Folder is partially initialised when Workspace starts, you have full ownership of it.

You do have access to the files in the root of Project — you can reference and load them from the "Applets" and elsewhere.

Folder structure:

my-agent-folder/
  .moi/
    widgets/                  <- source code of Widget React components
      total-users.tsx
      rps-chart.tsx
      _utils.tsx              <- `_`-prefixed files are shared code, not applets (optional)
      server-metrics.server.ts <- Server-side async functions the widget can call (optional)
      ...
    views/
      users.tsx
      crm.tsx
      users-api.server.ts     <- Server-side async functions the view can call (optional)
      ...
    package.json              <- Applet dependencies that you manage
    .workspace.json           <- Auto-generated. Do NOT read, edit, or `cat` this file. Use Moi CLI instead.
    .scratchpad.json          <- Scratchpad canvas snapshot. Internal — inspect only via `moi scratch read`, never open it.
    .scratchpad/              <- Scratchpad image files. Internal — pull pixels via `moi scratch read-image`, never open it.

Every dot-prefixed file or folder inside .moi/ (.build/, .cache/, .workspace.json, .scratchpad*, .gitignore, …) is a moi internal: auto-generated and liable to change format without notice. Avoid them as much as possible — do not read, edit, or delete them, and never point tooling at them; go through the moi CLI instead. Version control needs no special handling: the scaffolded .moi/.gitignore already excludes the machine-local entries (.build/, .cache/, node_modules/), while .workspace.json and .scratchpad.json are workspace state that ships with the repo — commit them as-is, just never hand-edit them. Your surface is the non-dot files: widgets/, views/, package.json, and code you place under .moi/ yourself.

Build environment

• Bun is the required dependency of moi, so it must be installed
• For package management always use bun
• package.json is scaffolded during init. You are free to install/remove/do whatever with packages.
• if packages aren't installed, it's your responsibility to call bun install
• react and react-dom are stubs — they're provided by moi at runtime via the browser importmap. They're listed only so editors pick up the correct types.
• moi bundle runs Bun's bundler, so standard Bun imports, loaders, and tricks apply (JSON, text, etc.) — see the Bun docs. Only the moi-specific imports (covered under Developing Applets) differ.

moi CLI

Treat moi as an external command — you cannot inspect or modify its sources. Use only the documented subcommands (moi bundle, moi bundle --force, etc.). Call moi help for documentation. Run all moi commands from the project root — the folder that contains .moi/, never from inside .moi/ itself. You don't pass paths; moi resolves the workspace from where it's run.

• moi bundle — compile changed applets
• moi bundle --force — rebuild all applets (use after changing config)
• moi refresh — re-fetch widget and view data without rebuilding (use after you mutated data the applets read — DB rows, files, external API records — so the displayed values catch up); --only widgets / --only views narrows the refresh to one kind
• moi call-server-fn <module>/<fn> '[args]' — invoke a .server.ts function directly (smoke test)
• moi tabs — list the workspace's tabs, their ids and the default tab
• moi tab focus <tab-id> [--params '<json-object>'] — switch to a tab, with optional params for the target view (see Driving the workspace)
• moi debug logs — applet runtime errors on record (experimental)
• moi theme --font=<key> — change font theme (omit --font to list options)
• moi theme --color=<key> — change color preset (omit --color to list options)
• moi theme --radius=<key> — change corner-radius preset (omit --radius to list options)
• moi config — set the workspace name & icon (moi config --help for usage)
• moi env — list available env keys and where they come from (never values); moi env exec -- <cmd> runs a command with the workspace env (see Environment & secrets)
• moi skill — show installed vs bundled skill versions; moi skill update to refresh

For more options, commands, use moi help.

Critical constraints when interacting with moi

• Never read or modify files outside the .moi directory, unless the user explicitly asks. If you do need it -> ask for permission.
• Do not start, stop, or inspect the Workspace web server — it is managed externally.

Developing Applets

Every applet — a Widget or a View — is a default-exported React component in .moi/<type>/<name>.tsx, optionally paired with a <name>.server.ts. moi bundle compiles each into a live module the browser loads (edits hot-reload). Read references/DESIGN.md first. Write normal React + Tailwind — below is only what's moi-specific.

Anatomy

// .moi/widgets/hello.tsx
import { useEffect, useState } from 'react'
import { getGreeting } from './hello.server' // optional server fn — see below

// Optional config — fields are per type (see Widgets / Views below). requiredEnv is shared.
export const config = { requiredEnv: ['API_KEY'] }

export default function Hello() {
  const [msg, setMsg] = useState('')
  useEffect(() => {
    getGreeting().then(setMsg) // call server fns like any async function
  }, [])
  return <div className="h-full w-full p-4">{msg}</div>
}

Imports resolve relatively (same folder, or elsewhere under .moi/ — e.g. ../lib/format) or from .moi/package.json deps — no @/ aliases. Files starting with _ (e.g. _utils.tsx) in widgets/ and views/ are never applet entry points — put code shared between applets there. moi bundle tracks these local imports: editing a shared module rebuilds every applet using it.

Applet styling

• Use Tailwind for static styling. Do not add custom CSS, @apply, or static style={{}} values.
• Use style={{}} only for computed data such as chart geometry, progress, per-item delays, or per-frame transforms.
• Use icons from @tabler/icons-react. Do not add raw SVG icons or another icon pack. When the project provides .agents/rules/icons.md, follow its size and stroke policy.
• Applets cannot import the host project's cn. If .moi/ui/utils.ts exists, import cn from ../ui/utils; otherwise use a local cx() when classes are conditional. Never build class names with template-literal ternaries.

function cx(...classes: (string | false | undefined | null)[]) {
  return classes.filter(Boolean).join(' ')
}

Standard UI components

Use bundled components for standard controls. Read the shared usage rules before composing them.

• moi ui-components lists available components and recipes with installed state.
• moi ui-components docs <name…> prints bundled usage docs. Read them before using an unfamiliar component or when its API may have changed.
• moi ui-components add <name…> --install copies source into .moi/ui/ and installs npm dependencies. Pass all needed names in one call.
• Import relatively, e.g. import { Button } from '../ui/button', then run moi bundle after editing applets.

Reuse familiar installed components without rereading their catalog entries, docs, or source. Inspect source only for local customizations, doc conflicts, or concrete build issues.

Server functions — <name>.server.ts

Export named async functions (only — no const, sync, or class) and call them from the component like ordinary async functions; arguments and return values are auto-serialized (Date, Map, Set, … work). They run on the Bun server with process.env and full filesystem access, at cwd = <workspace root> (the parent of .moi/, where you operate) — so workspace files are plain relative paths:

// hello.server.ts — read files, call APIs, query DBs…
export async function getGreeting(): Promise<string> {
  return (await Bun.file('./notes.md').text()).split('\n')[0]
}

The component fetches on mount; after you change underlying data a server fn reads, run moi refresh to re-pull it without a rebuild.

It's plain Bun — every Bun API is available with no setup: bun:sqlite, Bun.redis, Bun.s3, Bun.file, fetch, …

Workspace files & assets

• Bundled asset — import logo from './logo.png' resolves to a URL at build time (images & fonts: png jpg gif svg webp avif ico woff woff2 ttf otf). For small art shipped beside the .tsx.

• Workspace file — stream a file from the workspace via fileUrl from the moi package:

  import { fileUrl } from 'moi'
  ;<video src={fileUrl('clips/intro.mp4')} controls />
  

  fileUrl(path) maps a workspace-root-relative path to a streaming URL (HTTP range — media seeks, nothing is base64-inlined). Media/asset extensions only; .env, source, JSON and dotfiles are rejected. The path is plain data, so a .server.ts can return it and the component renders fileUrl(clip.file).

Rule of thumb: small own art → import; structured data → .server.ts returns it; large/streamable media → .server.ts returns the path, render with fileUrl().

Driving the workspace — focusTab & sendChatMessage

An applet can move the user to another tab and talk to you, through two functions from the moi package.

import { focusTab, sendChatMessage } from 'moi'

// A widget row drilling into a view, and a button that asks you to do something.
focusTab('view:orders', { order: 'o-1024' })
sendChatMessage('Chase order o-1024', { order: 'o-1024', carrier: 'dhl' })

• focusTab(tab, params?) switches the workspace to a tab. Tab ids are agent, widgets, scratchpad, and view:<id> — run moi tabs for the real list. params arrive as the target view's params prop.
• sendChatMessage(message, context?) sends message to the active chat as if the user typed it. context is structured data you see and the user does not. Call it from event handlers, never during render. Context can contain additional instructions not visible to the user, describing how the task should be done.
• params and context accept JSON serializable values only.

Params: the type is the contract

A view with addressable state declares a local Params type in its own file. Every field is optional and carries a comment, because the view must render sensibly with {} — a fresh mount, a plain tab-bar click, or a new browser tab all deliver nothing.

// .moi/views/orders.tsx
// The view's addressable state — what `focusTab('view:orders', …)` can set.
type Params = {
  // Order id to open in the detail pane; omit to show the list.
  order?: string
}

export default function Orders({ params = {} }: { params?: Params }) {
  // Values arrive from navigation state, so narrow before trusting them.
  const openOrder = typeof params.order === 'string' ? params.order : null
  …
}

Applets never import from each other, not even types. Before wiring a focusTab call, read the target view's source, mirror the shape you find there, and note where you read it. That file is the contract; the type is documentation, not a shared module. Widgets are never navigation targets — their params is always {}.

Environment & secrets

Each workspace has an effective env: keys from the project's .env / .env.local (when inheritance is enabled in settings) plus custom secrets the user manages in the workspace env settings. moi injects this env into:

• applet server functions — read it as process.env inside .server.ts
• any command run via moi env exec -- <cmd>
• your own shell (Bash tool) — but only in some harnesses (e.g. Claude Code). Don't assume it: verify the key is visible first, or just use moi env exec, which works everywhere.

Rules:

• Check before you assume. When a task needs a key or token — an API pull, a widget calling a service — run moi env first. It lists key names with their source (.env / custom) and flags declared requiredEnv keys that are missing. Values are never shown.
• Key present → say which key you'll use and where it's from ("using NOTION_TOKEN from .env") and proceed. To run a script or one-off command with the workspace env, use moi env exec -- bun script.ts — it also picks up values changed after your session started.
• Key missing → never invent or hardcode a value, and don't edit .env yourself. Tell the user the exact key name to add in the workspace env settings. Still build and wire the applet: declare the key in config.requiredEnv and handle its absence, so it works the moment the user sets it. If the user pastes a value in chat, store it with moi env set KEY=value (moi env unset KEY removes it).
• Never print secret values — not in chat, not in logs. Refer to keys by name only.

process.env is readable only inside .server.ts (the .tsx runs in the browser) — keep API keys there. Either source may be absent, so always handle a missing key. List expected keys in config.requiredEnv — advisory only (it surfaces a hint in the UI and moi env; it's never enforced).

// forecast.server.ts
export async function getForecast(city: string) {
  const key = process.env.WEATHER_API_KEY // always current — env changes respawn the worker
  if (!key) return { error: 'Add WEATHER_API_KEY to your env' }
  const res = await fetch(`https://api.example.com/forecast?city=${encodeURIComponent(city)}`, {
    headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${key}` }
  })
  if (!res.ok) return { error: `Weather API error ${res.status}` }
  return { data: await res.json() }
}

Widgets

Live cards on the dashboard grid — many visible at once. config sets the grid footprint:

export const config = {
  colSpan: 2, // columns the card spans — 1–4
  rowSpan: 1, // rows the card spans — 1–4
  requiredEnv: ['API_KEY'] // optional env-key hints (advisory; see Environment & secrets)
} as const

Render content only: a plain h-full w-full region with no card chrome (rounded-*, shadow-*, or outer border) — the dashboard owns the shell, spacing, and elevation. It does not own the fill, so the widget must set its own opaque background. Changing colSpan/rowSpan needs moi bundle --force. See references/DESIGN.md.

Typical loop: check/bun install deps → write the applet → moi bundle → run any checks. After the final successful bundle and any checks, always make tab focus the final workspace action:

• After building or editing a widget, run moi tab focus widgets.
• After building or editing a view, run moi tab focus view:<view-id>, using its file name or claimed builder id.

The focused applet is the handoff. Keep the final reply brief and user-facing. Do not include file or storage links, file paths, or bundle, test, and runtime-log summaries.

Debugging applets

moi bundle only proves an applet compiles — it can still fail to load in the browser, crash on render, or throw in its server functions. Two feedback channels exist for what happens after the build; reach for them when they'd help (smoke-testing something new, or investigating a problem):

• moi call-server-fn widgets/hello/getGreeting / moi call-server-fn views/crm/searchUsers '["ann", 10]' — run one .server.ts function directly (args are one JSON array). Each invocation runs in a fresh, isolated one-shot process with the same env, module loading, and timeout as the browser's calls, so a pass means the real path works — handy for trying a function without touching the UI. Server functions only; for arbitrary scripts use moi env exec.
• moi debug logs — the applet errors the workspace has seen since each applet's last good build: browser-side load failures and render crashes, plus server-function (rpc) errors. The user's tab reports these automatically, so when the user says something is broken, what happened is usually already on record — a good first place to look. Entries clear when their applet next builds successfully. (moi debug is an experimental command group — expect its output and flags to evolve; use --json when you need to parse it.)

moi bundle's footer also mentions when runtime errors are on record, so standing breakage surfaces on its own.

Views

Full-screen apps, one per nav tab — the user switches tabs. A view has no router of its own, but it can be addressed: see Driving the workspace for focusTab and the params prop.

View builder requests

When the message's hidden <moi-context> envelope is marked View builder request, this chat is linked to a pending view tab. Before reading files, planning, or writing code, infer a short stable id, a clear sentence-case title, and a relevant icon from the requirements. Capitalize only the first word of the title. Your first action must claim them:

moi builder set <view-id> --builder <builder-id> --kind view --title "<title>" --icon <icon-id>

Choose the icon id from the available view icons in the hidden context. The id must use lowercase letters, numbers, _, or -. The first call locks the id; running the same command again may update its title and icon. After claiming, write .moi/views/<view-id>.tsx, use the same icon id in its config, and build it with moi bundle --only views. The tab uses the claimed title and icon while you work and changes into the built view after a successful bundle. (Bundling marks the view ready; the build state is otherwise server-managed, so you never set it to done by hand.)

export const config = {
  title: 'Customer overview', // sentence-case nav label — defaults to the file name
  icon: 'user', // icon id from the view-builder request
  requiredEnv: ['CRM_API_KEY'] // optional env-key hints (advisory; see Environment & secrets)
} as const

The inverse of a widget: a view owns its whole page — its own h-full w-full layout, scrolling (overflow-auto), padding, and chrome. Build it to read like an app screen. See references/DESIGN.md.

Keeping this skill current

This skill is installed with moi (via the CLI or the UI) and can fall behind when the moi CLI updates.

• You'll know — moi commands warn you when this skill is behind.
• To update — run moi skill update. Never mid-task: finish first, or do it at the end.
• Re-read after updating — moi skill update rewrites SKILL.md and everything in references/ on disk, so the copy already in your context is stale. Re-read this SKILL.md before you rely on it again — don't act on the old version.
• Then — if you updated, mention it.