BikubeGetting started
Your first workspace
From the first launch to a workspace with its first card running.
On this page
This page walks through the first launch of Bikube, creating a workspace for a project folder, and starting your first card. It takes a minute; everything here can be changed later.
First launch
The first time Bikube opens, before there is any workspace, it asks How do you want to see your session cards?
- Kanban: columns for each stage of the work. Drag cards between them as they move along.
- Grid: every card in one grid, latest first. Cards waiting for you come first.
Continue (or Esc) saves your pick as the default view for your workspaces, and Bikube never asks again. Each workspace can still have its own view, set in its Edit dialog, and you can change the default later under Default view in Settings, Appearance. See Views for what each view does.
Bikube then shows No workspaces yet with a Create workspace button.
Create a workspace
A workspace is a project folder with its own board. Open the Create workspace dialog from the empty screen, the + button at the top of the sidebar, or New workspace in the command palette.
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Location | This computer (the default) for a folder on this machine, or SSH for a folder on another machine. |
| Host | SSH only: the destination exactly as ssh takes it, such as me@devbox or an alias from ~/.ssh/config. See SSH workspaces. |
| Working directory | The project folder every new card starts in. Type a path or pick one with Browse…. A local folder must exist; a remote path is not checked. |
| Name | Defaults to the folder's name and follows it until you type your own. Each workspace needs a different name. |
| Logo | The badge shown on the workspace's sidebar row: None (the name's first letter) or one of 24 icons. |
| View | Default (follows Settings' Default view on each machine), Kanban or Grid. |
| Default for new cards | The agent the New card dialog preselects: Claude Code at first, or Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Pi or Custom…. See Agents & resume. |
| Worktree setup | Local workspaces only: a one-line command run in each new Own worktree card before its startup command, such as npm ci. Leave it empty for none. See Worktrees & git. |
Click Create. The new workspace opens and appears in the sidebar.
The default columns
A new workspace's board has four columns: Backlog, In Progress, Review and Done. They are only a starting point: rename, reorder, add and delete columns as your work needs (see Workspaces & columns).
Start your first card
- Click + New card at the bottom of a column, for example Backlog. The New card dialog opens and says which column it adds to.
- Type a Title for the task. Leave it empty and the card is called
Terminal 1(thenTerminal 2, and so on). - Optionally write a Description of the task: the agent is asked to read it when it starts (see Card descriptions).
- Check the Agent: it starts on the workspace's default. An agent whose command Bikube can't find on this computer is shown as
(not installed)and can't be picked. - Click Create, or press Enter in the Title field.
The card is added at the bottom of the column and opens at full size, which starts it: Bikube opens your login shell in the workspace folder and types the agent's command for you. From here you use the agent as you would in any terminal.
Go back to the board
Press ⇧⌘B / Ctrl+Shift+B (default shortcut) or click the workspace's name in the title bar (Back to the workspace). The card keeps running: going back never stops it. On the board it now shows Running, what its agent is doing, and the last line of its output. Click the card (or focus it and press Enter) to open it again.
To stop a card's process, use Close instead; see Cards.
Next steps
- Cards: everything a card shows and does.
- Activity & status: how Bikube tells you an agent needs you.
- The board command: let agents create and move cards.
Checked against Bikube 0.9.1