Creating a project, starting it, joining it and creating a terminal are separate operations. Browser terminals do not require SSH keys or Tailnet. A human project persists after an agent attempt ends; factory cleanup must never remove its accounts, tools or data.
Choose the repository
- Open Spaces in the bundled Forgejo and connect to Soda when prompted.
- With no projects, choose Create project. With existing projects, use the same action in Projects.
- Search the repositories you own on this Forgejo, select one and continue. Use Create a new repository for Forgejo's native creation page, then return to Spaces and search again. Repository creation does not create a project.
The repository's human owner creates and administers its project. Collaborator, organization/team or site-administrator access alone does not make a repository eligible for creation. Existing shared projects appear in Projects. An existing project is something to open or inspect, not a reason to provision another root.
You can clone other repositories, including external Git hosts, inside an existing project. Those checkouts do not change its owner or Soda identity. See Built-in Git.
Create the project
- Review the selected repository and available Project OS.
- Leave optional Network settings Off unless your operator has configured and authorized their use. No network enrollment is needed for a browser terminal.
- Choose Create project once and wait for its result.
- Inspect any incomplete or uncertain result before another action.
Change repository, Back and Cancel setup do not provision anything. They preserve active-flow choices; leaving or reloading never replays a mutation. Cancelling the view does not undo work already submitted.
Creation provisions a persistent Rocky Linux development system. It does not clone personal checkouts, join the creator or create a terminal. A recorded reservation is not necessarily a usable project. Successful provisioning may already leave the project running; do not issue another Start unnecessarily.
Join this project
If stopped, its project administrator can explicitly Start project. Other users must ask the administrator. Unavailable native state needs inspection, not replacement.
Choose Join project when the project is ready. This browser-only join creates your own project-local Linux account/home without SSH keys. Confirm the displayed account before creating a terminal. Everyone joins explicitly, including the creator. The repository owner receives project-local administration; ordinary members do not. Joining does not grant Git access or configure outbound Git credentials.
Open a terminal and work
Choose New terminal. Spaces uses a default name such as Terminal 1 in the
selected project; no layout or SSH configuration is required. Wait for connection,
then type in the terminal. Your home is personal and ~/shared points to shared files.
Clone into your home using your own Git credentials, then follow
Connect and develop.
Use Projects to switch context. Existing terminals keep their original project and account. Selecting a project does not move a shell into it. Re-entering Spaces can attach the same authorized terminal; it does not create a replacement.
- Hide terminal hides/detaches its view and preserves the process.
- End terminal requires confirmation and stops that named terminal.
- Splitting a pane changes layout, not shell count. Layout controls live in pane chrome and do not need to be used for a single terminal.
- Project settings separates Overview, Access and Network from terminal work. Stopping the whole project is a separate, explicit administrator operation.
Optional SSH or editor access
Use Access settings to manage public development SSH keys. Never supply a private key. Review/apply keys explicitly; changes to saved keys are not silently installed in existing accounts, and Git keys are not automatically development-access keys.
Use the displayed login and project IP, not a guessed DNS name or the appliance browser hostname. Your operator must provide the route. Verify the ordinary SSH host key using First connection. Tailnet reachability does not replace account or application authorization.
Incomplete or unavailable state
A failed or incomplete inventory is not proof that you have no projects. Retry the read, or reload when the page's account context has changed. Do not treat failed account provisioning as successful membership.
If a creation reply is lost, Spaces reads the original repository's state rather than automatically creating again. Use Refresh status to inspect remaining uncertainty. Preserve the project identity and non-secret diagnostic for your operator. Opening, refreshing, hiding or changing layout never requests a new root. Keep existing roots, accounts and data intact; see normal maintenance.