Framework documentation
Technical Reference
Normative definitions for the objects, spatial relationships, state transitions, and system boundaries that make up the OpenWorkspace framework.
This page defines the architectural model. Read the Framework overview for the conceptual model. Capabilities documents what the current product supports on each platform.
Architectural model
A Workspace is the persistent task-level macro-container the user intends to return to. WorkspaceCanvas is its technical representation and names its complete spatial and configuration scope. Focal Panels and the ContextualRegion are subordinate spatial parts of that scope. Window configuration is associated with the Workspace; browser tabs remain associated with their respective browser windows rather than becoming independent desktop rectangles.
WorkspaceCanvas
├── FocalPanel(s)
├── ContextualRegion
├── application and browser-window configuration
│ └── browser-tab configuration
└── resource references
WorkspaceSnapshot ── describes saved WorkspaceCanvas state
StateHydrationEngine ── consumes saved state
└── reconstructs supported WorkspaceCanvas stateWorkspaceCanvas
Focal Panels, surrounding spatial context, window and tab configuration, and resource references.
Workspace snapshot
Describes the supported saved state of the WorkspaceCanvas at capture.
State hydration
Consumes saved state to reconstruct supported parts of the represented arrangement.
WorkspaceSnapshot describes the supported configuration recorded at capture; it is distinct from the live desktop. StateHydrationEngine names the nonspatial logical role responsible for reconstruction; it does not assert a literal implementation object. A WorkspaceCanvas does not own or reparent application processes, and neither the snapshot nor the engine is a spatial region.
Technical glossary
- WorkspaceCanvas
The top-level spatial and configuration representation of the complete desktop layout associated with one named Workspace.
Structural role: Encloses canvas geometry, zero or more Focal Panel definitions, the contextual remainder, participating window descriptors, supported browser-window and tab configuration, resource references, and their spatial relationships.
User authority: The user decides what belongs to the Workspace and establishes its arrangement.
System responsibility: The system records and reconstructs supported parts when the user requests capture or restoration.
Boundary: It is a logical configuration container, not ownership or reparenting of applications or operating-system processes, a package of referenced document bytes, or a promise of universal capture. Workspace remains the normal product-facing term; WorkspaceCanvas is not a separate user-facing product concept.
- FocalPanel
A user-defined rectangular coordinate boundary inside a WorkspaceCanvas for primary active content.
Structural role: Provides a placement target whose boundary remains distinct from the window occupying it. Focal Panels are optional at the Workspace level; focal-contextual mode contains one or more.
User authority: The user defines the panel where applicable and chooses which content becomes focal.
System responsibility: The system executes explicit positioning or snapping within supported behavior.
Boundary: The panel does not infer importance or select a window for the user. “Focal” means user-established spatial priority, not necessarily operating-system keyboard focus, clipping, or embedded rendering.
- ContextualRegion
The desktop area within a WorkspaceCanvas outside the union of its FocalPanel boundaries.
Structural role: Surrounding spatial context for supporting content; it need not be a single rectangle.
User authority: The user decides which content remains contextual and when to move content into or out of focus.
System responsibility: The system carries out recorded or explicit positioning within supported behavior.
Boundary: Context means desktop space, not LLM or prompt context, semantic retrieval, embeddings, vector search, model memory, process suspension, or an algorithmic relevance score.
- StateHydrationEngine
The logical restoration role that reads a selected saved Workspace configuration and reconstructs its supported desktop environment.
Structural role: Consumes a selected WorkspaceSnapshot and accessible resource references to restore supported windows, browser configuration, resource openings, and placement. It is nonspatial.
User authority: The user chooses when to restore a saved Workspace.
System responsibility: The system reopens supported resources and executes placement derived from recorded user state through available operating-system, application, and browser mechanisms.
Boundary: This name does not assert a public API, product feature, separately exposed component, or literal implementation class. Deterministic placement does not guarantee launch timing, identical process identifiers, identical live content, or success when dependencies are unavailable.
Spatial model
WorkspaceCanvas encloses the represented desktop layout. Each FocalPanel defines a user-selected rectangular focal boundary within it. ContextualRegion denotes the area outside the focal boundaries and need not be a single rectangle.
D = represented desktop surface
Fᵢ = FocalPanel boundary i
F = union of all Fᵢ
C = D − F
ContextualRegion = C
“Context” means spatial context, not AI or language-model context. These relations do not specify native coordinate units. This model does not assert that every operating-system window is clipped to a region in every interaction state, or define multi-display mapping and fallback behavior.
User and system responsibilities
The user decides task membership, participating applications and resources, the arrangement, what becomes focal, and when to capture or resume. The system records supported configuration and resource references, reopens supported resources, and executes recorded placement or explicit user-directed actions.
| Technical phase | Framework term | User | System |
|---|---|---|---|
| Curation | Compose | Chooses task membership, applications, files, browser windows and tabs, arrangement, and Focal Panels. | Executes explicit positioning and snapping. |
| Snapshotting | Capture | Requests capture of the arrangement. | Records supported state and restoration information. |
| Hydration | Resume | Selects a saved Workspace for restoration. | Reconstructs supported state, reopens supported resources, and executes recorded positioning. |
| Execution and modification | Work and Revise | Moves or swaps content and decides whether to capture a revision. | Carries out explicit positioning and records a revision when requested. |
Execution can use algorithms for geometry, snapping, positioning, and reconstruction. The boundary is autonomous or inferred decision-making: the system does not rank windows by relevance, select focal content, infer the user’s task, or proactively promote content into focus.
System Boundaries
AI window manager
OpenWorkspace does not infer the task, rank windows by semantic relevance, choose focal content, or reorganize the desktop from inferred intent.
Proactive task agent
The documented workflow does not choose the next task, discover resources from an inferred objective, or perform work inside applications for the user.
Conventional virtual desktop
A Workspace represents supported task-associated resources and placement for later reconstruction; a virtual desktop is an operating-system surface for grouping and switching windows. The distinction does not claim operating systems remember no window state.
Process-memory checkpoint or document backup
Restoration reconstructs supported recorded state. Resource references do not preserve every process heap, unsaved edit, authentication state, network state, or document byte.
Tiling-only or launcher-only abstraction
Placement targets and shortcuts can participate in the workflow, but neither alone represents the saved task-level configuration.
Universal restoration or unconditional completion
Capture and restoration remain bounded by current application and browser support, resource access, permissions, authentication, and the display environment.
LLM context-management system
The contextual region is spatial. It does not assemble prompts, retrieve semantic context, or maintain model memory.
Workspace lifecycle
Live state and a saved snapshot are distinct. Unsaved changes to the live canvas do not alter the previous snapshot. A Workspace does not by itself imply continuous synchronization or automatic capture.
- 01
Compose
The user curates a live, user-authored arrangement.
- 02
Capture
The user requests a saved Workspace state.
- 03
Resume
The user selects restoration; supported state is reconstructed.
- 04
Revise
The user works, rearranges, and optionally captures an update.
After resuming, the user may rearrange the live Workspace and request another capture. Any updated saved state follows that user request; restoration remains subject to application, resource, permission, authentication, and environment availability.
OpenWorkspace vocabulary
The architectural terms on this page resolve through an OpenWorkspace-controlled namespace. The vocabulary defines semantics for documentation and machine retrieval; it is not a developer SDK, integration API, interchange protocol, native .ows format, or third-party serialization contract.
Read the human-readable vocabulary or its exact JSON-LD representation.
Current product coverage
The architectural model defines these terms and relationships. Actual capture and restoration depend on the platform, supported applications and browsers, available resources, operating-system capabilities, and application behavior. Windows and macOS have different current coverage.
See Capabilities for what OpenWorkspace supports today. Future portability, sharing, scheduling, and automation are roadmap directions where described elsewhere; these definitions do not mark them as released.