A work folder in Treasure AI Studio is a workspace that groups related chats around a shared file space, with a standing set of instructions the AI follows in every chat started inside it. Without one, you re-explain your conventions in every new chat, and the files the AI produces stay buried in the single conversation that made them. One of your work folders is your default, and it comes preselected as the destination for your next chat.
- Signed in to Treasure AI Studio (Getting Started)
A work folder in Treasure AI Studio holds two settings and one shared file space. You set the two fields when you create the folder, and can change them later in the Work folder settings dialog, which you open from the folder's ⋯ menu.
| Field | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Name | Identifies the work folder in the sidebar, on the work folder page, and in the destination picker. You can rename it at any time. |
| Instruction | Standing guidance the AI follows in every chat in this work folder — a preferred database, coding conventions, output formats. Studio saves it as a CLAUDE.md file inside the work folder and applies it as the agent's instructions. |
Example: A "CDP Ops" work folder might carry the instruction "Always validate YAML before pushing. Use the marketing database by default. Format SQL with CTEs."
Every chat inside a work folder reads and writes the same files, so the reports, datasets, and images produced across many conversations accumulate in one place. You can browse and organize those files without opening a chat — see Organizing Files in a Work Folder.
Work folder instructions apply only within their work folder. For guidance that should apply to every chat across your organization, an account administrator can set Custom Instructions, which are appended to the system prompt of every conversation.
In Treasure AI Studio, a chat is saved in one work folder, but the AI is not confined to it: in every chat, the AI can read and write files in all of your work folders. Cross-folder tasks — comparing datasets kept in different folders, consolidating reports, drawing on reference data you keep in one place — happen in a single conversation, without re-uploading files or copying them between folders.
To point the AI at a file in another folder, name the folder and file in your message ("compare this with the Q3 report in my CDP Ops folder"), or — on Web and Desktop — drag the file from the sidebar file tree into the composer, which inserts the file's path (~/work/{dirname}/… for a file in another folder) so there is no ambiguity about which file you mean. Files the AI creates still land in the chat's own work folder unless you ask for another destination.
On Web and Desktop, you can also open a file from a different folder while working in a chat: its tab in the file panel is labeled with the folder it comes from, so you always know where a file lives. See The File Viewer Panel.
Only your current work folders are reachable — a deleted work folder and its files are not available to any chat.
Inside the chat's server-side sandbox, each work folder is available at ~/work/{dirname} (/home/agent/work/{dirname}), and a generated ~/work/CLAUDE.md file lists your folders by name and path so the agent can locate them. A chat's working directory starts in its own work folder; a chat without a folder starts in its private file space (/home/agent/chats/{chatId}).
Your default work folder is the folder that comes preselected as the destination for a new chat. Treasure AI Studio sets one up for you, named General, so you can start working without creating or choosing anything first.
On Web and Desktop, the default work folder is pinned to the top of the Work Folders section in the sidebar, ahead of the other folders. It carries a folder-with-checkmark icon and a Default badge, and hovering its name shows the hint "Default folder — new chats are saved here".
Being the default changes three things about a folder:
- It is preselected as the destination for a new chat, so that is where the chat is saved unless you pick another folder before sending.
- It appears first in the sidebar and first in the destination picker.
- It cannot be deleted while it is the default. See Changing Your Default Work Folder.
On Web and Desktop, a chat you start is saved in a work folder, and which folder depends on where you started it.
| Where You Start | Where the Chat Is Saved |
|---|---|
| New Chat at the top of the sidebar | Your default work folder. Change the destination from the composer before you send your first message. |
| The + button on a work folder row in the sidebar | That work folder. |
| New chat on a work folder page | That work folder. |
| Ask AI (✨) on a file or folder | The work folder that contains the file, with its path prefilled in the composer. |
The welcome screen's composer shows a work folder chip next to the model selector, naming the folder the chat will be saved to. Click it to open the Choose a Work Folder picker: your default folder sits at the top, marked with the folder-with-checkmark icon, and the rest follow in name order. Scroll the list to load more folders if you have many.
Picking a folder applies to that chat only — it does not change your default. Once the chat exists its folder is fixed, which is why the in-chat composer has no destination chip; the breadcrumb shows which folder the chat belongs to.
You change your default work folder from the ⋯ menu on any work folder — either the folder's row in the sidebar or the ⋯ menu on the folder page — by selecting Set as default. The option is hidden on the folder that is already your default.
Changing the default affects new chats only. Existing chats stay in the folders they were created in; nothing moves.
Studio does not let you delete your default work folder. Delete stays disabled on it, with the hint "Set another folder as default before deleting this one" — make another folder the default first, then delete the one you no longer need.
A chat without a work folder is one that was never attached to a folder, and Treasure AI Studio marks it Legacy in the sidebar's Recent Chats list. These chats open, search, and continue exactly like any other chat. What they lack is a shared file space: their files live with the chat rather than in a folder, so they do not appear in the sidebar file tree or on a work folder page. Your work folders are still within reach, though — the AI in a folderless chat can read and write them like any other chat (Working Across Work Folders).
They come from two places:
- Chats from the earlier model. Before a work folder became the home for every new chat on Web and Desktop, a chat could stand on its own. Those chats are still here and still usable — nothing was migrated or removed.
- Chats started from the Mobile home screen. On Mobile (iOS), work folders are labeled Projects: a chat you start from inside a project belongs to that project, but a chat started from the home screen is not attached to any folder.
You may also see one if no default work folder was set on your account at the time the chat was started.
All chats — with or without a folder — are removed when they pass your organization's chat retention period. A work folder's files are not: they outlive the chats that created them.
The Work Folders section of the sidebar lists your folders with a count in parentheses (for example, "Work Folders (3)"), the default pinned first and the rest in name order. Click the plus icon next to the header to open the New work folder dialog, which asks for a Name and an optional Instruction.
The section starts collapsed and opens itself when you move to a different folder — by opening a chat that lives there, or by opening the folder's page. Studio also briefly tints the folder's row each time you open one of its chats, so you can see at a glance which folder the conversation belongs to. If you collapse the section yourself, it stays collapsed until the active folder changes again.
Expand a work folder row to see what it contains: a Chats pill listing that folder's own conversations, and the folder's file tree. Clicking a directory row anywhere along the row expands or collapses it; clicking a file opens it in a viewer.
On Mobile, work folders are labeled Projects and appear in a collapsible Projects section on the home screen, each row showing its chat count. Tap a project to view its chats. Mobile has no default work folder and no destination picker.
Work folders are stored server-side and sync across all your platforms. A work folder created on Web is immediately available on Desktop and Mobile.
Can I move a chat to a different work folder? No. A chat's work folder is set when the chat is created and cannot be changed afterward. Files are not tied down the same way: drag a file onto another work folder in the sidebar to move it there, or leave it where it is and ask the AI to use it — every chat can read all of your work folders. See Organizing Files in a Work Folder.
Can the AI use files from a work folder other than the chat's? Yes. Every chat — including one without a work folder — has access to all of your work folders. Name the folder and file in your message, or drag the file from the sidebar file tree into the composer to insert its path. See Working Across Work Folders.
Does changing my default work folder move my existing chats? No. Changing the default only affects where new chats are saved. Every existing chat stays in the folder it was created in.
Why can't I delete my default work folder? Because new chats need a destination. Studio disables Delete on the default folder rather than letting the request fail — set another folder as the default first, then delete the original.
Does anything carry over from one chat to the next? Of what the AI wrote while working: only what lives in the work folder — its files, its CLAUDE.md instruction, and the skills defined in that work folder. Each chat otherwise runs in its own environment, so a package the AI installed in one chat is not there in the next one. Your account-level settings are unaffected and apply to every chat, including enabled plugins, Custom Instructions, and connections. See What Persists After a Chat Ends.
Do my work folders and their instructions sync across devices? Yes. Work folders, their instructions, and their files are stored server-side, so a folder you create on Web is available on Desktop and Mobile with the same contents.
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| A chat was saved to an unexpected work folder | The destination is the folder named on the composer chip when you send your first message, which defaults to your default work folder. Check the chip before sending; a chat cannot be moved afterward |
| The default work folder is not at the top of the list | While a sidebar search filter is active, the default folder is not pinned — it appears among the matches in name order, still marked Default. Clear the search to restore the pin |
| Set as default is missing from a folder's ⋯ menu | That folder is already your default work folder |
| A work folder page says "This work folder has been archived. Its files are no longer available." | The folder was deleted, and you reached its page from an old link or bookmark. A deleted folder's files cannot be reopened |
| Cannot create a new work folder | Verify you have an active Treasure AI account with AI Studio access. On Mobile, work folders (Projects) are created on Web or Desktop |
Getting Reliable Answers — What belongs in a folder's instructions, and what belongs in a skill instead
Core Concepts — Work folders alongside model tiers, credits, and the context window
Actions — Save a recurring workflow in a work folder and rerun it on demand
Action Schedules — Run a folder's action on a repeating cadence
Organizing Files in a Work Folder — Browse, upload, move, and download a folder's files
Chat History — How Recent Chats groups conversations across all your work folders
Custom Instructions — Organization-wide guidance that applies on top of work folder instructions