Guide

Workspace Management

Learn to organize multiple projects with Fabric workspaces for isolated, reproducible environments.

Beginner 8 min

What are Workspaces?

Workspaces are isolated project environments in Fabric. Each workspace has its own configuration, downloaded images, and run history. This keeps your projects organized and prevents conflicts between different analyses.

Creating Workspaces

Initialize a New Workspace

fabric workspace init forest-analysis

This creates:

  • A workspace entry in your Fabric configuration
  • A .fabricrc file for workspace-specific settings
  • Isolated storage for task outputs

Initialize with Options

fabric workspace init forest-analysis \
  --description "Q1 2026 forest health monitoring" \
  --region "eu-central-1"

Switching Workspaces

Set Active Workspace

fabric workspace use forest-analysis

All subsequent commands will run in this workspace context.

Check Current Workspace

fabric workspace current

Output:

Current workspace: forest-analysis
  Description: Q1 2026 forest health monitoring
  Created: 2026-01-10
  Last used: 2026-01-10

Listing Workspaces

View All Workspaces

fabric workspace list

Output:

WORKSPACE          STATUS    LAST USED
forest-analysis    active    2 minutes ago
urban-heat-map     -         3 days ago
water-quality      -         1 week ago

Detailed List

fabric workspace list --verbose

Workspace Configuration

Each workspace has a .fabricrc configuration file:

# .fabricrc
workspace:
    name: forest-analysis
    description: Q1 2026 forest health monitoring
    created: 2026-01-10

settings:
    defaultRegion: eu-central-1
    parallelTasks: 4
    disableTelemetry: false

cache:
    imageRetention: 7d
    outputRetention: 30d

Modify Settings

# Set a configuration value
fabric config set parallelTasks 8

# Get a configuration value
fabric config get parallelTasks

# List all settings
fabric config list

Managing Workspace Data

View Workspace Size

fabric workspace info forest-analysis

Output:

Workspace: forest-analysis
  Location: ~/.fabric/workspaces/forest-analysis
  Size: 2.3 GB
  Images: 5 (1.8 GB)
  Outputs: 12 runs (512 MB)
  Last run: 2026-01-10 14:32

Clean Workspace Cache

# Remove cached outputs older than 7 days
fabric workspace clean --older-than 7d

# Remove all cached outputs (keep images)
fabric workspace clean --outputs

# Remove everything including images
fabric workspace clean --all

Deleting Workspaces

Remove a Workspace

fabric workspace delete urban-heat-map

You'll be prompted for confirmation:

Delete workspace 'urban-heat-map'? This will remove:
  - 3 cached images (890 MB)
  - 8 run outputs (234 MB)
  - All configuration

Type 'urban-heat-map' to confirm:

Force Delete

fabric workspace delete urban-heat-map --force

Workspace Best Practices

1. One Workspace Per Project

Create separate workspaces for different analysis projects:

fabric workspace init amazon-deforestation-2026
fabric workspace init california-wildfire-risk
fabric workspace init coastal-erosion-study

2. Use Descriptive Names

Include the project scope in the name:

# Good
fabric workspace init black-forest-drought-q1-2026

# Less descriptive
fabric workspace init project1

3. Regular Cleanup

Clean old workspaces periodically:

# List workspaces not used in 30 days
fabric workspace list --unused 30d

# Delete old workspaces
fabric workspace delete old-project --force

4. Export Before Deleting

Save important results before cleaning:

# Export workspace outputs
fabric workspace export forest-analysis ./backups/

# Then safely delete
fabric workspace delete forest-analysis

Multi-User Workspaces

For team projects, use shared workspace configurations:

# Export workspace config
fabric workspace export-config > workspace-config.yaml

# Team member imports config
fabric workspace import-config workspace-config.yaml

Next Steps