# Workspaces and projects

> What a workspace and a project each hold, what signup creates for you, how to switch between them, and how a connected assistant is bound to one project.

Source: https://orbitalaip.com/docs/getting-started/workspaces-and-projects

## Two levels

Orbital organises your work on two levels. A [workspace](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/glossary#workspace) is the account you share with other people. A [project](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/glossary#project) is where the work itself lives. One workspace can hold many projects, and every project belongs to exactly one workspace.

## What a workspace holds

The workspace is where people, money and connections live: members and their roles, billing (your plan, your credits and your usage), plugins (the external systems it has connected), apps, AI model settings and API keys. An app is installed for the workspace, then switched on per project.

## What a project holds

A project holds the work: strategies and their backtests, workflows, agents, dashboards and watchlists. The Library shows the project's documents plus any that are workspace-wide.

**Watchlists**, **Backtesting** and **Trade** sit in their own sidebar group, headed **Apps** when the sidebar is open. Each appears only in a project where that app is on.

A strategy, workflow, agent, dashboard or watchlist belongs to one project, so after a switch those lists show only that project's items. Chat is the exception: a thread starts in the project you are in, but your threads are listed for the whole workspace.

## What signup creates

When you [sign up](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/getting-started/sign-up), Orbital creates:

- a workspace named **Personal**, with you as its owner

- one project in it named **Investing**, with you as its project owner (accounts created before 21 August 2026 have it named **Primary**)

- the Watchlists and Backtesting apps, switched on in that project

- the Trade app, which Orbital sets up in that project shortly after sign-up

## Switch workspace or project

1. **Click your avatar**
   
   It sits at the foot of the sidebar and opens the avatar menu.

2. **Open the workspace row**
   
   It is at the top of the menu and shows the current workspace's name.

3. **Pick a workspace**
   
   Choose one under **Workspaces**; the current one is marked.

4. **Pick a project**
   
   When the workspace has more than one project, a **Projects** group appears below.

Switching workspace opens that workspace's default project. Orbital remembers the workspace and project you pick and reopens them next time.

## Create a workspace

1. **Open the workspace row**
   
   It is at the top of the avatar menu.

2. **Click Create workspace**
   
   

3. **Name it**
   
   Enter a **Workspace name** and click **Create**.

The new workspace starts on the Free plan, with its own project named **Investing** and you as its owner. Orbital does not switch you to it: pick it under **Workspaces** when you want to work there.

You can own up to two workspaces on the Free plan. **Personal** counts as one while it is on the Free plan; a workspace on a paid plan does not count. At that limit, **Create workspace** shows a lock and opens **Billing** with the plans instead.

## Create another project

In a workspace that already has more than one project, the **Projects** group also offers **Create project**. Enter a **Project name** and an optional **Description**, then click **Create**; Orbital switches you to the new project. The app offers no way to create a second project in a workspace that has only one.

## Members and roles

Every member of a workspace has a workspace role (Owner, Admin, Member or Viewer), and every member of a project has a project role (Project owner, Editor, Member or Viewer); [Members and roles](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/workspace-and-account/members-and-roles#workspace-roles) says what each allows. You are the owner of every workspace you create, and the project owner of its project.

## Settings

Settings opens from the avatar menu, and [How Settings is laid out](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/workspace-and-account/profile-and-sign-in#how-settings-is-laid-out) lists its pages and who sees each. Apps are switched on per project under **Settings** → **Apps**, as [Switch an app on or off in a project](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/workspace-and-account/apps#switch-an-app-on-or-off-in-a-project) shows.

## A connected assistant uses one project

When you [connect Claude](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/claude-and-chatgpt/connecting), the connection is bound to the workspace and project you approve, its tools reach only that project, and Backtesting must be on there; see [One workspace, one project](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/claude-and-chatgpt/connecting#one-workspace-one-project).