Branches & navigation

A branch is Newton’s name for a project. It keeps a team of bots, their workspaces and conversations, and the branch’s shared work together. A client project, a publication, a research topic, or a family plan can each have a branch. “Branch” here means a Newton workspace, not a Git branch.

Create a branch

1. Open All branches using the branch control at the top left.
2. Choose Create a branch, enter a name, and choose the provider for its guide.
3. Your new guide introduces itself. Tell it what the branch is for and the first outcome you want. The guide gets a produce avatar and name, which you can change.
4. Start on the blank Canvas or open any standard view. You do not need to select a set of Board pages during setup.

Move between places

The left sidebar belongs to the selected branch. Choose a teammate to open its conversation; use the nearby speech-bubble or CLI shortcut for that kind of interaction. The icons across the top lead back to the branch’s shared views.

Click the branch control to return to the branch cards. Hovering it reveals the branch switcher. Returning home or opening another view does not, by itself, stop a running bot. Learn what stays running.

Make it recognizable

Open Branch options → Branch settings to rename the branch and adjust its appearance. An image and a clear name help you recognize the right context before you send instructions. Renaming a branch does not move its bots’ workspace folders.

On All branches, reorder cards using their drag handles. Keyboard reordering supports arrow keys and Home/End; Escape cancels a move. A branch must be empty before Newton allows its removal.

Keep the boundaries clear

Bots belong to a branch and keep their own profiles, sessions, and working folders. Two branches can each have a bot named “Researcher.” A folder can still be shared outside Newton, and providers may use accounts or tools that span branches. Branch organization is not a filesystem security boundary.

Next: meet your bots or explore the Treehouse.