> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://podium.do/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Understand repositories, worktrees, and machines

> See where files live and how Podium isolates concurrent agent work.

Podium always runs an agent against files on one machine. Repository placement and worktree isolation determine which files that agent can change.

## A repository is registered per machine

Register a local Git repository in Podium before starting work. Each paired machine reports its own repositories. A repository available on your laptop does not automatically exist on a remote machine.

If a registered repository has a cloneable origin, Podium can clone it into `~/podium-repos` on a selected machine. Provision local-only repositories yourself.

## A worktree isolates issue-backed changes

An issue can own a Git branch and linked worktree. Two issues can then change the same repository without sharing one checkout.

The worktree is still ordinary Git state. Podium will not resolve branch conflicts or decide when overlapping changes are safe to merge.

## A machine supplies compute and credentials

A machine is a host running a Podium daemon. Its record includes reachability, repository inventory, installed harnesses, harness login state, and permission scope.

A machine can run work only when all of these conditions hold:

* Its Podium daemon is online
* You have permission to use it
* The selected harness is installed and logged in
* The repository is present or can be cloned

Check placement before starting work:

```bash theme={"system"}
podium machine list
podium machine show your_machine_name
```

## "Workspace" has three meanings

Podium currently uses workspace for three separate concepts:

* The web workspace is the multi-pane interface for sessions, issues, and files
* A hosted workspace is a tenant and routing boundary in hosted code
* `podium workspace fetch` exposes another agent's current files for inspection

On the same machine, `podium workspace fetch` returns the source worktree path. Treat that path as inspect-only, but be aware that it is the agent's live, writable worktree. Across machines, the command captures the source's committed, dirty, and untracked state at fetch time in a detached, read-only snapshot. That snapshot does not update; fetch again for newer state, and run `podium workspace clean` to remove materialized cross-machine snapshots.