Operate and Build
Every Project has two lenses. Operate is for working the Project, Build is for changing it. Switch between them from the header, and the sidebar changes to match.
Audience: all personas
Why there are two lenses
The same Project serves two people asking different questions.
Someone operating the Project wants the short list of views that answer their question, and the work waiting for them. Someone building it wants the tree of everything the Project is made of: files, Workflows, Skills, data sources.
Showing both at once turns the sidebar into a menu of menus. So the mode decides, and only one is offered at a time.
The switch
The Operate and Build control sits in the Project header, beside the Project settings. Both segments are always visible, with the current one lit, so you can see where you are and where you can go without a label having to explain itself.
| Operate | Build | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is for | The views and work this Project produces | Everything the Project is made of |
| Sidebar offers | Views and Work items | Context and Work items |
| Who reaches for it | Business users working the Project | Builders shaping the Project |
A segment can carry a count. A number on the mode you are not in is telling you what is waiting there.
Work items appear in both. The Work items rail is not tied to a mode: whoever is looking at the Project can see what it has produced. Only the Context and Views rails swap.
What changes when you switch
In Build, the sidebar shows the Context tree: Automations, Files, Instructions, Email templates, Data, Knowledge, and Tools. This is where you author Instructions, add Workflows, attach data, and mount tools.
In Operate, the sidebar shows the Project's views: the built-in Project home, plus any custom views the Project authors. One view can be marked Home, and it is the one that opens by default.
What the mode is, and is not
The mode is a choice, not a permission. It is a lens anyone with access to the Project can flip, and it does not change what you are allowed to do.
It is remembered per Project in your browser, so one person can build one Project and operate another without fighting the switch. It is yours alone: changing it does not change what a teammate sees.
Build is the fallback. A Project you have never opened, or a browser that has forgotten the choice, opens in Build.
This will change. Operate and Build are heading toward roles: an operator will eventually not be able to switch into Build at all. Until then, treat the mode as a convenience rather than as a control you can rely on for governance. Access is governed by teams and permissions, not by the lens.