Cowork

Cowork lets you give Jan a task that takes more than a single response. Jan can break the task into steps, read and write files, run commands, and ask questions when it needs your input. You can review its progress and open the files it creates without leaving the conversation.

Starting a Session

1. Artifact card: Click the card to preview a generated file. Open opens it in an external application.
2. Session controls: Open Progress, Agent changes, Files, or model settings beside the message input.

Choosing a Working Folder

Click the folder control beside the message input, then Attach a folder. Choose the project directory in your system's folder picker.

1. Attach a folder: Give Jan access to the project you want it to work on.

Without an attached folder, generated files and scratch work stay in the session workspace. Attaching a folder lets Jan read and edit that project's files in place; it does not create a separate copy of the project. Describe which files Jan should work on, and review Agent changes afterward. Use Plan first if you want to review the proposed work before allowing edits.

Planning a Task

Click Plan beside the message input, or type /plan, to ask Jan to plan before making changes. In Plan mode, Jan can read files, search, and research, but cannot edit files or run shell commands.

Review the proposed steps and answer any questions. When Jan offers a plan, you can choose:

• Execute plan: Leave Plan mode and carry out the plan.
• Keep planning: Continue refining the plan.
• Exit plan mode: Return to normal execution without carrying out the plan.

1. Plan: Turn on planning before making changes.
2. Approval question: Answer Jan's questions to clarify the task before proceeding.

Reviewing Progress and Changes

Use the controls beside the message input to inspect a session. Panels open next to the conversation, so you can review the work while continuing to chat.

Progress

Click Progress, or type /todo, to open the task checklist. It shows the steps and statuses recorded by the agent.

1. Task checklist: Track planned, in-progress, and completed steps.

Agent Changes

Click Agent changes to review file changes. Expand a file to inspect its diff before accepting the result.

1. Changed file: Expand the file to inspect its changes.
2. Added lines: Green + markers and line numbers identify additions.

Files

Click Files to find documents attached to the session and files generated by the agent. Select a file to open its preview.

1. Session file: Select dashboard.html to preview the generated dashboard.

Previewing Files

Click an artifact card or select a file from Files to preview it beside the conversation. Use Reload after the file changes. Jan does not replace the preview while you are interacting with it.

1. Preview controls: Manage network access and sandbox mode, reload the preview, open the file externally, or show it in your file manager.
2. Generated content: Review the task cards without leaving the session.

HTML previews are sandboxed by default, with network access off. For a trusted page that needs browser storage or relative assets, use the toolbar's unsandboxed option. This loads the page through Jan's preview:// scheme with an origin separate from the app. Only registered workspace or attached-project folders are served.

Browsing the Artifacts Library

Click Artifacts in the sidebar to browse files created across sessions. Use Search artifacts to find a file by name, and the type filter to narrow the results to Code, Image, Document, Video, or Audio. Choose All to include every type.

Files the agent only edited are not added to the library; review those in Agent changes.

1. Search: Find an artifact by name, such as dashboard.
2. Artifact: Click the card to preview it, or Open to use an external application.

Background Work

Subagents

For a self-contained task, Jan can start a subagent with its own instructions and tool set. The subagent works in the background and reports its result to the main conversation when it finishes. This can help with tasks such as researching several topics or reviewing a group of files.

Type /tasks to inspect background work. Subagent definitions are stored in agent-workspace/subagents in your Jan data folder. Jan can also start a one-off subagent without a saved definition.

Monitors and Parked Sessions

Ask Jan to watch for a condition when a task depends on something finishing. For example:

Watch for build.log to contain "BUILD FAILED" and report the matching line.

A monitor checks the condition in the background while Jan continues other work. It ends when the condition matches, it reaches its timeout, or it is stopped. Ask Jan to list active monitors or stop a monitor you no longer need. The monitor tool supports start, list, and stop operations.

A session can become parked when the model has answered but background work is still pending. A watching or waiting notice replaces the working spinner. The model is idle, not generating more text. A monitor notification or subagent result can wake the agent to continue.

Configuring Cowork

Open Settings in the left sidebar, then select Cowork.

1. Shell network access: Control whether sandboxed commands can access the network.
2. Memories: Review saved memories or click Add to create one. Scroll down to find Skills.

Sandbox and Network

Each session has a workspace in agent-workspace/sessions/<session_id> inside your Jan data folder. An attached project folder gives Jan additional read and write access to that project.

Under Shell Commands, check whether an OS sandbox is available. When it is, shell commands are restricted to permitted workspace locations. If no sandbox is available, Jan does not offer the shell tool rather than running commands without confinement.

Allow Network Access is on by default for Cowork shell commands. Turn it off to prevent commands from accessing the network, such as installing packages or fetching a repository. This does not change the provider used for model requests or the separate Web Search setting. Model requests still go to the provider you selected. The main chat's shell does not have network access, regardless of this Cowork setting.

Memories and Skills

Cowork stores reusable knowledge in your Jan data folder:

• Memories: Facts such as project decisions, preferences, and constraints, stored in agent-workspace/memory.
• Skills: Reusable instructions for tasks such as releasing a project or debugging a subsystem, stored in agent-workspace/skills. Jan loads the full instructions when a task needs them.

To manage an entry in Settings > Cowork:

1. Click Add in the Memories or Skills section to create an entry.
2. Click the pencil icon beside an existing entry to edit it.
3. Click Open Folder to view the underlying files in your file manager.

You can also edit the files in your preferred editor. The formats follow the Jan Agent's skills and memory conventions.

Using Skills

Skills give Jan reusable instructions for a task. Click Customize in the Cowork sidebar to open Manage skills. Global skills are available to every session.

Creating a Skill

1. Click New skill.
2. Enter a name, such as review-dashboard.
3. Write the reusable procedure in Markdown.
4. Click Save.

1. Skill definition: Give the skill a descriptive name and instructions that explain what Jan should do.

For example:

Select a saved skill in the list to edit its instructions later.

Installing a Skill

You can import an existing skill instead of writing one from scratch.

1. In Manage skills, click Import from hub.
2. Read the available skill descriptions.
3. Click Import beside the skill you want to add.

1. Import from hub: Browse the available skills.
2. Import: Add the selected skill to your skill collection.

Review imported instructions before using them. A skill can direct Jan to run commands or change files when the available tools and permissions allow it.

Invoking a Skill with a Slash Command

Return to the conversation and type / followed by part of the skill's name. Select the matching SKILL entry, add any task-specific details, and send the message.

1. Skill command: Select /review-dashboard to use the saved instructions.

For example, use /review-dashboard dashboard.html to request a review of the generated dashboard. The visible invocation stays compact while Jan receives the skill's instructions. Newly saved skills appear in the menu without restarting the app.

Managing Context

Use /compact to summarize the session's context when a conversation grows long. Model settings are available beside the message input.

If a run exceeds its context window, Increase Context Size can increase the limit for supported local models and resume the conversation, including completed tool work. Larger context windows can require more memory. Jan checks the model's supported limit before increasing it. If the change is not supported or fails, open the relevant provider settings.

Switching sessions or models while the change is saving cancels the automatic retry.

Slash Commands

Type / in the message input to see available commands.

Use /init when starting work on a new project. Jan examines the directory structure and build and test commands, then records what it learns for later sessions.