Local Workspaces and Data Boundaries#

Keep project files local, back them up, and know when an action sends data online.

Overview#

Start with a local workspace when RTL, instruction-set source, verification inputs, tool licences, or attached hardware must remain on your machine. A website or product sign-in does not by itself upload the contents of a local project.

Desktop Workspaces#

Digital Design Studio opens a project directory that you select. Keep the project in a location you control and review the path before running a tool action.

ISA views use the same selected project and the capabilities supplied by the Digital Design Studio host. Save source and intentional exports inside your project. The hidden data workspace of an older standalone ISA app is legacy storage, not the new shared project or a portable repository.

CLI Workspace#

After verified installation, alti ide workspace reads, searches, and authors saved files in the explicitly selected Linux project. alti xls and the native engine commands run their documented local operations. Keep project data separate from the installation and extracted archive.

job validate remains an offline source/envelope preflight: it hashes the source without upload, submission, or engine execution. Follow CLI First Success for the distinction between that receipt and an actual CPU XLS result.

Native Cloud operations use ide cloud and current account/project permissions; they operate on saved Cloud content. The legacy HTTP adapter uses ide service and its configured workspace owner. Neither searches unsaved editor buffers. Use the intended backend’s current identity/CAS evidence for writes, not a hash copied from a different backend. See CLI Job and Cloud Commands.

Back Up, Restore, or Move a Workspace#

Digital Design Studio#

The project is the user-selected directory, so use that entire directory as the backup boundary.

  1. Save open files and close the IDE.

  2. Copy the complete project directory to a separate user-controlled backup location with your normal file manager, backup system, or version-control workflow. Preserve nested files and links rather than copying only the file visible in the editor.

  3. Open the copied directory with altifigence-ide --project /absolute/path/to/copied-project.

  4. Confirm the displayed root, open representative source and constraint files, and verify that expected version-control status is present.

  5. Keep the original directory until the copied project passes those checks.

To restore or move the project, copy the verified backup to the destination and open that destination as a new absolute project root. Do not overwrite the only known-good copy while testing the move.

Migrating an older standalone ISA document#

An older standalone ISA installation may keep its CX document in application data. Preserve the source explicitly before retiring that installation. The following steps are for recovering that older document, not for opening a separate ISA product in the new workspace.

  1. Save with Ctrl+S and wait for npu.cx · saved in the status bar.

  2. Copy the complete CX text from the editor into a user-controlled .cx file.

  3. Keep any deliberately exported reference or decoder artifacts beside that file, labelled with the application version and date. Those artifacts are evidence, not a full workspace backup.

  4. For a restore or move, first preserve the destination’s current CX text, then paste the saved CX text into the editor, save, and wait for elaboration.

  5. Review diagnostics, instructions, and encoding projections before treating the restored document as usable.

Do not copy hidden application data, credential-store entries, device-trust state, or entitlement files between machines. Workspace content does not carry an account session or licence; complete the normal product-specific sign-in and licence flow on the destination machine.

Local and Online Actions#

Action

Where data goes

Edit a local desktop project

Project files stay in the selected local workspace

Validate a CLI job offline

The selected source is read and hashed locally; no submission or engine run occurs

Use desktop browser sign-in

Account and licence metadata are exchanged; project source is not implied

Submit an enabled online job or explicit Cloud source operation

Source or artifacts can leave the machine; review the action before confirming

Connect MCP or an external AI provider

Context follows that integration’s authentication and data policy

Online actions can be unavailable even when local editing or local engines work.

Before Sending Project Data#

  1. Identify the exact file or directory the action will read.

  2. Identify the service, organization, and project that will receive it.

  3. Check whether the action is released, preview, default-off, or unavailable.

  4. Remove secrets and unrelated source from logs, prompts, and diagnostic bundles.

  5. Keep the returned receipt, job identifier, tool version, and artifact hashes with the project evidence.

If the product does not make the destination or transfer visible, do not assume that the action is safe for restricted project data.