Create a project

For a worked example in Essential CoCalc, see Start and hand off a research task.

What projects are for

A CoCalc project is a persistent Linux workspace with files, terminals, notebooks, chat, settings, collaborators, secrets, and an optional project host. Use one project for a class assignment, research computation, agent sandbox, paper, workshop, or team workspace.

Create a project

1. Open Projects and choose Create.
2. Give the project a clear name and review the image and placement options.
3. Choose Create Project, or Create and Open to start and open it.
4. Add files, collaborators, or runtime settings.

If creation is disabled because your email address is unverified, complete email verification first. Essential uses New project, then Create project; see the worked example above.

Project names are for humans. The project id is the durable identifier used by APIs, agents, browser-session actions, project hosts, and logs.

Choose the right boundary

Create separate projects when work needs different collaborators, secrets, software environments, compute resources, or retention policies. Keep related files in the same project when they share one runtime environment and should be reviewed together.

Why this matters in CoCalc

Most CoCalc features are project-scoped. Once a project exists, humans and agents have a shared place to run commands, edit notebooks, manage secrets, configure the runtime image, and keep long-running work attached to durable backend state.