Workbench
Keep a running quest log in any project. A slide-out drawer holds the workbench; the agent sees the same list, so it checks items off and adds what it finds as it goes.
Every gem has a workbench: a drawer that slides out from the right edge of the terminal. Add items, jot a description, check them off, and send one straight to the active agent with a click. It's the lightweight planning surface that sits right next to the work, so you never leave crystl to track what's next.
The list lives in a plain WORKBENCH.md committed at the project root, not a private UI database. That's the point: the agent reads and writes the same file. Ask Claude Code to pick up the next item and it does; finish a task and it checks the box; discover follow-up work mid-task and it appends a new item. The drawer updates live as the file changes underneath it, so you and the agent are always looking at the same workbench.
Why it matters
Plan where you work
A drawer on the terminal's right edge. Add items, write a description, check them off. No second app, no context switch.
The agent collaborates
It reads the same workbench, checks items off as it finishes them, and appends follow-up work it discovers, so nothing gets lost.
Just a markdown file
Backed by WORKBENCH.md at the project root, plain GitHub task lists. Commit it, hand-edit it, diff it. The drawer round-trips losslessly.
Send to the agent
One click drops an item's text into the active shard's prompt, ready to run. Hand off a task without retyping it.
Ready to try it?
Create a free account and download crystl for macOS.
get started getting started guide →Frequently asked questions
- Where is the workbench stored?
- In a plain WORKBENCH.md at the project root, committed on purpose, so the workbench lives in the repo with everything else. It's standard GitHub-flavored markdown: ## headers are sections, - [ ] / - [x] are open and done tasks, and indented lines under a task are its description.
- How does the agent see it?
- crystl adds a short note to your CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md telling the agent that WORKBENCH.md is the project's editable workbench and how it's structured. From there the agent reads it to see priorities and edits the file directly to check items off or add new ones. No special tool required, just file edits.
- Does the drawer update when the agent edits the file?
- Yes. The drawer watches WORKBENCH.md and re-renders the moment it changes, whether the agent wrote it, you edited it in another editor, or a git operation touched it. You and the agent always see the same list.
- What happens to lines the drawer doesn't understand?
- They're preserved verbatim. The parser only recognizes section headers and task lines; everything else (prose, notes, blank lines) round-trips through the drawer unchanged, so a hand-edit or an agent edit never gets clobbered.
- What does the send button do?
- It types the item's text (and its description, if any) into the active shard's terminal, without submitting, so you can review or tweak before the agent runs it. It's a fast way to hand a workbench item to the agent without retyping it.
- Does it work with Codex and Antigravity CLI?
- Yes. The workbench is just a markdown file plus a note in your agent config, so any CLI agent that can read and write files works the same way: Claude Code, Codex, Antigravity CLI, or anything else you run in a shard.
Crystl's Book of Spells
Master crystl with a grimoire of powerful prompts. Summon heroes, assemble a party, revive shards, and complete epic quests.
open the book →More features
Gems & Shards
Gems, shards, and the Crystal Rail keep every project one click away.
Action Panels
See what every Claude session is doing at a glance.
Parallel Sessions
Run multiple Claude instances on the same repo without conflicts.
Hero Shards
Summon a single hero as a shard — its own agent, model, and persona — without a quest party.
History Navigator
Browse, jump through, and search every session: conversation and tool calls.
Token Tracking
Track token burn per shard, estimate turns left, and reclaim context window by disabling heavy plugins and skills.
Prompt Integration
Facet Inserts give you one-click access to saved prompts, commands, and shortcuts.
Agent Config Editor
Create, edit, and manage CLAUDE.md, rules, skills, and agent config files with a block editor, file chooser, and project optimizer.
Project Optimizer
Scan your project for gaps in agent configuration (missing files, incomplete docs, oversized code, and setup issues) with one-click fixes.
Starter Bundles
New gems launch with CLAUDE.md, rules, skills, and MCP config, all pre-configured from your bundle library.
Skills Library
Browse and import agentic skills that teach agents like Claude Code or Codex new tricks: code review, testing, deployment, and more.
Cavrn
The terminal as structured data: every turn, tool call, result, and table captured as agent-readable metadata. Drawn fast on the GPU with Metal.
Remote Development
Full crystl integration over SSH: approval panels, file relay, and click-to-open on remote machines.
Agent Orchestration
One agent spawns, supervises, and merges the work of many: a control room for a team of coding agents.
crystl Quest
Assemble a party of specialized agents. Each brings unique skills, coordinates in shared chat, and executes in parallel.
Screenshot Bar
Drag recent screenshots into the terminal. Spotlight-powered, always up to date.
Copy Bar
A one-click copy bar under the terminal. Agents stage text, you click Copy. Editable, up to 10 tabs, free.