01
Create a session
Start from a repository, snapshot, template, dataset, or blank workspace. The session becomes the unit of work.
Workflows
Design the SaaS workflow, not just the storage.
AetherFS becomes valuable when the workspace has a lifecycle: creation, mutation, review, persistence, and retirement. If that lifecycle is real in your hosted product, the session model can finally match it.
Lifecycle stages
A session moves through a hosted workflow, not just a mount.
02
Inspect the state
Read metadata, fetch manifests, or mount locally with Aether before any mutation begins.
03
Mutate through the right surface
Products can use HTTP or gRPC, and users can switch to Aether when they need local filesystem semantics.
04
Review and coordinate
Annotations, approvals, bus messages, and knowledge entries let people and automation share context without hiding it in the filesystem.
05
Persist the outcome
Capture checkpoints for recovery, commit durable work, or export session content when the result should leave the workspace.
06
Fork, restore, or retire
Keep working, branch for alternatives, restore a checkpoint, or archive the session when it has done its job.
Workflow patterns
The shapes strong AetherFS products actually end up using.
One session per task
Use one session for one clearly bounded unit of work so ownership, review state, and cleanup stay obvious.
Baseline plus forked proposals
Keep the baseline stable and fork once per proposal when reviewers need to compare alternatives safely.
Checkpoint before risk
Checkpoint before large automated edits, imports, or handoffs so rollback stays cheap and support stays sane.
Short-lived sessions, durable sources
Let sessions stay temporary and let commits or promoted sources carry the durable meaning, which is usually the best default for a SaaS product.
Common use cases
Practical applications, not fantasy demos.
Agent-assisted software engineering
Feature work, bug fixes, modernization, security remediation, tests, and infrastructure changes all benefit from cheap forks and explicit review boundaries.
API-first agent fleets
Point agents at the hosted service over HTTP or gRPC, create sessions from a repo, mutate files, and persist only the results worth keeping.
Build-and-test agents with Aether
When an agent still needs local filesystem semantics for builds or tests, mount the remote session locally instead of copying the whole workspace onto a larger VM.
Review-heavy approval flows
Fork one baseline into several proposals, attach evidence and annotations, request approval, and only then commit or promote the winner.
Data and analytics workspaces
Notebooks, SQL migrations, pipeline configs, and structured file trees benefit from the same session and coordination model as codebases.
Short-lived task sandboxes
Create a session, do the work, checkpoint or commit if useful, and retire the live workspace quickly instead of carrying idle boxes forever.
When to simplify
If the workflow is flat, the system should be too.
AetherFS is strongest when session lifecycle, review boundaries, and local filesystem semantics actually matter. Without those, a simpler hosted API may be the better call.
- You only need upload and download
- There is no local mount requirement
- You do not need review or approval state
- There is no real session lifecycle to model
Next