📌 This article is for users of elvex 2.0. Find out which version you're using.
What Is Pinning?
Pinning is how you tell elvex: "This resource matters here." When you pin something to a Space, it becomes part of that Space's foundation — automatically available to elvex whenever anyone opens a conversation inside it, no manual attachment required.
Pinning is the difference between a Space that's just a folder and one that's a living, intelligent workspace. The resources you pin become the shared context that makes every conversation in that Space faster, smarter, and more grounded.
What Can You Pin?
You can pin three types of resources to a Space:
Resource Type | What It Is | What It Does When Pinned |
Agent | A purpose-built AI assistant | Every conversation in the Space can draw on that agent's specialized capabilities |
Datasource | A collection of files, a database connection, or crawled web pages | elvex searches this knowledge base automatically when relevant to a question |
Thread (Conversation) | A past conversation with context, decisions, or outputs | Preserves institutional memory; makes prior work available to the whole team |
Where Can You Pin?
My Space — Pinning for Yourself
Every user has a My Space: a personal workspace that belongs only to them. Pinning to My Space is the primary way to teach elvex who you are and what you need. Resources pinned here flow into every conversation you have — automatically, without you needing to attach anything.
Use My Space pinning to:
Pin datasources you reference constantly (e.g., a competitor research sheet, your company's product roadmap)
Pin agents you use daily (e.g., your go-to writing assistant, your data analyst agent)
Pin threads with important ongoing context (e.g., a strategy thread you keep returning to)
Shared Spaces — Pinning for Your Team
Shared Spaces are where team collaboration happens. Pinning to a shared Space makes resources available to every member of that Space, so the whole team starts from the same foundation.
Use shared Space pinning to:
Pin the agents your team relies on for shared workflows
Pin the datasources that ground the team's work in real internal knowledge
Pin threads that capture decisions, processes, or outputs the team needs to reference
How to Pin
There are three ways to pin a resource:
From the resource card — Open the triple-dot (⋯) kebab menu on any agent, datasource, or conversation card and select "Pin to space". A dropdown lists your available Spaces; click to toggle the pin.
From the resource detail view — Open the resource, then click the pin icon (◎) in the top-right action bar. Same dropdown, same toggle behavior.
From inside a Space — Open the Space's Resources tab and click "Add Resources" to search for and pin multiple resources at once.
Can Everyone in a Shared Space See What You Pin?
Not automatically — and this is the most important thing to understand about pinning.
Pinning a resource to a shared Space does not automatically grant them access to it. Permissions on resources are managed independently from Space membership. A Space member who lacks access to a pinned resource may see a locked card — they know it's there, but they can't use it.
This means you can pin a resource that half your team can't actually interact with, which creates confusion and undermines the point of the Space.
What Happens When There's a Mismatch
When you pin a resource to a group Space and some members lack access, elvex will surface this immediately. After a successful pin, you'll see an access gap prompt that lists the affected Space members. From there, you have two options:
Grant access directly — If you own or have editor rights on the resource, you can grant the affected members a viewer role right from the prompt, in one step.
Send access requests — If you don't have permission to grant access yourself, elvex will send access requests to the resource owner on behalf of the affected members.
Either way, elvex walks you through resolving the gap — you don't need to manually track down who can and can't see what.
Checking for Gaps After the Fact
If you're an editor or owner of a Space, you can audit access gaps at any time from the Space's People tab. Each member row shows a chip indicating how many pinned resources they can't access. Clicking it opens the same grant/request flow so you can resolve gaps without re-pinning anything.
When Should You Pin a Thread to a Shared Space?
Threads are worth pinning to a shared Space when:
The thread contains decisions the team needs to remember — a strategy call, a scope change, a product direction that future conversations should be aware of
The thread produced outputs others need to reference — a report, a briefing, an analysis that team members will quote or build on
The thread established context for an ongoing project — it explains the "why" behind work that's still in progress
You want the whole team to be able to find it — pinning makes threads discoverable to Space members who weren't part of the original conversation
Tip: You don't need to pin every thread. Pin threads with durable, reusable value — not quick one-off questions. If you find yourself re-explaining the same context across multiple conversations, that's a signal the originating thread should be pinned.
What Should You NOT Pin?
❌ Don't Pin These Things
One-off or throwaway threads
A quick factual lookup or a short task you'll never need again doesn't belong as a pinned resource. Spaces stay useful when what's pinned is meaningful; cluttered Spaces make context worse, not better.
Outdated or superseded datasources
Pinning a stale datasource actively harms your AI responses by introducing outdated information. Audit your pinned datasources periodically and remove anything no longer current or relevant.
Every agent you've ever created
A Space should be curated around a specific purpose. Pin the agents relevant to this team or this project — not your entire library. Too many agents in a Space creates noise, not capability.
Resources you haven't resolved access for
Don't pin and walk away. If you've pinned something to a shared Space, make sure you've worked through the access gap prompt. A pinned resource that half the team can't use is worse than not pinning it — it signals something is available that isn't.
Duplicate resources that serve the same purpose
If you have two datasources that cover the same topic, consolidate before pinning. Redundant resources create confusion about which source is authoritative.
The more intentional you are about what you pin — and where you pin it — the less your team has to explain, re-attach, and repeat. The Space becomes the shared brain. The pinned resources are what's in it.
Start narrow. Pin the things you'd reach for anyway. And expand from there.