Spaces are an organizational layer within branches. Each branch contains one or more spaces, and each space has its own independent instance of every primitive (KV, Event, State, JSON, Vector). Think of spaces like schemas in PostgreSQL — they organize data within a database (branch) without creating full isolation boundaries.

Command Overview

Command	Syntax	Returns
use	use <branch> [space]	Switches branch and/or space
space list	space list	All space names in current branch
space create	space create <name>	Creates a space
space del	space del <name> [--force]	Deletes a space
space exists	space exists <name>	Whether the space exists

Default Space

Every branch starts with a default space. When you open the CLI, all operations target this space automatically. You never need to create or switch to it explicitly.

$ strata --cache
strata:default/default> kv put key value
(version) 1
strata:default/default> event append log '{"msg":"hello"}'
(seq) 1

The default space cannot be deleted.

Creating and Switching Spaces

Use use <branch> <space> to switch to a space. Spaces are auto-registered on first write — no explicit create step is needed:

$ strata --cache
strata:default/default> use default conversations
strata:default/conversations> kv put msg_001 hello
(version) 1
strata:default/conversations> use default tool-results
strata:default/tool-results> kv put task_42 done
(version) 1
strata:default/tool-results> space list
- conversations
- default
- tool-results

You can also create a space explicitly:

strata:default/default> space create my-space
OK

Data Isolation Between Spaces

Each space has its own independent data. The same key in different spaces refers to different values:

$ strata --cache
strata:default/default> kv put config default-config
(version) 1
strata:default/default> use default experiments
strata:default/experiments> kv put config experiment-config
(version) 1
strata:default/experiments> use default
strata:default/default> kv get config
"default-config"
strata:default/default> use default experiments
strata:default/experiments> kv get config
"experiment-config"

This applies to all primitives — events, state cells, JSON documents, and vector collections are all space-scoped.

Cross-Space Transactions

Transactions can span multiple spaces within the same branch. This is useful when you need atomic operations across organizational boundaries:

$ strata --cache
strata:default/default> begin
OK
strata:default/default> use default billing
strata:default/billing> kv put credits 99
(version) 1
strata:default/billing> use default api-logs
strata:default/api-logs> event append api_call '{"endpoint":"/search"}'
(seq) 1
strata:default/api-logs> commit
OK

Space Naming Rules

Space names follow these conventions:

Rule	Details
Start with	Lowercase letter [a-z]
Allowed characters	Lowercase letters, digits, hyphens, underscores [a-z0-9_-]
Max length	64 characters
Reserved prefix	_system_ (reserved for internal use)
Reserved name	default (cannot be deleted)

Valid names: conversations, tool-results, agent_memory_v2

Invalid names: Conversations (uppercase), 123-invalid (starts with digit), _system_internal (reserved prefix)

Deleting Spaces

Delete a space with space del (must be empty) or space del --force (deletes all data):

$ strata --cache
strata:default/default> use default temp
strata:default/temp> kv put key value
(version) 1
strata:default/temp> use default
strata:default/default> space del temp
(error) space is non-empty
strata:default/default> space del temp --force
OK

The default space cannot be deleted.

Common Patterns

Agent Memory Organization

$ strata --db ./data
strata:default/default> use default conversations
strata:default/conversations> event append user_message '{"content":"What is the weather?"}'
(seq) 1
strata:default/conversations> event append tool_call '{"tool":"weather_api"}'
(seq) 2
strata:default/conversations> use default tool-results
strata:default/tool-results> kv put weather_api:call_1 '{"temp":72,"conditions":"sunny"}'
(version) 1
strata:default/tool-results> use default user-context
strata:default/user-context> state set preferences '{"units":"fahrenheit"}'
(version) 1

Multi-Tenant Data

#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail

for tenant in acme-corp globex initech; do
    strata --db ./data --space "$tenant" kv put config '{"plan":"enterprise"}'
    strata --db ./data --space "$tenant" vector create docs 384 --metric cosine
done

strata --db ./data space list

Experiment Tracking

$ strata --db ./data
strata:default/default> use default hyperparams
strata:default/hyperparams> kv put config '{"lr":0.001,"epochs":10}'
(version) 1
strata:default/hyperparams> use default experiment-001
strata:default/experiment-001> kv put metrics '{"loss":0.42,"accuracy":0.87}'
(version) 1
strata:default/experiment-001> use default experiment-002
strata:default/experiment-002> kv put metrics '{"loss":0.38,"accuracy":0.89}'
(version) 1

Spaces vs Branches

	Branches	Spaces
Purpose	Isolation	Organization
Data visibility	Fully isolated	Fully visible within branch
Transactions	Cannot span branches	Can span spaces
Analogy	Git branches	PostgreSQL schemas
Use case	Separate experiments, sessions	Organize data within a session

Use branches when you need full data isolation. Use spaces when you need to organize related data within a single branch.

Next

• KV Store — key-value operations
• Branch Management — branch isolation
• Sessions and Transactions — cross-space atomicity