> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.anonalabs.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# One space or many?

> The decision you make once, early, and cannot cheaply undo. Here is how to make it right.

[← All use cases](/use-cases/overview)

<div className="uc-examples"><a className="uc-api" href="/api-reference/spaces">API reference</a></div>

## The scenario

A space is the unit of isolation, of sharing, of configuration and of deletion.
Split too finely and nothing can see anything else; too coarsely and you cannot
share one part without sharing all of it.

**What this recipe shows that no other does:** the space itself as a design
decision, and the four calls that manage its lifecycle.

## The rule

**Split by who may read it, never by what it is about.**

Topics are what search is for — two subjects in one space cost you nothing,
because a query about one will not return the other. Audiences are what a space
is for, and no query filter can retrofit an audience boundary.

So: one space per readership. Within it, use
[scope keys](/use-cases/support-agent-per-customer) for per-user separation and
tags for topic.

## Step 1 — Create deliberately

```python theme={null}
space = client.create_space("Customer support", description="Ticket history, shared with the support vendor")
print(space["space_id"])
```

A space is also created implicitly by the first write to an unknown id — which
is convenient and is how typos become permanent. Creating on purpose means a
mistyped id fails loudly later instead of silently becoming a second space.

## Step 2 — See what you have

```python theme={null}
for s in client.list_spaces():
    print(s["space_id"], "|", s.get("shared_by") or "yours")
```

`shared_by` names the org that shared it with you, and is `null` for your own.
When a shared space collides with one of your own names, `qualified_id` gives
you the `owner:name` form to address it unambiguously.

## Step 3 — Inspect one

```python theme={null}
print(client.get_space(space_id="support"))
```

## Step 4 — Delete, and mean it

```python theme={null}
client.delete_space(space_id="scratch-experiment")
```

<Warning>
  **This deletes every memory in the space and cannot be undone.** There is no
  soft delete and no recycle bin. If there is any chance the contents matter,
  [export first](/use-cases/take-everything-with-you) — the export is the only
  thing standing between a typo and permanent loss.
</Warning>

## Evals

Before committing to a layout, test the two things that are expensive to change:

1. Can you share exactly one audience's data without the others? If sharing the
   space would over-share, it is too coarse.
2. Does any single question need to draw on two spaces at once? If yes, it is
   too fine — there is no cross-space query, and stitching results client-side
   loses the ranking that makes recall work.

## Guardrails

* **A space's id is its name.** There is no separate identifier to rename later,
  so a name with spaces is legal and means URL-encoding every path that uses it.
* **Plans cap how many spaces you get**; `max_spaces = -1` means unlimited.
* **Scratch spaces are cheap and worth it.** Tuning
  [extraction](/use-cases/teach-it-your-vocabulary) against a real space leaves
  it with two eras of settings mixed together permanently.