---
title: "Tools, languages and workspaces"
manual: "LLM Foundation"
version: "0.45"
permalink: "https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/netresearch/nr-llm:tool-workspaces@0.45"
source: "Administration/ToolWorkspaces.rst"
rendered: "2026-11-13T14:44:39+00:00"
---

# Tools, languages and workspaces {#tool-workspaces}

A managed run records the initiating user's workspace. Supported tools read
and write that workspace even when a different user decides the approval or
a worker executes it. Current permissions and configuration are checked again;
an approval does not grant additional record access.

| Family | Tools | Draft workspace behavior |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Field writers | `update_content_element`, `update_page_metadata`, `set_file_reference_alternative_text`, `set_file_alternative_text`, `update_fal_asset_meta`, `set_file_categories`, `publish_record` | Write a workspace version. Unhiding there does not publish it live. |
| Creating writers | `create_content_element_draft`, `create_page_draft`, `create_record_draft`, `attach_file_to_content_element`, `attach_file_to_record` | Create in the run's workspace. Unversioned tables are refused. |
| Structural writers | `move_content_element`, `move_page`, `copy_record`, `delete_record`, `create_translation_draft` | Use core's workspace commands, with the restrictions below. |
| Reference replacement | `set_page_social_image`, `replace_file_reference` | Version the page or element, add the new reference in the run's workspace and mark the replaced one for deletion there. |
| Redirect writers | `create_redirect`, `update_redirect`, `disable_redirect` | Live only because `sys_redirect` is not versioned. |

The read tools for records, page structure and file metadata use the run's
workspace view. They do not treat another workspace's version UID as a live
record identity. Missing recorded workspace on legacy runs does not mean the
editor's currently selected draft workspace.

## What a run records of its changes {#tool-workspaces-changes}

For every tool call that wrote, the run records a `tool_changes` step beside
the tool step ([ADR-292: A run records the records its tool calls changed](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/netresearch/nr-llm:adr-292@0.45)). It lists the records the DataHandler runs of
that call wrote, copies, translations and records written by a hook of the
installation included, with these facts per record:

-   the table and uid, and what happened: created, updated, moved, deleted or
    restored;
-   the workspace the row is stored in, the live uid it is a version of, and its
    language;
-   whether it is the record the tool named as its target;
-   the row's own `hidden` flag and the time and group restrictions it
    carries.

These are separate facts. A record that is not hidden can still be a draft in a
workspace, and nothing in the list says a record is visible in the frontend.
The list holds identities and flags only, no title and no field value, and at
most 50 records; a count says how many more there were.

The list says what DataHandler runs reported, and never that it is complete. A
write past the DataHandler, such as a query in a hook or a file written through
FAL, is not in it. When a tool states a record that no DataHandler run
reported, the step says `not_captured`. A call that failed after it wrote
keeps its list, and the error the model reads names the records written before
the failure.

The approval card of a pending call states the workspace the run writes into,
its title where the viewer may work in it, and for a translation the language,
as values (`PendingCallView::$workspaceId`, `$workspaceTitle` and
`$language`).

## Limits to review before approval {#tool-workspaces-limits}

-   File-default metadata writers address the default-language metadata;
    they do not translate it. A file-reference alternative text belongs to one
    use of an image, rather than changing its file default.
-   A draft becomes public only through the workspace's publication workflow.
    Core's file views outside frontend preview can still show live metadata.
-   A create that would renumber live sorting while working in a draft is
    refused; choose another position or make room in live first.
-   Structural calls refuse cases where core would perform a different action:
    deleting new or moved drafts, copying a page with unversioned records,
    overwriting an existing translation, and the documented TYPO3 13.4
    translation-deletion conflict.
-   Replacing or removing a reference that exists only as a draft in the
    workspace discards that draft; it never was live and is not kept in the
    recycler.
-   Refusal before approval is distinct from a call waiting for approval. It
    stays refused for that turn even if an earlier call removes the reason.
-   Copy readback checks the main record and returned translations. It does not
    prove every inline child or reference was copied. A valid hidden main copy
    can survive a core complaint about another copied record.
-   The list of changes comes from the DataHandler's hooks and its
    `sys_history` rows. Where history is switched off or pruned, only the
    hooks' records are listed, a delete of a row that no longer exists is not
    listed, and the inline children of a delete are missing. A chain with more
    than 5000 history rows is cut off and counted as at least one more.
-   A core translation copy can be visible briefly before the second write
    hides it. Do not interpret the hidden-draft workflow as zero visibility at
    every intermediate instant.

To make the draft workspace compulsory for a configuration, see
[Editorial profile: drafts only](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/netresearch/nr-llm:editorial-profile@0.45).

These controls do not establish complete isolation of all installation hooks,
TSconfig or global actor-dependent behavior. Read the approval card and test
custom DataHandler integrations in the supported workspace before enabling
writers. The decision history is in [ADR-260: The assistant writes into the editor's workspace](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/netresearch/nr-llm:adr-260@0.45), [ADR-262: The field writers write into the workspace, and a redirect is refused before the card](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/netresearch/nr-llm:adr-262@0.45),
[ADR-264: The creating writers create their record new in the workspace](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/netresearch/nr-llm:adr-264@0.45), [ADR-266: Move, copy, delete and translate act in the workspace the run is in](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/netresearch/nr-llm:adr-266@0.45) and [ADR-274: The replacing writers replace a reference in the workspace](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/netresearch/nr-llm:adr-274@0.45).