ASIOS separates the **Platform** — the part that installs and updates things — from the **Workspace** it installs. You never build a Workspace by hand; the Platform does it, and does it the same way every time. :::::stepper ::::step{title="Pull the Platform"} The Platform distributes as a clean release channel with no history — a snapshot of everything except your own personal layer, so a fresh install starts from a known-good state. ``` git clone ``` :::: ::::step{title="Let the Platform run"} The Platform runs from *outside* the Workspace, before a Workspace exists and right after a pull. It reads its own control definitions and brings the Workspace up to date — creating anything missing, updating anything that changed. :::hint{type="warning"} Don't skip this step by copying files in manually. The Platform's install step is what keeps a Workspace consistent across machines — a hand-copied Workspace tends to drift. ::: :::: ::::step{title="Confirm your Workspace is live"} Once installed, your Workspace is the running system you actually work in day to day — capturing ideas, working conversations, building things. Everything about *you* — your own work, your own notes — lives inside it, in the one part of the tree that never ships anywhere else. :::: ::::: ## What "installed" means A successful install leaves you with a Workspace that: - has its own private layer, separate from anything the Platform ships or updates, - can receive Platform updates without losing anything in that private layer, and - is ready to capture the first idea — covered next, in [First steps](./first-steps.md).