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

# Areas

> The navigation domains topics file under: Billing, Auth, Infra. The map a new teammate or agent reads first.

An **area** is a navigation domain inside a workspace: `Billing`, `Auth`, `Infra`, `Payments`. Topics file under an area, so the workspace reads like a map of the system instead of a flat list of slugs. It's the first thing a new teammate or agent scans to get oriented.

Areas are a **curation surface**, not a permission boundary: filing a topic into an area changes where it shows up, never who can see it. Because renaming or deleting an area re-homes other people's topics, those operations are gated to **owner/admin**. Creating one and filing into it is open to any member.

## Filing topics into an area

A topic carries an optional area. Set it when you create or update the topic:

```bash theme={"theme":"github-light"}
driftless context add billing-webhooks \
  --area Billing \
  --what "Stripe webhook ingestion and idempotency." \
  --pattern "src/billing/webhooks/**"

driftless context update refund-flow --area Billing
```

`--area` accepts an area **name or id**, and an unknown name is created on the spot, so filing is never blocked by a missing area.

## Managing areas

| Command                               | Description                  |
| ------------------------------------- | ---------------------------- |
| `area list`                           | List areas with topic counts |
| `area add <name> [--description "…"]` | Create an area               |
| `area rename <id> <new-name>`         | Rename an area (owner/admin) |
| `area rm <id>`                        | Delete an area (owner/admin) |

```bash theme={"theme":"github-light"}
driftless area add Billing --description "Charges, refunds, reconciliation"
driftless area list
```

Add `--json` for machine output. The same areas are available over REST at `/workspaces/:slug/areas` (`GET` / `POST`, plus `PATCH` / `DELETE` by id for owner/admin) and render in the dashboard's left rail.

<Note>
  An area groups topics for navigation; a [topic's anchors](/concepts/topics) (`--pattern`) are what tie it to specific files and drive drift. The two are independent axes: an area says *where it lives in the map*, an anchor says *which code it governs*.
</Note>