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

# Scopes

> Know which value a Pane shows: yours, your Workspace's, or the author's.

## Sources

Docs: [Preferences](/ponder/parables/pieces/preferences) and [Policies](/ponder/parables/pieces/policies)

Web App: Each panel of a Pane in **Pieces** shows a scope badge naming the scope whose value is in effect.

## Story

Every slot can hold a value at up to three scopes. Parable resolves them
narrowest first, so the value a reader sees is the most specific one anyone
has set.

| Scope     | Whose value                        | How it is kept                                                                  |
| --------- | ---------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Person    | The person reading the Parable     | A live value with full history, in effect the moment it is written              |
| Workspace | The Workspace the reader is in     | A live value with full history, in effect for everyone on that Workspace's line |
| Parable   | The author, saved with the version | Versioned with the Parable: commits, pins, revert, and Proposals apply          |

Organization and agent scopes are reserved for later; an agent acting for you
today writes your Person value.

## Fall back by clearing

Clearing a value is how you go back: clear your own value and the Workspace's
takes effect; clear the Workspace's and the author's takes effect. Nothing is
copied between scopes when a version is published, and a new version never
touches the values people have set unless the slot itself disappears or
changes kind, in which case an old value is ignored rather than misread.

## Who may write where

* Your own Preference value: you, with no approval, from a Pane that offers a
  control for it.
* The Workspace's value: someone holding the Workspace seat, or the
  Workspace's Parable management permission, and always through a
  confirmation that names the handle, scope, and value before it is written.
  A Pane asking for a Workspace write opens that confirmation; it cannot skip
  it.
* The author's value: the versioned save, gated by Parable responsibility
  like every other edit.

A matching `versioned` rule in the selected [Policy](/ponder/parables/pieces/policies)
can route a Workspace edit through its authoring draft. Custom access rules
are not evaluated yet. Workspace-scope history shows who set a value and when.

## Reference

Generated Workspace API reference for this Piece:

* [Read a Preference's past values](/protocols/reference/web-api/parable-authoring-read-parable-preference-record-history)
* [Read the Policies in force](/protocols/reference/web-api/parable-authoring-read-parable-policies)
* [Edit a Piece in Personal mode](/protocols/reference/web-api/parable-authoring-save-workspace-parable-primary)
* [Edit a Piece in Publishing mode](/protocols/reference/web-api/parable-authoring-save-workspace-parable-proposal)