# Concepts

Gain a basic understanding of Lora's design so you can set up your workspace and navigate efficiently.

## Basic concepts

### Workspace

A Lora workspace is the container for all shortcuts, folders, tags, and other concepts relating to an individual team or organization. As a user, you can have accounts on one or many workspaces. Workspaces each have a unique URL in the style `app.uselora.com/example`. You can belong to several workspaces at once, and each has its own members and data. Switching between them is simple using the dropdown menu in the top-left corner of the app. When you log into Lora, you're logging into a specific workspace.

Inside a workspace, your role (Owner, Admin, or Member) decides what you can change. Your role is set on your membership, not on you as a user — being an Admin in one workspace says nothing about your role in another. See [Members and roles](/docs/members-and-roles).

### Shortcuts

The shortcut is the most important concept in Lora. A shortcut is a short, memorable URL that redirects to a longer destination. Every shortcut must have a unique slug within its workspace and a destination URL, while details such as description or tags are optional. This makes it fast to create shortcuts and easy to keep them organized. For example, you might create /handbook that points to your HR documentation or /meeting-room that instantly opens your team's Zoom call.

Every shortcut has an **owner** — the person who created it, or whoever it was transferred to — and a **visibility** (Workspace, Unlisted, or Private). The owner can always edit and delete their own shortcuts. Whether anyone else can depends on visibility and the workspace's permission settings. See [Shortcut ownership](/docs/members-and-roles#shortcut-ownership) for the rules.

## Organizing shortcuts

### Folders

[Folders](/docs/folders) make it possible to group shortcuts that belong together, such as those used by a department or project. Each shortcut belongs to one folder, and each folder has its own page where you can see all of its shortcuts, details, and usage statistics. This structure keeps related resources visible in one place and makes it easier for your team to discover what they need.

### Tags

[Tags](/docs/tags) provide a more flexible way to organize shortcuts across projects and folders. They let you assign meaningful categories to multiple shortcuts so you can see connections that cut across the usual structure. For example, you could tag shortcuts to Jira, Linear, and Asana all with “project management,” or group vacation, payroll, and benefits shortcuts under “HR.” Tags can be filtered across the workspace, giving you a clear overview of how shortcuts are categorized.

## Browser Extension

The [Lora browser extension](/docs/get-the-app) gives you direct access to shortcuts from your address bar. Once installed, you can type short followed by a space and the slug of the shortcut you want to use. As you type, autocomplete suggestions appear, making it faster to find what you need.

You can also use the extension to search across all shortcuts without leaving the browser. For example, typing short hr will suggest shortcuts such as /handbook or /vacation, while entering short jira-123 can take you straight to a specific Jira ticket.