cd and setq default-directory in .spacemacs not working

[sid-kap]

I tried adding

(cd "/Users/sidharthkapur/workspace")
(setq default-directory "/Users/sidharthkapur/workspace")

to dotspacemacs/user-config and to dotspacemacs/user-init but neither seems to work. I want ivy to default to the workspace folder when I do find-file (SPC f f).

It does work if I do SPC SPC and choose cd and type in /Users/sidharthkapur/workspace

[bcc32]

default-directory is a buffer-local variable in Emacs, and SPC f f will always start from the default-directory of the current buffer (e.g., the containing directory of the file you're looking at).

Are you trying to make SPC f f always start from a particular directory, no matter what file you're in?

Maybe what you're looking for is something like SPC p f instead, which finds files based on the root of the current project (such as a git repo)?

[sid-kap]

Thanks so much for explaining! My bad for not understanding this properly.

I wanted SPC f f to always open to ~/workspace just for the spacemacs home buffer, so before I've opened a file/entered a project.
Doesn't seem like a bug in spacemacs, so feel free to close

[bcc32]

You could probably do something like:

(add-hook 'spacemacs-buffer-mode-hook (lambda () (setq default-directory "~/workspace/")))

But indeed, I think this is up to your personal preference and not a bug in Spacemacs. (I don't have maintainer access to this repo so I can't close the issue for you, sorry)

[sid-kap]

This is really helpful, thanks so much!