diff --git a/.env.template b/.env.template
index 1c164911..2487ab90 100644
--- a/.env.template
+++ b/.env.template
@@ -16,13 +16,13 @@ OPENAI_API_KEY=your-openai-api-key
 ## USER_AGENT - Define the user-agent used by the requests library to browse website (string)
 # USER_AGENT="Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_4) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/83.0.4103.97 Safari/537.36"
 
-## AI_SETTINGS_FILE - Specifies which AI Settings file to use (defaults to ai_settings.yaml)
+## AI_SETTINGS_FILE - Specifies which AI Settings file to use, relative to the Auto-GPT root directory. (defaults to ai_settings.yaml)
 # AI_SETTINGS_FILE=ai_settings.yaml
 
-## PLUGINS_CONFIG_FILE - The path to the plugins_config.yaml file (Default plugins_config.yaml)
+## PLUGINS_CONFIG_FILE - The path to the plugins_config.yaml file, relative to the Auto-GPT root directory. (Default plugins_config.yaml)
 # PLUGINS_CONFIG_FILE=plugins_config.yaml
 
-## PROMPT_SETTINGS_FILE - Specifies which Prompt Settings file to use (defaults to prompt_settings.yaml)
+## PROMPT_SETTINGS_FILE - Specifies which Prompt Settings file to use, relative to the Auto-GPT root directory. (defaults to prompt_settings.yaml)
 # PROMPT_SETTINGS_FILE=prompt_settings.yaml
 
 ## OPENAI_API_BASE_URL - Custom url for the OpenAI API, useful for connecting to custom backends. No effect if USE_AZURE is true, leave blank to keep the default url
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ OPENAI_API_KEY=your-openai-api-key
 ## USE_AZURE - Use Azure OpenAI or not (Default: False)
 # USE_AZURE=False
 
-## AZURE_CONFIG_FILE - The path to the azure.yaml file (Default: azure.yaml)
+## AZURE_CONFIG_FILE - The path to the azure.yaml file, relative to the Auto-GPT root directory. (Default: azure.yaml)
 # AZURE_CONFIG_FILE=azure.yaml
 
 
diff --git a/BULLETIN.md b/BULLETIN.md
index a857a7ce..11cc6277 100644
--- a/BULLETIN.md
+++ b/BULLETIN.md
@@ -4,23 +4,24 @@
 📖 *User Guide*: https://docs.agpt.co.
 👩 *Contributors Wiki*: https://github.com/Significant-Gravitas/Auto-GPT/wiki/Contributing.
 
-# v0.4.5 RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS! 🚀
+# v0.4.6 RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS! 🚀
 # -----------------------------
-This release includes under-the-hood improvements and bug fixes, such as more 
-accurate token counts for OpenAI functions, faster CI builds, improved plugin 
-handling, and refactoring of the Config class for better maintainability.
+This release includes under-the-hood improvements and bug fixes, including better UTF-8
+special character support, workspace write access for sandboxed Python execution,
+more robust path resolution for config files and the workspace, and a full restructure
+of the Agent class, the "brain" of Auto-GPT, to make it more extensible.
 
 We have also released some documentation updates, including:
 
 - *How to share your system logs*
-  Visit [docs/share-your-logs.md] to learn how to how to share logs with us 
+  Visit [docs/share-your-logs.md] to learn how to how to share logs with us
   via a log analyzer graciously contributed by https://www.e2b.dev/
 
 - *Auto-GPT re-architecture documentation*
-  You can learn more about the inner-workings of the Auto-GPT re-architecture 
+  You can learn more about the inner-workings of the Auto-GPT re-architecture
   released last cycle, via these links:
   * [autogpt/core/README.md]
   * [autogpt/core/ARCHITECTURE_NOTES.md]
 
-Take a look at the Release Notes on Github for the full changelog! 
+Take a look at the Release Notes on Github for the full changelog!
 https://github.com/Significant-Gravitas/Auto-GPT/releases.
diff --git a/agbenchmark/benchmarks.py b/agbenchmark/benchmarks.py
index ea884b3a..b3df8020 100644
--- a/agbenchmark/benchmarks.py
+++ b/agbenchmark/benchmarks.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ def bootstrap_agent(task, continuous_mode) -> Agent:
     config.plain_output = True
     command_registry = get_command_registry(config)
     config.memory_backend = "no_memory"
-    config.workspace_path = Workspace.set_workspace_directory(config)
+    config.workspace_path = Workspace.init_workspace_directory(config)
     config.file_logger_path = Workspace.build_file_logger_path(config.workspace_path)
     ai_config = AIConfig(
         ai_name="Auto-GPT",
diff --git a/autogpt/app/cli.py b/autogpt/app/cli.py
index dcb70c08..d5b17c8c 100644
--- a/autogpt/app/cli.py
+++ b/autogpt/app/cli.py
@@ -16,7 +16,10 @@ import click
 @click.option(
     "--ai-settings",
     "-C",
-    help="Specifies which ai_settings.yaml file to use, will also automatically skip the re-prompt.",
+    help=(
+        "Specifies which ai_settings.yaml file to use, relative to the Auto-GPT"
+        " root directory. Will also automatically skip the re-prompt."
+    ),
 )
 @click.option(
     "--prompt-settings",
@@ -129,7 +132,9 @@ def main(
             browser_name=browser_name,
             allow_downloads=allow_downloads,
             skip_news=skip_news,
-            working_directory=Path(__file__).parent.parent,  # TODO: make this an option
+            working_directory=Path(
+                __file__
+            ).parent.parent.parent,  # TODO: make this an option
             workspace_directory=workspace_directory,
             install_plugin_deps=install_plugin_deps,
             ai_name=ai_name,
diff --git a/autogpt/app/main.py b/autogpt/app/main.py
index fa61eeaf..d73a511d 100644
--- a/autogpt/app/main.py
+++ b/autogpt/app/main.py
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ def run_auto_gpt(
     # TODO: have this directory live outside the repository (e.g. in a user's
     #   home directory) and have it come in as a command line argument or part of
     #   the env file.
-    config.workspace_path = Workspace.set_workspace_directory(
+    config.workspace_path = Workspace.init_workspace_directory(
         config, workspace_directory
     )
 
@@ -511,7 +511,7 @@ Continue ({config.authorise_key}/{config.exit_key}): """,
 
     if any([not ai_config.ai_name, not ai_config.ai_role, not ai_config.ai_goals]):
         ai_config = prompt_user(config)
-        ai_config.save(config.ai_settings_file)
+        ai_config.save(config.workdir / config.ai_settings_file)
 
     if config.restrict_to_workspace:
         logger.typewriter_log(
diff --git a/autogpt/commands/file_operations.py b/autogpt/commands/file_operations.py
index 715a90ae..adafe14e 100644
--- a/autogpt/commands/file_operations.py
+++ b/autogpt/commands/file_operations.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ def text_checksum(text: str) -> str:
 
 
 def operations_from_log(
-    log_path: str,
+    log_path: str | Path,
 ) -> Generator[tuple[Operation, str, str | None], None, None]:
     """Parse the file operations log and return a tuple containing the log entries"""
     try:
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ def operations_from_log(
     log.close()
 
 
-def file_operations_state(log_path: str) -> dict[str, str]:
+def file_operations_state(log_path: str | Path) -> dict[str, str]:
     """Iterates over the operations log and returns the expected state.
 
     Parses a log file at config.file_logger_path to construct a dictionary that maps
diff --git a/autogpt/config/config.py b/autogpt/config/config.py
index 5b371f5e..66f2e871 100644
--- a/autogpt/config/config.py
+++ b/autogpt/config/config.py
@@ -15,8 +15,11 @@ from pydantic import Field, validator
 from autogpt.core.configuration.schema import Configurable, SystemSettings
 from autogpt.plugins.plugins_config import PluginsConfig
 
+AI_SETTINGS_FILE = "ai_settings.yaml"
 AZURE_CONFIG_FILE = "azure.yaml"
 PLUGINS_CONFIG_FILE = "plugins_config.yaml"
+PROMPT_SETTINGS_FILE = "prompt_settings.yaml"
+
 GPT_4_MODEL = "gpt-4"
 GPT_3_MODEL = "gpt-3.5-turbo"
 
@@ -44,11 +47,11 @@ class Config(SystemSettings, arbitrary_types_allowed=True):
     # Agent Control Settings #
     ##########################
     # Paths
-    ai_settings_file: str = "ai_settings.yaml"
-    prompt_settings_file: str = "prompt_settings.yaml"
+    ai_settings_file: str = AI_SETTINGS_FILE
+    prompt_settings_file: str = PROMPT_SETTINGS_FILE
     workdir: Path = None
     workspace_path: Optional[Path] = None
-    file_logger_path: Optional[str] = None
+    file_logger_path: Optional[Path] = None
     # Model configuration
     fast_llm: str = "gpt-3.5-turbo"
     smart_llm: str = "gpt-4"
@@ -218,8 +221,10 @@ class ConfigBuilder(Configurable[Config]):
             "exit_key": os.getenv("EXIT_KEY"),
             "plain_output": os.getenv("PLAIN_OUTPUT", "False") == "True",
             "shell_command_control": os.getenv("SHELL_COMMAND_CONTROL"),
-            "ai_settings_file": os.getenv("AI_SETTINGS_FILE"),
-            "prompt_settings_file": os.getenv("PROMPT_SETTINGS_FILE"),
+            "ai_settings_file": os.getenv("AI_SETTINGS_FILE", AI_SETTINGS_FILE),
+            "prompt_settings_file": os.getenv(
+                "PROMPT_SETTINGS_FILE", PROMPT_SETTINGS_FILE
+            ),
             "fast_llm": os.getenv("FAST_LLM", os.getenv("FAST_LLM_MODEL")),
             "smart_llm": os.getenv("SMART_LLM", os.getenv("SMART_LLM_MODEL")),
             "embedding_model": os.getenv("EMBEDDING_MODEL"),
@@ -256,7 +261,9 @@ class ConfigBuilder(Configurable[Config]):
             "redis_password": os.getenv("REDIS_PASSWORD"),
             "wipe_redis_on_start": os.getenv("WIPE_REDIS_ON_START", "True") == "True",
             "plugins_dir": os.getenv("PLUGINS_DIR"),
-            "plugins_config_file": os.getenv("PLUGINS_CONFIG_FILE"),
+            "plugins_config_file": os.getenv(
+                "PLUGINS_CONFIG_FILE", PLUGINS_CONFIG_FILE
+            ),
             "chat_messages_enabled": os.getenv("CHAT_MESSAGES_ENABLED") == "True",
         }
 
diff --git a/autogpt/core/runner/cli_web_app/server/api.py b/autogpt/core/runner/cli_web_app/server/api.py
index 2dc3f010..1ba0974b 100644
--- a/autogpt/core/runner/cli_web_app/server/api.py
+++ b/autogpt/core/runner/cli_web_app/server/api.py
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ def bootstrap_agent(task, continuous_mode) -> Agent:
     config.plain_output = True
     command_registry = get_command_registry(config)
     config.memory_backend = "no_memory"
-    config.workspace_path = Workspace.set_workspace_directory(config)
+    config.workspace_path = Workspace.init_workspace_directory(config)
     config.file_logger_path = Workspace.build_file_logger_path(config.workspace_path)
     ai_config = AIConfig(
         ai_name="Auto-GPT",
diff --git a/autogpt/workspace/workspace.py b/autogpt/workspace/workspace.py
index 510d18a4..2176d414 100644
--- a/autogpt/workspace/workspace.py
+++ b/autogpt/workspace/workspace.py
@@ -144,21 +144,24 @@ class Workspace:
         return full_path
 
     @staticmethod
-    def build_file_logger_path(workspace_directory: Path) -> str:
+    def build_file_logger_path(workspace_directory: Path) -> Path:
         file_logger_path = workspace_directory / "file_logger.txt"
         if not file_logger_path.exists():
             with file_logger_path.open(mode="w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
                 f.write("File Operation Logger ")
-        return str(file_logger_path)
+        return file_logger_path
 
     @staticmethod
-    def set_workspace_directory(
-        config: Config, workspace_directory: Optional[str | Path] = None
+    def init_workspace_directory(
+        config: Config, override_workspace_path: Optional[str | Path] = None
     ) -> Path:
-        if workspace_directory is None:
-            workspace_directory = config.workdir / "auto_gpt_workspace"
-        elif type(workspace_directory) == str:
-            workspace_directory = Path(workspace_directory)
+        if override_workspace_path is None:
+            workspace_path = config.workdir / "auto_gpt_workspace"
+        elif type(override_workspace_path) == str:
+            workspace_path = Path(override_workspace_path)
+        else:
+            workspace_path = override_workspace_path
+
         # TODO: pass in the ai_settings file and the env file and have them cloned into
         #   the workspace directory so we can bind them to the agent.
-        return Workspace.make_workspace(workspace_directory)
+        return Workspace.make_workspace(workspace_path)
diff --git a/benchmarks.py b/benchmarks.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9cf93aca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks.py
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+from pathlib import Path
+
+from autogpt.agents import Agent
+from autogpt.app.main import run_interaction_loop
+from autogpt.commands import COMMAND_CATEGORIES
+from autogpt.config import AIConfig, Config, ConfigBuilder
+from autogpt.memory.vector import get_memory
+from autogpt.models.command_registry import CommandRegistry
+from autogpt.prompts.prompt import DEFAULT_TRIGGERING_PROMPT
+from autogpt.workspace import Workspace
+
+PROJECT_DIR = Path().resolve()
+
+
+def run_task(task) -> None:
+    agent = bootstrap_agent(task)
+    run_interaction_loop(agent)
+
+
+def bootstrap_agent(task):
+    config = ConfigBuilder.build_config_from_env(workdir=PROJECT_DIR)
+    config.continuous_mode = False
+    config.temperature = 0
+    config.plain_output = True
+    command_registry = get_command_registry(config)
+    config.memory_backend = "no_memory"
+    config.workspace_path = Workspace.init_workspace_directory(config)
+    config.file_logger_path = Workspace.build_file_logger_path(config.workspace_path)
+    ai_config = AIConfig(
+        ai_name="Auto-GPT",
+        ai_role="a multi-purpose AI assistant.",
+        ai_goals=[task.user_input],
+    )
+    ai_config.command_registry = command_registry
+    return Agent(
+        memory=get_memory(config),
+        command_registry=command_registry,
+        ai_config=ai_config,
+        config=config,
+        triggering_prompt=DEFAULT_TRIGGERING_PROMPT,
+    )
+
+
+def get_command_registry(config: Config):
+    command_registry = CommandRegistry()
+    enabled_command_categories = [
+        x for x in COMMAND_CATEGORIES if x not in config.disabled_command_categories
+    ]
+    for command_category in enabled_command_categories:
+        command_registry.import_commands(command_category)
+    return command_registry
diff --git a/docs/configuration/memory.md b/docs/configuration/memory.md
index cfffe9c9..9d18f5ba 100644
--- a/docs/configuration/memory.md
+++ b/docs/configuration/memory.md
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ View memory usage by using the `--debug` flag :)
 ## 🧠 Memory pre-seeding
 
 !!! warning
-    Data ingestion is broken in v0.4.5 and possibly earlier versions. This is a known issue that will be addressed in future releases. Follow these issues for updates.
+    Data ingestion is broken in v0.4.6 and possibly earlier versions. This is a known issue that will be addressed in future releases. Follow these issues for updates.
     [Issue 4435](https://github.com/Significant-Gravitas/Auto-GPT/issues/4435)
     [Issue 4024](https://github.com/Significant-Gravitas/Auto-GPT/issues/4024)
     [Issue 2076](https://github.com/Significant-Gravitas/Auto-GPT/issues/2076)
diff --git a/docs/configuration/options.md b/docs/configuration/options.md
index b9c67806..c0c386d5 100644
--- a/docs/configuration/options.md
+++ b/docs/configuration/options.md
@@ -4,9 +4,10 @@ Configuration is controlled through the `Config` object. You can set configurati
 
 ## Environment Variables
 
-- `AI_SETTINGS_FILE`: Location of AI Settings file. Default: ai_settings.yaml
+- `AI_SETTINGS_FILE`: Location of the AI Settings file relative to the Auto-GPT root directory. Default: ai_settings.yaml
 - `AUDIO_TO_TEXT_PROVIDER`: Audio To Text Provider. Only option currently is `huggingface`. Default: huggingface
 - `AUTHORISE_COMMAND_KEY`: Key response accepted when authorising commands. Default: y
+- `AZURE_CONFIG_FILE`: Location of the Azure Config file relative to the Auto-GPT root directory. Default: azure.yaml
 - `BROWSE_CHUNK_MAX_LENGTH`: When browsing website, define the length of chunks to summarize. Default: 3000
 - `BROWSE_SPACY_LANGUAGE_MODEL`: [spaCy language model](https://spacy.io/usage/models) to use when creating chunks. Default: en_core_web_sm
 - `CHAT_MESSAGES_ENABLED`: Enable chat messages. Optional
@@ -32,8 +33,8 @@ Configuration is controlled through the `Config` object. You can set configurati
 - `OPENAI_API_KEY`: *REQUIRED*- Your [OpenAI API Key](https://platform.openai.com/account/api-keys).
 - `OPENAI_ORGANIZATION`: Organization ID in OpenAI. Optional.
 - `PLAIN_OUTPUT`: Plain output, which disables the spinner. Default: False
-- `PLUGINS_CONFIG_FILE`: Path of plugins_config.yaml file. Default: plugins_config.yaml
-- `PROMPT_SETTINGS_FILE`: Location of Prompt Settings file. Default: prompt_settings.yaml
+- `PLUGINS_CONFIG_FILE`: Path of the Plugins Config file relative to the Auto-GPT root directory. Default: plugins_config.yaml
+- `PROMPT_SETTINGS_FILE`: Location of the Prompt Settings file relative to the Auto-GPT root directory. Default: prompt_settings.yaml
 - `REDIS_HOST`: Redis Host. Default: localhost
 - `REDIS_PASSWORD`: Redis Password. Optional. Default:
 - `REDIS_PORT`: Redis Port. Default: 6379
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index f16ee501..da0fcdd6 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "hatchling.build"
 
 [project]
 name = "agpt"
-version = "0.4.5"
+version = "0.4.6"
 authors = [
   { name="Torantulino", email="support@agpt.co" },
 ]
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index 1efd6204..cfcebcb7 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@ def config(
     if not os.environ.get("OPENAI_API_KEY"):
         os.environ["OPENAI_API_KEY"] = "sk-dummy"
 
+    config.workspace_path = workspace.root
+
     # HACK: this is necessary to ensure PLAIN_OUTPUT takes effect
     logger.config = config
 
@@ -84,7 +86,7 @@ def api_manager() -> ApiManager:
 
 
 @pytest.fixture
-def agent(config: Config, workspace: Workspace) -> Agent:
+def agent(config: Config) -> Agent:
     ai_config = AIConfig(
         ai_name="Base",
         ai_role="A base AI",
diff --git a/tests/integration/agent_factory.py b/tests/integration/agent_factory.py
index 45d195e3..620721a8 100644
--- a/tests/integration/agent_factory.py
+++ b/tests/integration/agent_factory.py
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ from autogpt.agents import Agent
 from autogpt.config import AIConfig, Config
 from autogpt.memory.vector import get_memory
 from autogpt.models.command_registry import CommandRegistry
-from autogpt.workspace import Workspace
 
 
 @pytest.fixture
@@ -20,7 +19,7 @@ def memory_json_file(config: Config):
 
 
 @pytest.fixture
-def dummy_agent(config: Config, memory_json_file, workspace: Workspace):
+def dummy_agent(config: Config, memory_json_file):
     command_registry = CommandRegistry()
 
     ai_config = AIConfig(