Did you also update your .spacemacs file from the template, SPC f e D. Have you restarted Emacs since the upgrade? Have you updated the packages?

This is the update process I use https://practicalli.github.io/spacemacs/install-spacemacs/update.html

Thanks. I will try to update .spacemacs file.

https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs/blob/develop/doc/DOCUMENTATION.org#layouts-and-workspaces

Thanks! very helpful.

I put each project in its own layout and have just one frame, then use SPC l TAB to swich to the previous projects. Or use SPC l 3 to swich to layout 3. If you have more than 10 layouts, then SPC l l gives a helm list of layouts which you can narrow by typing the layout name (just like file find). https://practicalli.github.io/spacemacs/why-spacemacs/layouts.html

Yes, that's basically what I use too. It's worth noting that sometimes buffers end up in a wrong layer so you can also add/remove buffer to/from the current perspective. And the default (the first one) will always contain all the open buffers

You can try treemacs

Yes, thanks all. I've found that using layouts makes things much better. Some things are still strange though; for example, if I space b b to view my cider repl buffers I can only access them from the default layout, which is ok, though I would prefer to be able to see the repl output streams in the same layout where I am executing expressions

SPC b B shows all the buffers from any layout

if you’re on a Mac, you can do something like:

(when (eq system-type 'darwin)
  (global-set-key (kbd "s-b") 'spacemacs-layouts/non-restricted-buffer-list-helm))

that will bind “Show All buffers” to CMD+b

once you switch to the buffer you like you can add it to the current layout: SPC l a

you should be able to see the repl buffers with SPC b b in your Clojure layout if you type repl as the pattern in the helm popup for SPC b b. I was doing that earlier this year... unless that has changed now...

, s s or M-RET s s will switch between source and associated repl buffer, opening a new window for the repl buffer if its not already open

ah, but sometimes you have 2 independent repl buffers per project - for clojure and for clojurescript.

but I think you’re right, , s s should automatically add the buffer to the list of layout buffers