Workflows

A workflow is the set of named status columns that items move through in a project. Each column has:

Name — the label shown on the board (e.g., "In Progress")
Category — todo, in_progress, or done
WIP limit — optional cap on how many items can be in this column at once
Order — left-to-right position on the board

Every project stores exactly one WorkflowConfig as JSON — no schema migration needed to change it.

Built-in Project Types

When you create a project, its type determines the starting workflow. Everything can be changed afterwards.

Type	Style	Default Columns
`software`, `web`, `mobile`	Scrum	Backlog → To Do → In Progress → In Review → Done
`construction`	Phase-based, strict	Permit → Procurement → Build → Inspect → Handover
`legal`	Phase-based	Intake → Discovery → Drafting → Review → Closed
`research`	Kanban	Hypothesis → Design → Experiment → Analysis → Published
`event`	Phase-based	Ideas → Booked → In Progress → Confirmed → Done
`personal`, `homework`	Simple	To Do → Doing → Done
`maintenance`	Kanban	Backlog → In Progress → Done (no sprints)
`custom`	Simple	To Do → Doing → Done (fully editable)

Strict Transitions (Construction Workflow)

Most workflows let you move an item to any column. The construction workflow enforces strict linear transitions: items must move through columns in order.

From	Only allowed next step
Permit	Procurement
Procurement	Build
Build	Inspect
Inspect	Handover

Attempting to move a "Build" item directly to "Handover" is rejected by the API (422 Unprocessable Entity). This prevents accidentally skipping required phases — regulatory sign-offs, physical dependencies, multi-party hand-offs.

Enable or disable strict transitions on any workflow from Settings → Workflow → Strict transitions toggle.

Changing a Workflow After Creation

In the UI: Settings → Workflow → add/remove/rename columns, set WIP limits, toggle strict transitions → Save.

Existing items keep their current status name. If you rename a column, items in the old status are not migrated automatically — update them via the board or the API.

Via API:

curl -X PATCH http://localhost:3210/api/projects/{id} \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "workflow": {
      "columns": [
        {"name":"Permit",      "category":"todo",        "wip_limit":null, "order":0},
        {"name":"Procurement", "category":"in_progress", "wip_limit":2,    "order":1},
        {"name":"Build",       "category":"in_progress", "wip_limit":3,    "order":2},
        {"name":"Inspect",     "category":"in_progress", "wip_limit":1,    "order":3},
        {"name":"Handover",    "category":"done",        "wip_limit":null, "order":4}
      ],
      "strict_transitions": true
    }
  }'

WIP Limits

A WIP limit caps the number of items in a column. Adding a card beyond the limit is blocked in the UI (the card snaps back) and rejected by the API.

WIP limits are enforced on new moves, not retroactively. If you set a limit of 3 on a column that already has 5 items, the existing 5 are unaffected — but no more can enter until the count drops below 3.

Set limits on bottleneck stages (code review, inspection, QA) to surface overload before it compounds.

Status Categories

Every column belongs to one category:

Category	Meaning	Side effects
`todo`	Not started	Items default here on creation
`in_progress`	Being worked on	Sets `started_at` on first move in
`done`	Complete	Sets `completed_at`; triggers auto-complete check on parent

Categories drive reporting (cycle time, throughput) and auto-complete logic. Only column names are shown in the UI.

Auto-Complete (Parent Rollup)

When an item moves to a done column, Tack checks whether all siblings under the same parent are also done. If they are, the parent auto-moves to its own done column. This cascades up the hierarchy.

Example:

Epic "User Auth" has three tasks: Register, Login, Logout.
Complete Register → epic unchanged (Login and Logout still open).
Complete Login → epic unchanged.
Complete Logout → all children done → epic auto-completes. ✓

Auto-complete is best-effort: errors (e.g., parent has no done column) are silently ignored and do not block the child update.

Tack Documentation