Configure the workflow: states, kinds, priorities

Define the states every board uses, the kinds tickets can have, and the priorities, plus the rules for inbound tickets, customer resolution, and reopening.

Written for
admin
Roles
owner, admin
Requires
Owner or Admin
Feature
workflow

Every ticket has one kind, one state, and one priority. The workflow is the list of values they can take, and it is shared by every project and every board in the workspace. Owners and admins edit it under Settings → Workspace → Workflow and kinds. There is no state machine: anyone who may change a ticket can move it from any state to any other. The workflow decides what the board columns are, which states count as closed, and where a ticket lands when it is reopened.

Before you start

You need the Owner or Admin role. Integrations can read the workflow with an API key, but changes are made in the browser only.

States

The States list is in board order: the first state is the leftmost column on every board. Each state has:

Field Meaning
Key Lowercase letters, digits, underscores; starts with a letter; 2–32 characters. Fixed after creation.
Name 1–60 characters. Can change at any time.
Category Open or Closed. Moving a ticket into a closed state records when it closed; moving it back to an open state clears that.
Reopen target Exactly one state is the reopen target, and it must be open. A ticket that comes back to life lands here.
  • Add state creates a state at the end of the list; use Move up and Move down to reorder.
  • The reopen target cannot be re-categorised as closed and cannot be archived; pick another reopen target first.
  • Archive is refused while tickets are in the state: "Move the tickets in this state elsewhere before archiving it."

Kinds

A kind is what a ticket is: a bug, a support request, a piece of planned work. Kinds have a Key (fixed after creation) and a Name. Add kind appends one.

  • The kind selected as Inbound kind cannot be archived: "This kind receives inbound email. Choose another inbound kind first."
  • The last remaining kind cannot be archived: "A workspace needs at least one kind."

Kinds also carry the billing policy defaults per client and project; see Billing policies.

Priorities

Priorities are listed lowest first, and boards sort the tickets in a column by this order, highest priority at the top and most recently updated next. The lowest priority is shown without a badge on tickets. Each priority has a Key (fixed) and a Name; Add priority appends one at the high end.

  • The default priority cannot be archived: "This is the default priority. Choose another default first."
  • A priority still used by tickets cannot be archived: "Tickets still use this priority. Change them before archiving it."

Rules

Setting Meaning Constraint
Inbound kind Assigned to tickets created from email and by client users. Must be an active kind.
Customer-resolve state The closed state a regular client user may move their own ticket to. Disabled turns this off. Must be a closed state. Archiving that state resets the setting to Disabled.
Default priority Given to new tickets from every door (form, email, API) when none is chosen. Must be an active priority.
Reopen window (days) An email reply to a closed ticket within this many days reopens it into the reopen target. 0–365. Default 14. At 0, replies never reopen a ticket.

The reopen window is also shown under Settings → Billing → Period and run settings.

What archiving does

Archiving a state, kind, or priority does one thing: it disappears from the pickers; existing tickets keep it. A ticket on an archived kind still shows that kind until someone changes it. Archived values are not deleted and keep their key, so the same key cannot be given to a new value.

Defaults in a new workspace

List Values
Kinds Planning, Implementation, Bug, Support (inbound kind: Support)
States Backlog (open, reopen target), To do, In progress, Review, Done (closed, customer-resolve state)
Priorities No priority, Low, Medium (default), High, Urgent

Rename them freely; the keys stay.

Common problems

"A state with this key exists." Keys are unique, including archived ones. Choose another key, or rename the existing state instead.

"The reopen target must be an open state." You tried to set a closed state as the reopen target, or to close the current one. Move the reopen target to an open state first.

A ticket reopened by itself. An email reply arrived inside the reopen window. Shorten the window or set it to 0.

Why can't a client user close their ticket? The customer-resolve state is Disabled, or the ticket was not started by them. Only a regular client user's own tickets can be moved there.

  • State A state is a ticket's position on the board; each state is open or closed, one open state is the reopen target, and one closed state may be the customer-resolve state.
  • Kind A kind says what type of work a ticket is; the workspace defines its kinds, names an inbound kind for email and client tickets, and bills by kind.
  • Priority A priority ranks tickets on the board; the workspace orders its priorities from lowest to highest and names one as the default for new tickets.
  • Change a ticket's state Move a ticket between workflow states, close and reopen it, and understand what client users, email replies, and the reopen window can do.
  • Use boards Read the workspace and project boards, filter them, and change state or assignee by dragging cards with the mouse or keyboard or from the card menu.
  • Triage the Inbox Route unmatched email and client-started tickets into a project, or merge a message into an existing ticket, from the shared Inbox.
  • Billing policies Set per ticket kind whether work is paid, free, or drawn from a time bank, at the workspace, client, project, or ticket level, and understand which rule wins.
  • Labels Create, rename, and remove workspace labels, and how labels are applied to and filtered on tickets.
  • Workflow Read the workspace workflow (kinds, states, priorities, labels, and settings) with an API token, and the browser-only operations that change it, through the SAQ REST API.