Task statuses

A task status names the task's current lifecycle stage. Status definitions belong to the Organization and are reused through the bounded Workflow owned by each Space task type.

A task can be explicitly moved only to statuses in its task type's Workflow.

Status categories

Every status belongs to one fixed category:

Category	System meaning
Backlog	Work is parked and not ready to start.
Unstarted	Work is ready but has not started.
Started	Work is in progress.
Completed	Work is complete and terminal.
Canceled	Work will not continue and is terminal.
Duplicate	Work is represented by another task and is terminal.

Several visible statuses can share a category. For example, Development and Review can both be Started statuses.

Choose the category by lifecycle meaning, not by color or display order. Reporting, Sprint metrics, Agent run behavior, and terminal-state checks use the category.

Organization status catalog

Organization Owners and Admins manage the reusable status catalog in Task Statuses settings. Space Administrators can also create or edit shared statuses while configuring a task type Workflow in a Space they administer. A definition includes:

Name.

Description.

Color.

Category.

Position.

Usage information showing tasks and task types that use it.

Because a status can be shared by several task types and Spaces, editing it changes the same definition everywhere it is used.

Task type Workflows

Open a Space task type and use its Statuses tab to configure the bounded Workflow for that type.

You can:

Add existing Organization statuses.

Create a new Organization status and add it.

Reorder statuses.

Choose one default status.

Remove an unused status from the Workflow.

The default must be a member of the Workflow. New tasks of that type use this default when no status is supplied.

A Workflow must contain at least one status. A status cannot be removed while tasks of that type still use it.

Shared status edits

When a status is used by several task types, changing its name, color, description, or category affects all of them.

If only one task type should change, create a new status for that Workflow instead of editing the shared status. This avoids changing filters, reports, and boards that depend on the existing definition.

Status effects on Agent and Crew work

For tasks assigned to an Agent or Crew:

Creating or assigning the task in Backlog does not start a run.

Moving it from Backlog to a non-terminal status can start execution when the assigned Agent or Crew is ready.

Moving it to Canceled or Duplicate stops active runs initiated for the task.

Moving it to Completed makes the task terminal but does not cancel a run that is already active.

Comments can enqueue follow-up Agent work independently of the lifecycle category when the task has a ready assigned Agent and the commenter has permission to trigger it.

Task status and Agent working state are separate. A Started task can also show Working, Waiting for human reply, Waiting for human review, or Error.

Delete a status

Sharkly protects status definitions that are still required. A status cannot be deleted when it is:

The last status in its category.

Marked as the Organization default.

Used by tasks, unless those tasks are reassigned through the deletion flow.

Used by task type Workflows, unless those memberships are safely removed or reassigned.

Review usage before deleting. Creating a replacement and moving dependent tasks first is safer when historical work still depends on the status.

Duplicate status and duplicate target

When moving a task to a Duplicate-category status, choose the original task that it duplicates. The original must be in the same Space, cannot itself be a duplicate, and cannot be the current task.

This duplicate target is part of the task lifecycle action. It is separate from a general duplicates Linked item, which can express a relation without changing status.

Troubleshooting status selection

If a status does not appear or cannot be selected:

Confirm the task's Space and task type.

Open that task type's Statuses configuration.

Confirm the status is a member of its Workflow.

Check whether changing task type also requires choosing a compatible status.

Check whether the Space is retired and read-only.

Status categories#

Organization status catalog#

Task type Workflows#

Shared status edits#

Status effects on Agent and Crew work#

Delete a status#

Duplicate status and duplicate target#

Troubleshooting status selection#