Managing Columns (Statuses)

Each task board is made up of columns, and a column is a task status. You can add, rename, recolour, reposition, and delete columns to match the way your team works.

Default columns

A new board starts with three columns: To Do, In Progress, and Done. (Boards created from a template start with that template's columns instead.) The system also recognises special statuses such as Completed, Incomplete, and Waiting Approval.

How to add a column

1. Open the board.
2. Click Add Column.
3. Enter a Column Name.
4. Choose a Position (before or after an existing column).
5. Choose a Label Color.
6. Click Save.

A column name must be unique on its board. If you try to reuse a name, you are asked to update the existing status instead.

How to edit a column

1. Open the column header menu (the "⋯" control).
2. Choose Edit.
3. Change the Column Name, Position, or Label Color.
4. Click Save.

Editing the name of a normal column updates its underlying identifier, but the special statuses (Completed, Incomplete, Waiting Approval) keep their identifiers even if you rename them.

How to reposition a column

There is no drag-to-reorder for columns. Instead, set the Position (Before / After another column) in the Add or Edit column dialog.

How to change a column's colour

Use the Label Color picker in the Add or Edit column dialog. The colour appears as a dot next to the column name and on the board's cards.

How to delete a column

1. Open the column header menu (the "⋯" control).
2. Choose Delete and confirm.

When you delete a column, its tasks are moved to the lowest-priority remaining column on the board, and the other columns shift to close the gap.

Some columns cannot be deleted: the Completed, Incomplete, and Waiting Approval statuses, and the column set as the company default status.

Collapsing columns (per user)

Click the collapse control on a column header to minimise it. This only affects your own view.

The "Completed" column

The column with the Completed status drives completion behaviour: when a task is moved into it, the task is marked done and its completion date is recorded. This is why the Completed status is protected from deletion.

Permissions

• Adding, editing, repositioning, and deleting columns requires full board management permission (admin-level).
• Any user can collapse columns in their own view.

Tips

• Keep column names short — long names are truncated on the header.
• Put your "done" column last and make sure your workflow ends at the Completed status so completion tracking works.
• Use distinct colours so the board is easy to scan at a glance.

AI agent instructions

A column can carry AI Agent Instructions — plain-English rules an AI assistant follows while a task sits in that column ("acknowledge within an hour", "check the acceptance criteria before approving"). The board itself carries its own brief that applies to every task on it.

Set them in three places, whichever suits:

• the Add / Edit column popup — the instructions box is on the form;
• the column's ⋯ menu → AI Instructions, which opens that same form focused on the box;
• AI Instructions on the board switcher (or a board card on All Boards), which edits the board brief and every column in one screen.

Columns that carry instructions show a small robot icon on the board; hovering it previews the text.

The in-app assistant reads these before it creates, moves or reports on a task. So do external agents: the REST API and the MCP server expose ai_instructions on both /task-board and /taskboard-columns.