Every item in Craft.io has a status. Statuses describe where a piece of work stands - from the moment it is added to your backlog to the moment it is shipped.
Getting your workflow right is foundational: statuses power your views, progress calculations, filters, and dev tool automation rules. Everything that tracks progress in Craft.io runs through this configuration.
Understanding status categories
Every status in Craft.io belongs to one of three categories. These categories determine how the status behaves in views and progress calculations - not just how it is labeled.
Open - work that has not yet started. Items in this category register as 0% complete
In Progress - work that is actively being worked on. Items in this category register as 0% complete but are visible as active in views
Done - work that is finished. Items in this category register as 100% complete and drive progress rollup up the hierarchy
Within each category, you can create as many statuses as your workflow requires. For example, "In Design", "In Development", and "In Review" can all sit under In Progress. "Dev Done" and "Deployed" can both sit under Done.
Your status categories can be easily renamed - via Workflow and Statuses → Customize
Configuring your statuses
Follow these steps:
Navigate to Workspace Settings
Select Workflow & Statuses
Review the default statuses and customize them to match your team's workflow
You can use Craft.io's default workflow as a starting point. Most teams adapt it over time rather than building from scratch - the defaults cover the most common stages and are already mapped to the correct categories.
Editing statuses
You can rename, recolor, and reorder statuses at any time.
To rename - click the status name and type a new one
To recolor - click the colored circle next to the status name and select a new color
To reorder - drag the status to a new position within its category
Changes apply immediately across your Workspace. Renaming a status does not affect any items already assigned to it.
Adding new statuses
Follow these steps:
Open Workspace Settings → Statuses → Workflow & Statuses
Scroll to the category where you want to add the status
Click + Add Status at the bottom of that category
Name the status and assign a color
You can add as many statuses as your workflow requires within each category.
The Completed status
Completed is a system status in Craft.io. It sits outside the three categories and cannot be deleted or renamed.
Items set to Completed are hidden by default across all views. This keeps your active views focused on work in progress. To view completed items, add a Status filter to any view and include Completed in the selection.
How statuses drive progress
Progress in Craft.io is calculated based on status categories, not individual status names. Any status in the Done category - including custom statuses you create there - registers as 100% complete at the item level. Any status in Open or In Progress registers as 0%.
A parent item's progress is derived from how many of its child items are in a Done category status. For example, an Epic with 2 Features in a Done status and 1 Feature In Progress shows 67% completion.
This is why configuring your status categories correctly matters. If a status is in the wrong category, progress will not calculate accurately - and your Progress Dashboard will not reflect reality.
Viewing and updating item statuses
The Status field is visible across all views - Table, Kanban, Swimlanes, Timeline, and Progress Dashboard.
To update an item's status, follow these steps:
Click any item in your view (e.g Table view)
Select a new status from the status dropdown in the item properties status field
Note, this can also be done directly within a view, without opening up an individual item.
Teams using a Table, Kanban, Swimlanes or Timeline view can update status by dragging items between columns if you're grouping by the Status field - each column or swimlane represents a status, and moving a card updates the value immediately.
Status automation rules
If your Workspace is connected to a dev tool (Jira, Azure DevOps, or Linear), you can configure automation rules that update Craft.io statuses automatically when your engineering team moves work in their tool.
Follow these steps:
Open Workspace Settings → Statuses → Status Mapping
Click Add Rule
Select the relevant Dev Status in your development tool (e.g Jira), and the corresponding status in Craft.io
Save your rule and apply changes
💡 This is one of the most common setup gaps - status automations are not configured by default and must be set up manually. Without them, Craft.io statuses will not reflect what is happening in your dev tool. See How to automate status updates from your dev tool for a full setup guide.
What comes next?
With your workflow configured, the next step is connecting it to your reporting. Head to the Progress Dashboard to see how your status categories are driving completion percentages across your Workspace - and confirm that items are rolling up as expected.
If your team is integrated with a dev tool, set up Status Automation Rules to keep Craft.io statuses in sync with your engineering workflow automatically.
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