Task lifecycle
How a task moves from request to merged pull request, and what's expected of you at each step.
Every task you start with Andy — whether from Slack or the web app — moves through a predictable set of stages. This page is the canonical reference: the labels you'll see, what Andy is doing in each stage, and what (if anything) is waiting on you.
The journey at a glance
A typical task moves through five stages:
- You ask. You describe the work — a question, a change, a bug.
- Andy plans. Andy reads the relevant code and proposes an approach for you to review.
- You approve the plan. Andy hands the plan to the Coding Agent, which writes the code on a fresh branch.
- Andy posts a walkthrough. You review what changed and either approve or ask for revisions.
- Andy opens the PR. You review and merge it the same way you'd review any teammate's PR.
You can stop after any stage. Plenty of tasks end after stage 2 — Andy explained something or produced a plan you'll implement yourself, and that's all you needed.
Statuses you'll see
Tasks in the Tasks list are grouped by status. The label tells you what's happening and whether action is on you or on Andy.
| Group / status | What it means | Who needs to act |
|---|---|---|
| Planning | Andy is figuring out the approach | Andy |
| Needs plan approval | Andy has a plan ready and is waiting for you to approve it | You |
| Implementing | Andy is writing the code | Andy |
| In review | Andy is waiting on you — to approve the walkthrough, or to merge an open PR | You |
| Ready for PR | A short transitional state while Andy opens the PR | Andy |
| Done | The PR merged, or the task was marked complete | No one — task is closed |
The two groups in bold-italic above are where the task is parked waiting on you. Tasks list shows a Review badge on these so you can spot them at a glance.
When a task doesn't follow the path
Not every task makes it to a merged PR. The other statuses you may see:
- PR rejected — you closed the PR on GitHub or GitLab without merging. The branch stays around if you want to revisit.
- Blocked — Andy hit something it couldn't resolve on its own (e.g., missing access, a broken test suite). Andy explains what's wrong in the thread; reply with the missing context to unblock.
- On hold — the task is paused, usually because you asked for it. It stays here until you reopen it.
- Abandoned — you discarded the work via Discard and exit. The branch is gone.
Where you'll see status
You'll see the status of a task in three places:
- The status badge on the Tasks list and on each task card
- The properties panel on the task details page, with a 3-step progress indicator (Plan → Walkthrough → Review and merge)
- Slack — Andy mentions status changes in the thread as they happen
The Slack thread, the task details page, and the PR all stay linked, so you can jump between them at any point.
What's next
- Watch a task go through these stages live in Conversation flow
- See what's happening behind the scenes during the Implementing stage in How task execution works
- Review and merge a finished task in Reviewing Andy's work