Boards + Issues — Work Tracks

Boards + Issues — Work Tracks

See also: overview.md | value-streams.md | sal.md

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Component Card

Owner	Sal
MCP	@sector137/mcp-pipeline
Slash	/pipeline
CLI	sector137 pipeline boards
SDK	sdk.pipeline().listBoards()
Status	active

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TL;DR

• Boards are named work track containers — the Pipeline’s organizational layer for parallel threads of activity
• Every universe starts with Intake — the system-generated default board that cannot be renamed, edited, or deleted
• Named boards (Discovery, Delivery, Design Sprint, Hardening) are created by the captain for dedicated work tracks
• Issue placement is permanent — board_id is immutable after creation; issues never move between boards
• Board-scoped labels give each board its own vocabulary without cross-contamination
• Boards are the materialization of dual-track agile: Discovery and Delivery living side by side

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What Boards Are

Status: LIVE (v0.14.0)

The Pipeline organizes work into boards — named containers that give the captain and crew dedicated work tracks for parallel threads of activity. Boards are the materialization of dual-track agile: Discovery and Delivery living side by side in the same pipeline, each with its own issue set, its own label vocabulary, and its own kanban view.

A board is a self-contained work track. It has its own issues, its own labels, and its own kanban view. When the captain navigates to a board, they see only that board’s work — no noise from other tracks.

Universe Pipeline
  |
  +-- Intake Board (system default -- cannot delete or rename)
  |     +-- Unsorted and cross-cutting issues
  |           |
  |           +-- Triage creates issues directly on target boards (not moved -- placed)
  |
  +-- Discovery Board (hypothesis exploration)
  |     +-- Labels: hypothesis / validated / no-signal / parked
  |
  +-- Delivery Board (execution)
        +-- Labels: blocked / ready / QA / scope-creep

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The Intake Board

Every universe starts with one board: Intake. It is the system-generated default — the Pipeline’s physical front gate. When an issue is created without a board assignment, it lands in Intake automatically.

Intake has special rules:

• Cannot be renamed. It is always “Intake.”
• Cannot be edited. Its configuration is system-managed.
• Cannot be deleted. It exists from universe initialization to heat death.
• isDefault = true — the only board with this flag.

Intake is not a failure state. It is a legitimate work track — for quick wins, cross-cutting concerns, and anything that hasn’t earned a named track yet.

“The Intake Board isn’t a failure state. It’s a legitimate work track — for quick wins, cross-cutting concerns, and anything that hasn’t earned a named track yet. But when you know what it is, give it a home.” — Sal

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Named Boards

Named boards are created by the captain: Discovery, Delivery, Design Sprint, Hardening. Each is a self-contained work track with its own:

• Issue set — issues placed on this board at creation time
• Label vocabulary — board-scoped labels that exist only within this board
• Kanban view — the board’s own visual representation of work state

Named boards have no system restrictions beyond the global rules: they can be renamed, updated, and deleted. Deleting a named board sets its issues’ board_id to null.

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Issue Placement Is Permanent

board_id is immutable after creation. An issue belongs to one board for its entire lifecycle. The Pipeline does not shuffle cards between tracks mid-game.

This is a deliberate architectural constraint. When an issue is created on the Delivery board, it stays on the Delivery board — through backlog, in-progress, completed, and cancelled. The board is the issue’s home. Triage does not move issues; triage creates issues on the correct board.

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Board-Scoped Labels

Labels are defined at the board level and exist only within that board — no cross-contamination. Discovery’s taxonomy stays clean for research classification. Delivery’s taxonomy stays clean for execution state. The vocabularies never collide.

Each label has:

• Name — the label’s display text
• Color — hex color for visual identification

Labels are the board’s own vocabulary. They are not project-scoped tags (which live in projectTags). They are board-scoped — tighter, more tactical, specific to the work track’s classification needs.

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Boards and Streams

Boards are the organizational layer that will integrate with Streams (v0.11.0). When Streams land, each board will be associable with a stream — the Discovery Board maps to the Discovery Stream, the Delivery Board to the Delivery Stream. For now, boards are independent containers that visually and organizationally parallel the planned Stream architecture.

The relationship, when complete:

Layer	What It Is	Relationship
Stream	Strategic throughput channel — organizational, multi-board, long-duration	Contains boards; governs the macro direction
Board	Tactical work track — concrete, kanban-able, label-scoped, immutable placement	Lives within a stream; the day-to-day working surface
Issue	Delta — permanently placed on a board, optionally scoped to a release	Created on a board; never moves

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Issue Types

The fundamental unit of change. Creating an issue is declaring that the universe should be different.

Type	Code	Meaning
Expansion	expansion	New features — the universe grows
Correction	correction	Bug fixes — the universe corrects itself
Refinement	refinement	Polish — the universe becomes more itself
Maintenance	maintenance	Tech debt — the universe maintains its structural integrity

Every issue contains:

• The Vector (The Why) — Strategic direction. Owned by Margot and Harlan.
• The Spec (The What) — Architectural + experiential requirements. Negotiated by Kael and Wren.
• The Payload (The Code) — The actual change.
• The Trajectory (The Timeline) — Sal’s calculation of transit time.

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MCP Tools — Boards

Tool	Purpose
list_boards	List all boards in a universe — Intake first, then by position
create_board	Create a named work track (Discovery, Delivery, etc.)
update_board	Rename or update a board — cannot update Intake
delete_board	Remove a board — cannot delete Intake
create_board_label	Define a label in a board’s vocabulary (name + color)
delete_board_label	Remove a label from a board’s vocabulary

MCP Tools — Issues

Tool	Purpose
list_issues	Query the issue backlog — filter by status, category, release, or tags
get_issue	Fetch a single issue with all fields
create_issue	Declare a new Delta — title, category, priority, acceptance criteria
update_issue	Modify issue fields — title, status, priority, dates, labels, tags
update_item_status	Quick status change with optional note
delete_issue	Permanently remove an issue
get_issue_stats	Issue counts grouped by status
get_issues_by_status	Issues grouped by status — kanban view
bulk_update_status	Change status on up to 50 issues at once
bulk_scope_issues	Assign multiple issues to a release
bulk_assign_issues	Assign user or agents to multiple issues
list_issue_notes	Fetch all notes on an issue
add_issue_note	Add a timestamped note — decisions, context, completion reports
update_issue_note	Modify existing note content
delete_issue_note	Remove a note
search_notes	Full-text search across all issue notes in the project
list_issue_tasks	List sub-tasks on an issue
create_issue_task	Add a sub-task to an issue
update_issue_task	Modify a sub-task (title, status, assignee)
complete_issue_task	Mark a sub-task done
delete_issue_task	Remove a sub-task
get_issue_relations	List all dependency relations for an issue
add_issue_relation	Link two issues (blocks / blocked_by / related_to / duplicate_of)
remove_issue_relation	Remove a dependency relation

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Implementation

Package	Description
apps/app	Boards API (src/routes/api/v1/boards.ts), pipeline lifecycle (src/lib/pipeline-lifecycle.ts), client pages (board-detail.tsx, universe-pipeline.tsx)
packages/sdk	TypeScript SDK — boards resource (resources/boards.ts)
packages/mcp	MCP server — 6 board tools (tools/boards.ts)