Work Orders
Create structured, traceable implementation tasks grounded in requirements and blueprints.
Work Orders are structured, traceable tasks that move the system toward the target state defined in your requirements and Blueprints. Each Work Order brings together everything a contributor needs to do the work:
| Part | What it provides |
|---|---|
| Core metadata | ID, title, assignee, parent, phase, status, priority, type, and labels |
| Description | Purpose, acceptance criteria, and out-of-scope boundaries |
| Context | Links to the Requirements, Blueprints, Knowledge Base items, feedback, and themes behind the work |
| Dependencies | The work orders it is blocked by or is blocking |
| Development | Linked pull requests or merge requests and their state |
| Activity | A chronological history of changes, comments, and attachments |
Getting started
Configure Work Order settings
Open Settings → Modules → Work Orders. It has three sections:
- Phase Schedule: add phases, set their dates and length, and see which phase is Current, Planned, or Completed.
- Labels: create, edit, archive, and delete labels. Work orders, feedback items, and themes share the same labels.
- Statuses: add custom statuses alongside the built-in ones. See Statuses.
You need Editor access to Work Orders to change these settings.
To change how the agent writes work orders, such as the sections each description should have, edit the project's Work Orders Writing Rules skill. Each new project starts this skill from the preset templates listed under Settings → Organization → Work Order Templates.
Create your first Work Orders
There are two main approaches.
Extract from Blueprints
- Ask the agent to run the Extract Work Orders skill. On an empty Work Orders page, Chat with Agent adds this request to the agent chat for you to send.
- The agent reads the relevant Blueprints and Requirements, follows your writing rules, and proposes Work Orders for you to review.
New Work Orders appear in the Work Orders views, where you can search, filter, and open them.
Plan phases and execution order
- Set each work order's Phase from its detail page or the table.
- Group by Phase to see each phase's work together.
- Ask the agent to use Phase Planning to propose phases for work orders that have none.
- Drag work orders to set their order within a phase. See Drag and drop.
This becomes the core planning loop: create or extract Work Orders, place them into phases, and order them so the team knows what comes next.
Work order details
Open a work order to see its description, Child Work Orders, Agents, and Activity. In Activity, select a comment to reply in its thread. A thread shows the first comment and its latest reply. Select Show N earlier replies to see the rest.
The Agents section lists the agent chats that worked on the work order, with who started each one and when it was last active. Everyone who can open the work order sees these titles, but you can open only your own chats. Select Spawn Agent to start a new chat about the work order in the agent panel. In Activity, changes the agent made link back to the chat that made them.
The fields beside it are:
- Assignee: one person, or No Assignee.
- Parent: the work order this one sits under.
- Phase and Status.
- Priority: No Priority, Urgent, High, Medium, or Low.
- Type: Build, Fix, Requirements, Blueprint, Knowledge Base, or Other.
- Labels.
- Context: links to Knowledge Base items, Requirements, Blueprints, Feedback, and Themes.
- Dependencies: the work orders this one is Blocked by or Blocking.
- Development: linked pull requests. See Pull requests.
Statuses
Every status belongs to one of five categories. The built-in statuses are:
| Category | Built-in statuses |
|---|---|
| Backlog | Backlog |
| Unstarted | Blocked, Ready |
| Started | In Progress, In Review |
| Completed | Completed |
| Canceled | Canceled |
You can add a custom status in two ways:
- In the status picker on a work order or in the create form, type a new name, select the Create option, then pick its category.
- In Settings → Modules → Work Orders → Statuses, select + next to a category.
Pick the category carefully, because you can't change it later. To edit, reorder, or delete custom statuses, open Settings → Modules → Work Orders → Statuses. You can also get there from Manage statuses at the bottom of the status picker on a work order's detail page. Built-in statuses can't be changed.
When you delete a custom status that work orders still use, pick a replacement under Move work orders to, then select Confirm & Delete. Those work orders move to the replacement status.
Pull requests
The Development section on a work order links it to GitHub pull requests or GitLab merge requests. It needs a connected codebase. See Codebase Connection.
- Select the gear in Development, search for a pull request by title, description, or number, and select it to link it. Select it again to unlink it.
- A pull request links itself when its title or description mentions the work order ID, such as
WO-123. - The agent, and coding agents connected through MCP, can link a pull request by its URL or number.
Each linked pull request shows its state as Open, Draft, Merged, or Closed. The state icon appears next to the work order in the Table, Board, and Roadmap views. When a work order has several pull requests, hover the icon to see each one's state.
Views
Open Display Settings in the toolbar to choose a View, a Grouping, and a Sort, and to turn Show child work orders on or off.
| View | Best for |
|---|---|
| Table | Scanning and editing many work orders at once. |
| Board | Moving work across columns, such as statuses or phases. |
| Roadmap | Seeing work orders on a timeline by phase. |
- Grouping options are Phase, Status, Priority, Assignee, Blueprint, and Labels, in every view.
- Sort options are Manual, Name, Type, Phase, Status, Priority, Assignee, Created Date, and Last Modified Date. You can add a second sort level.
- Show child work orders is on by default. Turn it off to hide work orders that have a parent.
Roadmap
The Roadmap shows each work order as a bar across its phase's dates. Phases get their dates in Settings → Modules → Work Orders → Phase Schedule, and a work order whose phase has no dates doesn't get a bar.
- Expand Timeline widens the timeline. Restore Split View brings back the list beside it.
- Zoom out and Zoom in change the scale. Select the percentage to reset it to 100%.
- Today jumps to the current date.
Saved Views
A saved view stores your view, grouping, sort, filters, and search so the team can come back to them.
- Select Saved Views (the bookmark) in the toolbar, then Save Current View, and name it.
- Select a saved view to apply it. The list shows who created each view, and Search views or people finds a view by its name or creator.
- Hover a view and select the pin to keep it under Pinned at the top of your list. Pins are yours alone and don't change anyone else's list.
- A view's More menu has Rename, Duplicate, Copy Link, and Delete. Duplicate makes a copy that you own, named with "copy" at the end.
- While a view is applied, its name appears in the toolbar. A dot means you changed it since it was saved. Select the name for Save Changes, Reset to Saved, or Save as New View. Select Clear View (the ×) to stop using it.
Everyone in the project sees the same saved views, and anyone who can open the project can save one. Only the person who created a view can save changes to it or rename it. They or a project Owner can delete it.
Labels, filters, and search
Labels are shared by work orders, feedback items, and themes. Add them from a work order's Labels field, the create form, or the table. Typing a name that doesn't exist yet creates the label. Manage the full list in Settings → Modules → Work Orders → Labels.
Select Filter in the toolbar to narrow the list by Status, Phase, Assignee, Priority, Type, Relation, Blueprint, Requirements, Knowledge Base, or Labels. Relation filters by structure, such as work orders that have a parent, have children, are blocked, or are blocking others. Besides specific phases, the Phase filter offers Current phase, Previous phase, Next phase, All past phases, and All upcoming phases. They follow the phase schedule, so a filter or saved view that uses them stays current as phases start and end. Use Search to find work orders by title or ID, such as WO-123.
Drag and drop
You can drag work orders in the Table, Board, and Roadmap views.
- Reorder within a group by dragging a work order up or down. This only works with the Manual sort.
- Move to another group by dropping a work order on a different group. This works with any sort and changes the field you grouped by, such as the status, phase, assignee, or priority. With Labels grouping, the old label is replaced by the new one. With Blueprint grouping, the work order's blueprint link moves to the new blueprint.
While you drag, hold the work order near the edge of the view to scroll toward groups that are off screen. Press Esc to cancel the drag.
MCP connections
8090 Software Factory connects to coding agents and other development tools through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Developers can work with Work Orders from their own development environment instead of switching between planning and coding.
What MCP enables
Connected development tools get secure, project-scoped access for:
- Listing Work Orders assigned to the developer
- Reading a work order's description and linked context
- Updating status, such as moving a task to In Review
- Linking the pull request that implements a work order
Connect your development environment
Open MCP setup
Open Settings → Connections → Coding Agent, or in the Work Orders toolbar select MCP.
Configure your coding agent
In MCP Setup, choose your agent's tab and follow its instructions. Some agents offer a quick install. Others give you commands or JSON to add to their configuration. You finish the connection by signing in through your browser.
Finish setup
Select Completed to close the dialog.
8090 Software Factory tools become available after your coding agent loads the MCP configuration. For setup details per agent, see Coding Agent Connection.
Work with 8090 Software Factory through MCP
After connecting, developers can:
- Find the Work Orders assigned to them that are Ready.
- Search Requirements, Blueprints, and Knowledge Base files for more context.
- Update a Work Order's status as development progresses.
Changes appear in 8090 Software Factory right away, so the project plan stays current.
Agent capabilities
The agent can create, edit, and delete Work Orders, proposing titles, descriptions, assignees, statuses, phases, and labels. It can update many Work Orders in one request, for example moving a set of them to Phase 2 and setting them to Ready. It can also add phases, labels, and custom statuses.
Built-in skills for Work Orders include Extract Work Orders, Phase Planning, Review Current Phase, and Duplication Check.
When blueprints change
Work Orders don't update themselves when the Blueprints behind them change. After a significant Blueprint change, ask the agent to review the affected Work Orders, or run Extract Work Orders again for the changed Blueprints.
Best practices
- Set up the phase schedule, labels, and statuses in Settings → Modules → Work Orders, and keep the Work Orders Writing Rules skill current. Together they are the contract between Blueprints and execution.
- Ground every task in upstream Requirements or Blueprints by adding links from the Context section's search control.
- Include the sections your writing rules call for. By default these are Summary, In Scope, Out of Scope, Related Requirements, and Relevant Blueprint References.
- Link the pull request that delivers each work order so reviewers can see its state from the plan.
- Use agent actions for extraction, bulk updates, and phase planning while reserving judgment calls for people.
- Review Work Orders after Blueprint changes so drift does not accumulate.