# The Board

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## <a id="the-board"></a>The board

The board has five columns, left to right:

| Column           | What's in it                                                  |
| ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Backlog**      | Tasks that haven't started yet. **Start** runs one.           |
| **Running**      | Tasks Deployment.io is working on, then queued ones.          |
| **Needs action** | Tasks waiting on a person, longest-waiting first.             |
| **Done**         | Tasks that reached their goal, newest first.                  |
| **Stopped**      | Tasks that ended without reaching their goal, failures first. |

Done and Stopped show the last 30 days; **Show older** shows the rest. The Stopped header counts failures, for example "Stopped · 5 (2 failed)".

### Status tags

Each card has one status tag:

- **Running** — "Queued", "Implementing" or "Reviewing". For a Task with several steps, the tag starts with the step, for example "Step 2 of 3 ·".
- **Needs action** — "PR open", "PR held · must-fix open", "1 of 2 merged" or "Merge status not tracked".
- **Done** — "Merged", or "2 of 3 merged" when the rest were closed.
- **Stopped** — "Failed in Review" (or whichever stage it failed in), "Cancelled", "No changes made", "PR closed without merging" or "No pull request".

A warning icon with a number means there are variables to add before deploying — for example "2 variables to add before deploying". See [Before deploying](/docs/tasks/review/#before-deploying).

### When a card moves

Deployment.io checks GitHub for merged pull requests about every 10 minutes, so a merge can take that long to move a card.

GitLab and Bitbucket pull requests aren't tracked yet. Those cards stay in **Needs action** with "Merge status not tracked".

### Cost

The cost line on a card adds up what the Task used. Hover over it to see each stage.

With a Claude subscription it shows tokens, marked "(subscription)", rather than dollars, because the subscription is a flat fee. Other providers show dollars, with "est." when the amount is estimated. Two providers are never added together.

## <a id="opening-a-task"></a>Opening a Task

The header shows how far the Task has got: Implement → Review → Pull request. Each stage shows its outcome once it has one — for example "No findings" or "Must-fix open" under Review, or "Merged" under Pull request. A Task with several steps also shows which one it's on, such as "Step 2 of 3".

When there are variables to add, a chip in the header jumps to the Task's **Before deploying** section. It lists them as the pull request does, with the same **Add it** links.

The header also shows cost by stage: "Implement … · Review …".

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Source: https://deployment.io/docs/tasks/the-board/