> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docket.hypertext.studio/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Labels and statuses

> Your own words for how far along work is, and for everything else you need to say.

Set a status to show how far along the work is. Add a label to say anything else. Your workspace
names both.

## Statuses

Name your own stages. A grant-making nonprofit runs `Drafting → Submitted → Under review →
Awarded`. A studio runs `Idea → Booked → Shot → Delivered`. Decide how many there are, what order
they read in, and which one new work starts in.

Set them up in **Settings → Statuses**.

### The five categories

Map every status you invent onto one of five categories.

| Category    | Means                         |
| ----------- | ----------------------------- |
| `backlog`   | Recorded, not queued.         |
| `unstarted` | Queued, not begun.            |
| `started`   | In progress.                  |
| `completed` | Finished successfully.        |
| `canceled`  | Ended without being finished. |

Docket reads the category to decide:

* which status glyph to draw
* how a board groups work
* what a progress percentage counts
* how a connector maps a Linear or Jira state onto your status
* when a piece of work has just finished

You call the stage `Shipped`. Another workspace calls it `Awarded`. Both map to `completed`, and
the numbers, the icons, and the integrations line up.

<Note>
  Agents read the category, never your label. An agent comparing work across two teams knows
  something is done without learning your words.
</Note>

### Statuses are per team and per kind of work

Each Team owns the workflow states its Tasks move through. Two teams in one workspace can run
different processes.

Projects, Programs, and Initiatives have their own status sets. The seeded Program set is
`Proposed · Active · Paused · Completed · Archived`.

## Labels

Attach a label to record what a status does not. `needs-legal`. `Q3`. `grant-funded`. `flaky`.

Labels do nothing on their own. They gate nothing and order nothing. Filter and search on them.

Manage them in **Settings → Labels**.

## Status, label, or Initiative

| You want to record                                  | Use                                                                                  |
| --------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| That this is in review                              | A **status**                                                                         |
| That this is blocked on someone outside the company | A **label**, plus a comment naming who                                               |
| That this is part of the Q3 push                    | An [Initiative](/docs/guides/concepts/initiatives), or a label if it is lighter than that |
| That this ended without being finished              | A **status** in the `canceled` category                                              |
| That this needs a lawyer to look at it              | A **label**                                                                          |

<Tip>
  Use a short status set. Every status is a decision someone makes each time they touch a piece of
  work, and a seven-stage workflow usually contains two stages that should be labels.
</Tip>