# Checklists

A checklist is one run of a [workflow](workflows.md) -- one deploy, one Monday
walkaround, one quarter's maintenance.

Find them under **Checklists** in the sidebar. Everything in progress and
everything ever finished is in that list.

## Generating one

The bar at the top of [My work](my-work.md) takes two things: which workflow,
and what to call this one. Then press **Generate checklist**.

Name it something that identifies *this one* rather than the process: a version
number, a date, a vehicle. `v2.42.0`. `Walkaround 2026-08-18`. If you leave the
box empty it fills in the workflow name and today's date.

The checklist opens straight away, with its first tasks already
[Ready](task-statuses.md).

A [schedule](scheduling.md) generates checklists on its own, so nobody has to
press the button at all.

## A checklist is frozen when it is generated

This is the most useful thing to know about the app:

> A checklist pins the workflow version at the moment it is generated. Later edits
> to the workflow never touch a checklist already in flight.

So you can fix a typo, add a task, or reorder the whole thing while people are
part-way through, and nobody's checklist changes underneath them. They finish the version
they started. The next checklist generated picks up your changes.

The version each checklist was pinned to is shown next to its name -- `Production
deploy - v3`.

## Working through one

Tasks are laid out in order, top to bottom. The ones you can do now are open; the
rest show what they are waiting on. See [Running a checklist](running-a-checklist.md).

## When it finishes

A checklist finishes on its own. As soon as no task is left Blocked or Ready -- so
every task is either complete or skipped -- the checklist flips to **Complete** and
the page becomes a read-only [summary](checklist-summary.md).

There is no "finish" button to press and none to forget.

## Reading the list

The Checklists page shows, for each one:

| Column | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| **Checklist** | The name you gave it. |
| **Workflow** | Which process it came from. |
| **Status** | In progress, or Complete. |
| **Progress** | Tasks closed out of the total -- `3 of 6`. |
| **Started** | When it was generated. |

Clicking one opens it -- the working page if it is still in progress, the
[summary](checklist-summary.md) if it is done.

## Finding one

Above the list are the controls that narrow it:

- **Search** matches the checklist name and the workflow name. It filters as
  you type.
- **The status buttons** -- All, In progress, Complete, Abandoned -- carry the
  count of what each one holds, under whatever else is set.
- **The workflow menu** shows one workflow's checklists, which is how you read
  the history of a single process.

Press a column heading -- Checklist, Workflow or Started -- to sort by it, and
press it again to reverse the order. The list is 20 to a page, with the range
and the page links under it.

Everything you set is in the address, so a filtered list can be bookmarked or
sent to somebody.

## Next

- [Running a checklist](running-a-checklist.md)
- [Task and checklist statuses](task-statuses.md)
- [The checklist summary](checklist-summary.md)