# Task and checklist statuses

A task on a [checklist](checklists.md) is always in one of four states, and you
never set them by hand -- they follow from the [prerequisites](prerequisites.md)
and from what people have closed.

## Task statuses

### Blocked

Something it waits on has not finished. The task is collapsed, and a line under it
reads "Waiting on Deploy job", naming what is outstanding.

You cannot work a blocked task. Nothing to do but finish the one before it -- see
[Why is my task blocked?](faq.md)

### Ready

Every prerequisite has closed. The task is open, with its instructions,
[fields](fields.md) and buttons showing.

Ready means workable, not assigned to you specifically. See
[how assignment works](assignment.md).

### Complete

Somebody closed it -- or something did. The card shows who closed it, when, and
the answers they gave.

A task closed by a connected system reads "Complete by" and the system's own
name, like `github-actions`, where a person's name would be.

### Skipped

Deliberately passed over. Use it for a task that does not apply this time.

**A skipped task still unblocks everything waiting on it.** It counts as closed,
exactly like a completed one. That is what makes Skip safe: it moves the checklist
along rather than stranding it. The difference is in the record -- the
[summary](checklist-summary.md) counts skips separately, so "we didn't do this
one" stays visible afterwards.

## Closed tasks stay closed

There is no reopen. Once a task is Complete or Skipped, that is the record for
that checklist.

If you closed something by mistake, the honest fix is to note it -- on a later
task's answer, or by generating a fresh checklist and running it properly.

## Checklist statuses

**In progress** -- at least one task is still Blocked or Ready.

**Complete** -- nothing is left Blocked or Ready. This happens automatically the
moment the last task closes, and the page turns into the read-only
[summary](checklist-summary.md).

## Next

- [Prerequisites](prerequisites.md)
- [Running a checklist](running-a-checklist.md)