The workflow schema

The workflow block in torta.json is the contract the linters, the board, the engine and the generators all read.

Anything you do not state is taken from the defaults. Run torta sync after editing to regenerate the walls and the briefs.

The shape

{
  "workflow": {
    "types": [],
    "filename": {},
    "frontmatterRequired": [],
    "budgets": {},
    "sections": {},
    "maxLines": 300,
    "statuses": [],
    "dispatch": {},
    "sessionBudgets": {},
    "style": {},
    "presets": {}
  }
}

types

The ticket types. Default:

["feature", "fix", "chore", "refactor", "adhoc", "epic", "hotfix"]

filename

{
  "pattern": "^([a-z]+)\\.([a-z0-9]+(?:-[a-z0-9]+){2})\\.([A-Z_]+)\\.md$",
  "shape": "<type>.<three-word-name>.<STATUS>.md"
}

The complaint, verbatim:

filename must be <type>.<three-word-name>.<STATUS>.md, all lowercase except the status — the assignee belongs in frontmatter, not here

frontmatterRequired

Every field a ticket has to carry. Default:

["status", "project", "type", "title", "assignee", "author", "date", "repo"]

budgets

Section name to maximum lines, counted from the heading to the line before the next heading. The shipped budgets:

Section	Lines	Section	Lines
User story	3	Report	20
Defect	6	History	40
What and why	3	Review	12
Behaviour that must not change	5	Backend validation	12
Acceptance criteria	10	Frontend validation	12
Motivation	5	Growth validation	12
Proposed change	25	Product alignment	12
Impact and risks	8	QA alignment	12
Verification	15	Blocked	12
Sprint scope	15	QA	12
Out of scope	5	Measurement	12
Notes	10	Deploy	12
Spec	12	Code drop	12

sections

The required authoring sections per type, in order.

Type	Sections
feature	User story, Acceptance criteria, Motivation, Proposed change, Impact and risks, Verification
fix and hotfix	Defect, Acceptance criteria, Proposed change, Impact and risks, Verification
chore, refactor, adhoc	What and why, Behaviour that must not change, Proposed change, Impact and risks, Verification
epic	What and why, Sprint scope

maxLines

300, with ## History excluded from the count.

statuses

Each entry carries status, name, assignee, note, next, stage and placed_by. next is a list of { status, when }, where when is the condition the board shows.

assignee is a role reference: $gate, $assignee, $author, $sprint_home, $front_door, $acceptance or $walls. Which agent fills each role comes from the preset.

Two optional keys turn a transition into a question for the user: userFacing: true, and prompt, the exact sentence the needs-you lane shows.

The 22 shipped statuses:

Status	Means	Holder	May become	Asks you
SPEC	Cut from an approved plan, awaiting the gate	$gate	APPROVED, RE_SPEC	yes
RE_SPEC	Spec sent back for more detail	$sprint_home	SPEC
REVIEW	Awaiting the gate’s verdict	$gate	APPROVED, REDO	yes
APPROVED	Cleared to build	$assignee	WIP
REDO	Proposal sent back	$author	REVIEW
WIP	Implementation in progress	$assignee	CODE_REVIEW, BLOCKED, DONE
BLOCKED	Hard constraint hit mid-build	$gate	NOT_FEASIBLE, APPROVED	yes
NOT_FEASIBLE	Constraint confirmed	$front_door	REVIEW, DONE	yes
CODE_REVIEW	PR open, awaiting review	$gate	FOR_QA, FOR_DEPLOY, CODE_DROP_FAIL, REQUEST_CHANGE, DONE
REQUEST_CHANGE	Changes requested on the PR	$assignee	CODE_REVIEW
FOR_QA	Merged into the sprint branch, awaiting acceptance test	$acceptance	STG, REOPEN
REOPEN	Failed acceptance on the sprint branch	$assignee	WIP
STG	In staging, accepted, waiting for the drop	$walls	DEPLOYED
CODE_DROP	Code drop called, staging to production	$walls	CODE_REVIEW
CODE_DROP_FAIL	The repo-wide suite failed on the drop PR	$acceptance	CODE_REVIEW, REQUEST_CHANGE
FOR_DEPLOY	Drop PR approved, cleared to ship	$walls	DEPLOYED	yes
DEPLOYED	Shipped and verified live	$gate	FOR_MEASURE
DONE	Finished with nothing to deploy
FOR_MEASURE	Live, waiting on data	$front_door	MEASURED
MEASURED	Bet settled, validated or invalidated	$front_door
OPEN	Sprint open	$sprint_home	CLOSED
CLOSED	Sprint closed

RE_SPEC and REDO both increment redo_count. The third one halts the ticket and notifies the user.

dispatch

{
  "maxConcurrent": 3,
  "staleLockMs": 120000,
  "cooldownMs": 60000,
  "sweepMs": 15000,
  "killPollMs": 1000,
  "priorityTypes": ["hotfix"]
}

See how agents are dispatched.

sessionBudgets

{
  "wallClockMs": 1800000,
  "tokens": 200000,
  "toolCalls": 200,
  "continuations": 8
}

See budgets and leases.

presets

Preset	Agents	Roles
solo	archi, product, frontend, backend, growth	gate: archi, front door: product, walls: archi, digest: archi
full-team	archi, product, qa, frontend, backend, growth, infra, pm	gate: archi, front door: product, sprint home: pm, walls: infra, acceptance: qa, digest: archi

A part no agent fills takes its statuses with it.

style

The house rules the prose and commit linters read, on a page of their own.