Why automate a board
Every board collects small, repeated chores: mark the card complete when it reaches the last column, assign the reviewer when it enters Review, raise the priority when a due date gets close. People forget them, and a board that is out of date stops being trusted. Emitii's Rules, described in the product as "Rules that run on this board", do those moves for you on the Board inside a space.
How a rule is built
A rule has three parts: when it runs, what must be true, and what it does.
Triggers
A rule starts when something happens to a card:
- A card is created.
- A card enters or leaves a column.
- A card is completed or reopened.
- A checklist item is checked, or the whole checklist is done.
- A card is assigned.
Conditions
Conditions narrow which cards the rule acts on. They are optional, and you can combine them:
- Column
- Label
- Priority
- Assignee
- Blocked
- Overdue
- Due within a set number of days
Actions
When the trigger fires and the conditions match, the rule can:
- Assign or unassign people.
- Complete or reopen the card.
- Move it to another column.
- Set its priority.
- Add or remove labels.
- Set or clear the due date.
- Set it as blocked.
Examples
| When | If | Then |
|---|---|---|
| A card enters "Done" | (none) | Complete the card |
| A card is created | Priority is Urgent | Assign the team lead |
| A card enters "Client review" | Label is "design" | Assign the art director and add the label "needs sign-off" |
| The checklist is done | Column is "In progress" | Move to "Review" |
| A card is reopened | (none) | Move back to "In progress" |
Safe to try: dry run, run log and undo
Automations that act on real work need a way to check them and a way back.
- Dry run. Preview what a rule would change before you let it act on real cards.
- Run log. Every time a rule fires, the run is recorded, so you can see what changed and why.
- Undo. If a rule did something you did not want, undo the run.
When a rule changes a card, the card's history shows the change with the rule's name, so nobody wonders who moved it.
Rules from the column menu
Common rules can be switched on straight from a column's menu under "Rules and completion", for example marking a column as the one where cards count as complete. These create ordinary rules that show up in the same list as the ones you build by hand.
How it connects to the rest of the workspace
- Rule actions send the same notifications as a person's edit, so an assignment made by a rule reaches the assignee's bell and push notifications.
- A to-do sent from Tasks to the board arrives as an ordinary card, so rules for "card created" or "card enters column" apply to it too.
- Changes show up on the space Dashboard, in Activity, and on each person's Home.
- Rules are separate from Emit, the space AI. Rules are fixed and predictable; Emit handles one-off requests in plain language, with your approval.
Who uses it
Product teams at startups auto-complete cards in Done and move cards to Review when their checklist is finished. Agencies assign the account lead when a card reaches client review. Operations teams flag overdue cards as blocked so they surface in filters. The product development use case shows a full board setup.
Learn more
The tasks and board docs include a section on setting up rules. To see rules on a working board, try a live demo or request access.
Frequently asked questions
- What triggers can a board rule use?
- Card created, entered or left a column, completed, reopened, checklist item checked, checklist done, and assigned.
- Can I test a rule before turning it on?
- Yes. Each rule has a dry-run preview that shows what it would change.
- Can I undo what a rule did?
- Yes. Every run is recorded in the run log and can be undone.
Related
- Tasks & boardRun work in Emitii on a kanban Board with priorities, labels, blocked flags and checklists, plus to-do lists with recurring tasks and Send to board.
- AI assistantEmit, the Emitii space AI, reads and updates boards, tasks, schedules and docs with your approval, and works with your coding agents through the Emitii CLI.
- Product developmentHow software and product teams run features, bugs, specs and standups in an Emitii space, with board rules, docs and the CLI for coding agents.
- StartupsStartups use Emitii to keep the board, standup chat, decision docs and team calendar in one workspace that grows with the team.
- Tasks & boardSet up board columns and cards in Emitii, use priorities, labels, blocked flags and checklists, filter the board, run to-do lists and write board rules.