veritas-kanban

SOP: Task Lifecycle Hooks

Automate workflows with hooks that fire on task state transitions.

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Overview

Lifecycle hooks trigger actions when tasks change state:

Hook	Fires When
onCreated	Task is created
onStarted	Task moves to in-progress
onBlocked	Task moves to blocked
onCompleted	Task moves to done
onArchived	Task is archived

Each hook can:

• POST to a webhook URL
• Send a notification (via configured channel)
• Log to the activity feed

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Configuration

Enable hooks via the settings API:

curl -X PATCH http://localhost:3001/api/config/settings \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "hooks": {
      "enabled": true,
      "onCreated": {
        "enabled": true,
        "webhook": "https://your-server.com/webhooks/vk",
        "notify": false,
        "logActivity": true
      },
      "onStarted": {
        "enabled": true,
        "notify": true
      },
      "onBlocked": {
        "enabled": true,
        "webhook": "https://your-server.com/webhooks/vk",
        "notify": true
      },
      "onCompleted": {
        "enabled": true,
        "notify": true
      },
      "onArchived": {
        "enabled": false
      }
    }
  }'

Configuration Options

Field	Type	Default	Description
hooks.enabled	boolean	false	Global enable/disable
hooks.on*.enabled	boolean	false	Enable specific hook
hooks.on*.webhook	string	—	URL to POST payload
hooks.on*.notify	boolean	false	Send notification
hooks.on*.logActivity	boolean	true	Record in activity log

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Webhook Payload

When a webhook is configured, VK sends a POST request:

{
  "event": "onBlocked",
  "taskId": "task_20260204_abc123",
  "taskTitle": "Implement OAuth login",
  "previousStatus": "in-progress",
  "newStatus": "blocked",
  "project": "my-project",
  "sprint": "US-1700",
  "timestamp": "2026-02-04T15:30:00.000Z"
}

Headers

Header	Value
Content-Type	application/json
X-VK-Event	Hook event name (e.g., onBlocked)

Retry Behavior

• Initial attempt with 10-second timeout
• Single retry after 2 seconds on failure
• Failures are logged but don’t block the operation

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Use Cases

1. Slack Alert on Blocked Tasks

Configure onBlocked to POST to a Slack incoming webhook:

{
  "hooks": {
    "enabled": true,
    "onBlocked": {
      "enabled": true,
      "webhook": "https://hooks.slack.com/services/XXX/YYY/ZZZ"
    }
  }
}

Your Slack webhook receives the payload and can format a message.

2. Agent Wake on Task Assignment

Use onCreated to wake an AI agent via OpenClaw:

{
  "hooks": {
    "enabled": true,
    "onCreated": {
      "enabled": true,
      "webhook": "http://localhost:8080/api/wake"
    }
  }
}

The agent receives the new task and can begin work automatically.

3. Sprint Metrics on Completion

Use onCompleted to update external dashboards:

{
  "hooks": {
    "enabled": true,
    "onCompleted": {
      "enabled": true,
      "webhook": "https://metrics.example.com/vk/task-complete"
    }
  }
}

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Webhook Receiver Example

Simple Express handler for VK hooks:

import express from 'express';

const app = express();
app.use(express.json());

app.post('/webhooks/vk', (req, res) => {
  const { event, taskId, taskTitle, newStatus } = req.body;

  console.log(`[VK Hook] ${event}: ${taskTitle} (${taskId}) → ${newStatus}`);

  switch (event) {
    case 'onBlocked':
      // Alert the team
      notifySlack(`⚠️ Task blocked: ${taskTitle}`);
      break;
    case 'onCompleted':
      // Update metrics
      recordCompletion(taskId);
      break;
  }

  res.sendStatus(200);
});

app.listen(3002);

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CLI Commands

Check current hooks configuration:

curl http://localhost:3001/api/config/settings | jq '.data.hooks'

Enable/disable hooks quickly:

# Enable all hooks
curl -X PATCH http://localhost:3001/api/config/settings \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"hooks": {"enabled": true}}'

# Disable all hooks
curl -X PATCH http://localhost:3001/api/config/settings \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"hooks": {"enabled": false}}'

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Troubleshooting

Hooks Not Firing

1. Check hooks.enabled is true
2. Check the specific hook (e.g., hooks.onBlocked.enabled) is true
3. Check server logs for errors: tail -f server/logs/server.log | grep hooks

Webhook Not Receiving

1. Verify the URL is reachable from the VK server
2. Check for firewall/network issues
3. Ensure your receiver responds within 10 seconds
4. Look for retry attempts in logs

Activity Log Missing Events

• logActivity defaults to true
• Check telemetry is enabled in settings

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Credit

Lifecycle hooks pattern inspired by BoardKit Orchestrator by Monika Voutov.

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