TATER Ops — Workflow Automation

Trigger a template once and TATER Ops spawns all the coordinated tasks automatically — pre-assigned, sequenced, and ready to go. Use Workflow Automation for repeatable multi-person processes like onboarding checklists, incident response runbooks, or quarterly review cycles.

How it works

A workflow template defines a list of steps. Each step becomes a real task when you trigger the workflow. Triggering creates:

A parent task that tracks the overall run (visible in My Tasks and the Runs tab).
One child task per step, pre-populated with the title, description, assignee, category, and priority from the template.

Steps that have dependencies start as Blocked. When all prerequisite steps close, the blocked step automatically flips to Open — no manual intervention needed.

Example: Employee onboarding

A 5-step onboarding template might look like:

Provision laptop — IT team, no dependencies
Create accounts — IT team, no dependencies
Deliver equipment — IT team, depends on step 1
Complete security training — New hire, depends on steps 2 & 3
Manager check-in (week 1) — Manager, depends on step 4

Triggering the template creates all 5 tasks at once. Steps 3, 4, and 5 start Blocked and unlock automatically as prerequisites are completed.

Building a workflow template

Creating a template

Open Workflows in the TATER Ops sidebar.
Click + New Template on the Templates tab.
Give the workflow a name and optional description.
Click + Add Step to define each task in the workflow.
Click Save Template.

Step fields

Field	Required	Notes
Title	Yes	Becomes the task title when triggered
Description	No	Pre-fills the task description
Assignee	No	Literal email or a `{{role}}` placeholder (see below)
Category	No	Uses your org's configured categories
Priority	No	Low / Medium / High / Critical
Depends on	No	Step numbers that must close before this step opens

Role placeholders

Instead of hard-coding an email address, you can use a role placeholder in the Assignee field:

{{manager}}
{{it_lead}}
{{new_hire}}

The placeholder name can be any alphanumeric string with underscores. When you trigger the workflow, you'll be prompted to supply an email address for each role that appears in the template. This makes the same template reusable for different people each time.

Placeholder names are case-sensitive

{{Manager}} and {{manager}} are treated as two different roles. Use consistent naming across all steps in a template to avoid being prompted for the same person twice.

Defining step dependencies

In the step editor, the Depends on field accepts a comma-separated list of step numbers. Step numbers are assigned in the order you add steps (Step 1, Step 2, …).

Example — Step 4 can't start until Steps 2 and 3 are both closed:

Step 4 → Depends on: 2, 3

Circular dependencies are rejected when you save the template. If you need two steps to happen simultaneously, leave both without dependencies (they'll both open immediately when triggered).

Triggering a workflow

Open Workflows → Templates.
Find the template you want and click ▶ Trigger.
In the trigger modal:
- Optionally override the run title (defaults to the template name).
- Fill in an email for each role placeholder detected in the template.
Click Trigger Workflow. TATER Ops creates all tasks immediately.

You're redirected to the Runs tab where you can see the new run and click into the parent task to monitor progress.

Monitoring a run

Runs tab

The Runs tab lists every workflow run for your organization. Each row shows:

Template name and run title
Triggered by and triggered at timestamp
Step progress (e.g. 3 / 5 closed)

Click any run row to open the parent task detail, which includes the Workflow Steps panel.

Workflow Steps panel

When you open any task that belongs to a workflow run — whether the parent task or a child step — the detail modal shows a Workflow Steps collapsible panel. Each step row shows:

Step number and title
Current status pill (Open, Blocked, Closed, Cancelled)
A link to open the child task directly

This gives any team member full visibility into the run without leaving the task they're already looking at.

Automatic step unlocking

When a child task is closed or cancelled, TATER Ops automatically checks whether any downstream steps are now unblocked. If all of a step's dependencies are satisfied, the step transitions from Blocked → Open without any manual action. The assigned person will see the task appear in their queue at that point.

API reference

All workflow endpoints require Auditor+ role.

Template management

# List templates
GET /api/tasker/workflows

# Create template
POST /api/tasker/workflows
{
  "name": "Employee Onboarding",
  "description": "Standard 5-step onboarding checklist",
  "steps": [
    { "order": 1, "title": "Provision laptop", "assignedTo": "{{it_lead}}", "priority": "High" },
    { "order": 2, "title": "Create accounts",  "assignedTo": "{{it_lead}}", "priority": "High" },
    { "order": 3, "title": "Deliver equipment","assignedTo": "{{it_lead}}", "dependsOn": [1] },
    { "order": 4, "title": "Security training","assignedTo": "{{new_hire}}","dependsOn": [2,3] },
    { "order": 5, "title": "Week-1 check-in",  "assignedTo": "{{manager}}","dependsOn": [4] }
  ]
}

# Update or delete
PUT    /api/tasker/workflows/{id}
DELETE /api/tasker/workflows/{id}

Triggering a run

POST /api/tasker/workflows/{templateId}/trigger
{
  "title": "Onboarding — Jane Smith",
  "roleAssignments": {
    "it_lead":  "alice@yourcompany.com",
    "new_hire": "jane@yourcompany.com",
    "manager":  "bob@yourcompany.com"
  }
}

→ {
    "run": { "id": "wfrun-...", "status": "active", ... },
    "parentTask": { "id": "task-...", ... },
    "childTasks": [ ... ]
  }

The title field is optional — it defaults to the template name. The roleAssignments map must include an entry for every {{placeholder}} found in the template's step assignedTo fields; unresolved placeholders are left as-is if omitted.