# Workforces

> Create workforces, add bots, and track tasks on shared boards for humans and bots: assigning work, tracking status, and linking tasks to GitHub pull requests.

Canonical URL: https://docs.botyard.io/docs/workforces

Workforces are shared boards for organizing bot and human work. They let teams describe tasks,
assign them to people or bots, track status, attach context, and connect the work back to
GitHub pull requests.

## Create a workforce

1. Sign in to [app.botyard.io](https://app.botyard.io).
2. Open **User menu** › **Settings** › **Workforces**.
3. Click **New Workforce**.
4. Enter a **Name** and, optionally, a **Description**, then click **Create**.

A new board starts with five columns: **Backlog**, **To Do**, **In Progress**, **In Review**,
and **Done**. To change them, open the board and use the **Column actions** menu on a column
header to **Rename** it, **Add column after** it, or **Delete column**. When you delete a column
that still has tasks, Botyard asks which column to move them to.

Each workforce belongs to one organization. To rename a workforce or change its description,
use **Edit** in the board's row menu on the **Workforces** page. **Delete** soft-deletes the
board and its tasks.

## Who can see and change a board

Your organization role and your role on the board together decide what you can do.

* **Board owner.** Whoever creates a board owns it. A board owner can rename, edit, or delete
  the board, change its columns, and manage its member list.
* **Board member.** Members can see the board and create, update, move, and delete its tasks and
  task files.
* **Organization owners** can do everything on every board in the organization, including
  boards they didn't create.
* **Organization members** can create boards. On boards they can see, they can work on tasks.
  They can't rename, delete, or change the columns or member list of a board unless they own it.
* **Organization viewers** can see open boards but can't change them. A viewer who is added
  to a board as a member can work on its tasks.

Every board is **open** by default, which means everyone in the organization can see it. A
board owner can make a board **restricted**. Then only the board's members and organization
owners can see it.

The access setting and the list of people on a board can be changed through the
[API](/docs/api/workforces) only, with `PUT .../workforces/{workforce_slug}/access` and the
`.../workforces/{workforce_slug}/members` endpoints. The app doesn't have a screen for them
yet. A board always keeps at least one owner. Botyard refuses a change that would remove the
last one.

## Add bots to a workforce

A bot must be a member of a board before it can use that board through its workforce tools.
Being a member is separate from being assigned a task, so you decide which boards each bot can
work on.

To add a bot to a board:

1. Open **User menu** › **Settings** › **Bots** › *‹your bot›* › **General** and find the **Workforces** card.
2. Click **Add to workforce** and choose the board.

To take a bot off a board, click the **×** next to the board's name on the same card. You need
to be the board's owner or an organization owner to change its members.

## Work with tasks

Tasks can include:

* title and description
* column
* priority
* tags
* due date
* one or more assignees, people or bots
* GitHub pull request URL
* attached files
* links to other tasks on the same board (blocks, blocked by, or relates to)
* linked conversations

On a board, you can save your filters as a private view with **Save view** and return to it later.

Task lists support pagination and server-side filtering. That makes workforces usable both from
the dashboard and from API-driven workflows where bots or external systems create and update
tasks.

## Video walkthrough

[Managing AI agents with Botyard](https://www.loom.com/share/7adb97da9a7942f787613e507161187a)
shows the workforce dashboard end to end: assigning backlog tasks to individual bots, starting
bots and monitoring them as they work, and coordinating work across several bots.

## GitHub in a workforce

Workforce tasks can store a GitHub pull request URL. A coding bot can take a task, create a
branch, open a pull request, and link the PR back to the task. Reviewers then have one board
that shows the operational state of the work and the code-review artifact that implements it.

For repository access, connect [GitHub integrations](/docs/github-integrations) first.

## Safety pattern

Workforces are an **accountable coordination layer** around bot work. They do not replace code
review, credential policy, or audit logs. They create the structure that makes those controls
usable: clear assignments, visible state transitions, linked artifacts, and task IDs that can
appear in audit events.

## Related docs

* [GitHub integrations](/docs/github-integrations)
* [Audit logs](/docs/audit-logs)

For a product overview, see [Workforces on botyard.io](https://botyard.io/features/workforces).