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Overview

Tickets can depend on each other via blocked_by_ticket_id. This creates a directed acyclic graph (DAG) that controls execution order.

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How Dependencies Work

  • A ticket cannot execute until its blocker reaches DONE
  • The planner automatically blocks tickets with incomplete dependencies
  • When a dependency completes, blocked tickets are auto-unblocked

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Setting Dependencies

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Via the UI

Drag a ticket onto another to create a dependency, or use the ticket detail panel to set the “Blocked By” field.

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Via the API

curl -X PATCH http://localhost:8000/tickets/{id} \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"blocked_by_ticket_id": "other-ticket-id"}'

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Execution Order

Draft uses Kahn’s algorithm for topological sorting to determine execution order:
  1. Build a dependency graph from all tickets
  2. Find tickets with no dependencies (ready to execute)
  3. Execute in priority order
  4. When a ticket completes, check if any blocked tickets are now unblocked

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Cycle Detection

If circular dependencies are detected, Draft falls back to the original priority order and logs a warning.

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Example

Ticket A: "Set up database schema"
    ↓
Ticket B: "Add API endpoints" (blocked by A)
    ↓
Ticket C: "Add frontend pages" (blocked by B)
Execution order: A → B → C Ticket B won’t start until A reaches DONE. If A becomes BLOCKED, B stays BLOCKED too.

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Best Practices

  • Keep dependency chains short (2-3 levels max)
  • Use dependencies for true data/API dependencies, not just priority ordering
  • Let the planner handle dependency management when using autopilot