Node states

The four possible states a node can occupy in Tree: locked, available, in-progress, and complete.

A node state is one of four conditions a node can occupy: locked, available, in-progress, or complete. The state is computed from the graph rather than set manually, with one exception (the transition to in-progress, which is a user action).

The four states

Locked: the node has at least one incomplete prerequisite. It can't be started. Locked nodes are visible on the graph but rendered with reduced visual weight.

Available: all of the node's prerequisites are complete, but the node itself hasn't been started yet. Available nodes are the work the team can pick up right now.

In-progress: a user has claimed the node and is actively working on it. This is the only state set by direct user action.

Complete: the work is done. The node stays on the graph as foundation for any downstream work, rendered in a distinct color to mark completion.

Why four states and not more

Most project tools support custom workflow states with many additional categories: "in review," "blocked," "ready for QA," "deferred," "won't fix." Tree deliberately doesn't. The four states plus the graph's structure already encode the information custom workflows usually capture.

A node "in review" is a node whose review prerequisite is incomplete. A node "blocked on legal" is a node whose legal prerequisite is incomplete. The graph carries the meaning that custom workflows have to invent.

How states change

State transitions follow specific rules covered in How status is computed and How unlocking works. The short version: locked becomes available automatically when prerequisites resolve, available becomes in-progress through user action, and in-progress becomes complete through user action (which then cascades unlocks to dependents).

Tier availability

Node states are part of the core feature set, available on Free, Paid, and Team.

LAST UPDATED · 2026-05-12