Workflow Stages
Relay uses initiative stages to show where work is in the intake and delivery lifecycle.
| Stage | What It Means | What To Do |
|---|---|---|
| Enrichment | The initiative exists and needs source context. | Add Slack messages, files, or email context, then run /intake generate ENG-123. |
| Quality check | Relay is assessing source quality, coverage, conflicts, and relevance. | Review the Slack quality report or initiative UI. Add context if gaps are material. |
| Document generation | Relay is creating a structured product document. | Wait for the document to appear in the initiative UI. |
| Draft review | A generated document is ready for review. | Review sections, evidence, conflicts, and coverage. Approve or reject. |
| Approved | The product document is accepted. | Technical discovery starts if a Slack channel is available. |
| Discovery | Relay asks technical follow-up questions in Slack. | Answer in the discovery thread, or close discovery manually when enough context exists. |
| Tasks generated | Delivery tasks exist in Relay and Linear. | Review tasks, dependencies, estimates, and linked Linear issues. |
| In delivery | Work has started in Linear or implementation packs are being produced. | Use Linear for workflow status and GitHub for pull request review. |
| Closed | Delivery is complete or no further Relay work is needed. | Keep the initiative as historical context. |
When To Connect Integrations
Slack is the first integration to install because it powers the primary intake workflow.
GitHub and Linear can be added later:
- Connect GitHub read-only before technical discovery or task generation needs codebase context.
- Connect Linear before generated tasks need to become issues.
- Upgrade GitHub write permissions only when blueprint pull requests, implementation-pack branches, and draft pull requests are enabled.