Project Settings Guide

This guide helps project administrators configure how Checklists behaves in a single YouTrack project.

Open Project Settings

1. Open the target project in YouTrack.
2. Open project settings.
3. Open Checklists.
4. Review the General, Statuses, and Templates tabs.

Project settings are separate from YouTrack app visibility. If Checklists is not visible in the project, ask a YouTrack administrator to review app visibility first.

General

Enable or Disable Checklists for a Project

Use Enable Checklists in this project to turn checklist behavior on or off for the current project.

When disabled:

• auto-applied templates do not run for the project,
• guarded states do not block transitions,
• existing project checklists are not shown in the issue panel.

Auto Apply Templates

Auto Apply Templates creates issue checklists automatically when a new issue matches selected issue types.

Each rule contains:

• Issue types: one or more issue types, or All Issue Types.
• Templates: one or more built-in, global, or project templates.

Use auto-apply rules for recurring project workflows such as:

• Definition of Done for stories,
• QA handoff for bugs,
• release readiness for release tasks,
• support triage for customer issues,
• onboarding for HR or operations work.

Checklists applies matching templates once when the issue is created. Changing the issue type later does not automatically apply new templates.

Guarded States

Guarded States block selected workflow transitions until required checklist items are complete.

You can guard:

• specific state names,
• all resolved states.

When a user tries to move an issue into a guarded state, Checklists checks whether required checklist items are complete. If required items are still open, the transition is blocked and the user sees the missing required work.

Guarded state behavior

Guarded states enforce required checklist readiness. Optional checklist items do not block transitions.

Statuses

Projects can either inherit global statuses or use project-specific statuses.

Use inherited global statuses when the organization-wide workflow is enough. Use project-specific statuses when a project needs different wording, color, checked behavior, or a different default status.

To use project-specific statuses:

1. Open the Statuses tab.
2. Enable Use project-specific statuses.
3. Review the copied global statuses.
4. Rename, reorder, add, or remove statuses as needed.
5. Ensure that the project has at least one open status and one complete status.
6. Save project settings.

If global statuses are disabled, project-specific status controls are disabled as well.

What Happens to Existing Items

Existing issue items use project statuses when available. If an item references a status that no longer exists, the issue panel shows it as unavailable and lets the user select a valid status.

Templates

The project template catalog lets project administrators manage templates scoped to the current project.

Project settings can show:

• Project templates: editable in the current project.
• Global templates: visible for review and use, managed by global administrators.
• Built-in templates: read-only templates managed by global administrators.

Create a Project Template

1. Open the Templates tab.
2. Create a new template.
3. Add one or more checklists.
4. Add items and section headers.
5. Mark required items.
6. Save the template.

Project templates are available in the issue template picker for the same project and can be selected in auto-apply rules.

Use Global or Built-in Templates

Global and built-in templates can be used in the project, but they are not edited from project settings. To customize one for a project:

1. Create a new project template.
2. Recreate or adapt the relevant checklist structure.
3. Select the project template in auto-apply rules or apply it manually from issues.

Use a project template when a team needs a local variation. Use a global template when the same checklist should be shared across multiple projects.

Recommended Project Setup

For a first project:

1. Confirm that Checklists is enabled for the project.
2. Keep inherited global statuses unless the project has a clear reason to override them.
3. Create or select one template for the main recurring workflow.
4. Add one auto-apply rule for the most common issue type.
5. Configure one guarded resolved state only after the template and required items are reliable.
6. Test the flow on a sample issue before rolling it out to the full team.

Troubleshooting

Auto-applied templates do not appear on new issues

• Confirm that Checklists is enabled for the project.
• Confirm that the app has active access.
• Confirm that the rule includes the issue type used by the new issue.
• Confirm that the selected templates are still available.
• Create a new issue to test the rule. Existing issues are not retroactively updated.

A transition is blocked

• Open the issue panel.
• Look for required checklist items that are still open.
• Complete or intentionally skip the required work if your status catalog treats Skipped as complete.
• Retry the state transition.

A transition is blocked even though checklists look complete

• Confirm that the target state is configured as guarded.
• Check whether the issue has unavailable statuses.
• Refresh the issue page and retry.
• Contact support if the problem persists.

Project statuses cannot be edited

• Check whether global statuses are disabled.
• Confirm that Use project-specific statuses is enabled.
• Confirm that you can update project settings.

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Next step: Continue with the Issue Panel Guide.