Creating & Managing Cycles

Cycles are created inside a project by any user with the Manage cycles permission. This page covers the cycles timeline, how to create and edit cycles, and how to delete them.

The cycles timeline

Navigate to your project and click Cycles in the sidebar. Cycles appear on a single chronological timeline ordered by start date — Upcoming, Active, and Completed cycles share the same view.

Timeline rows

Each cycle row shows:

• A start date in the left column (or TBD for Upcoming cycles without a date)
• A status indicator icon before the name — dashed circle (Upcoming), progress arc (Active), or green check (Completed). See Status indicators.
• The cycle name (click the row to open the detail page)
• A type chip when the cycle has a type assigned — shows the type name with its admin-configured icon and color (e.g. Release, Sprint)
• A status badge — Upcoming, Active, Completed, or Past due
• A progress ring and execution percentage for cycles with scoped work
• A pass rate when results exist

Parent–child relationships are shown with indentation so you can see the full cycle hierarchy at a glance. See Sub-Cycles for details on nesting.

Gap rows

When there is a gap between cycle end dates on the timeline, a No cycle scheduled row appears showing the uncovered date range. This helps you spot planning holes at a glance.

Burn-up charts

Active and completed cycles with scoped work can be expanded to reveal an inline burn-up chart. Click the chevron on the row to toggle the chart. Turn on Ideal pace from the timeline display menu to overlay a straight-line target on expanded charts.

The expanded panel includes a legend and quick links:

• Scope, Executed, and Passed counts with percentages. When scope has grown since the cycle started, the Scope row shows a +N% growth indicator in amber.
• Run, session, and finding chips below the legend — click a chip to open the cycle detail page on the Runs or Explorations tab. The findings chip counts explorations whose result is considered a failure.

Toolbar

The toolbar shows the page title, a cycle count pill, and actions on the right:

• Display options (overflow menu) — includes Ideal pace to toggle the ideal-pace overlay on expanded burn-up charts.
• New cycle — when you have Manage cycles permission, opens the create dialog. Press C as a keyboard shortcut when not typing in a field.

Creating a cycle

1. On the cycles timeline, click New cycle (or press C).
2. Fill in the composer fields described below.
3. Click Create cycle.

The new cycle appears on the timeline with an Upcoming status. The workspace default cycle type is pre-selected in the composer; change it with the Type pill if needed.

Form fields

The cycle composer

The create and edit dialogs share a compact composer layout rather than a traditional labeled form:

• In create mode, a New cycle context pill names the dialog. When you open the composer for a sub-cycle (for example via Add sub-cycle…), the parent cycle appears as a second pill beside it. In edit mode, the header shows an Edit cycle pill with a pencil icon.
• Cycle name and Description are borderless fields at the top. The primary button stays disabled until you enter a name and valid dates.
• Type is the first pill below the description when your workspace has cycle types configured. It opens a picker listing every type available to the project, each with its admin icon and color. The workspace default is pre-selected.
• Parent, Start date, and End date follow the type pill. Parent opens a chip picker with an indented tree of valid options; dates are date-picker chips with a calendar icon.
• Start and end dates default to a suggested two-week window when creating — beginning three days after the latest existing cycle end date. Edit mode pre-fills all fields from the existing cycle.
• Click the Expand control in the header to grow the composer into focus mode — the card widens and the description field fills the extra height for longer goals.
• Press Enter in the name field to submit when all required fields are valid.
• Press Escape, click the header ✕, or click outside the dialog to close without saving.

Date validation. If the end date is not after the start date, an inline warning appears and Create cycle stays disabled until you fix the range.

Character limits. Cycle names are capped at 100 characters and descriptions at 2,000. If you paste text over the limit, the field is trimmed and a brief warning appears below the field.

Editing a cycle

You can edit a cycle in two ways when you have Manage cycles permission:

• Inline on the detail page — open the detail page and change the cycle name, goal (description), dates, and parent directly in the About card. Editable fields highlight on hover so you can tell which values accept changes.
• Composer dialog — choose Edit cycle… from the timeline row menu or the detail page breadcrumb menu. The same composer used for creation opens in edit mode with fields pre-filled (including type). Click Save changes to apply.

Background saves. Inline edits and composer saves apply instantly in the UI and persist in the background. Watch the Synced pill in the workspace header — it shows Syncing while saves are in flight and Retry if one fails. Click the pill to open the sync ledger and retry failed entries. There is no separate Save button on inline fields.

Start date is locked after the cycle starts. Once a cycle is Active or Completed, its start date is read-only — greyed out in the edit composer (with a tooltip) and shown with a lock icon in the About card. The end date can still be adjusted. See Starting a cycle.

Deleting a cycle

Open the row menu on the timeline or the detail page menu and select Delete cycle…. A confirmation dialog appears.

Deleting a cycle:

• Removes the cycle permanently.
• Detaches any test runs that were associated with the cycle (the runs and their results are not deleted).
• Moves any sub-cycles up one level in the hierarchy.

Deletion cannot be undone. Make sure you no longer need the cycle before confirming.

Quick actions on the timeline

Each cycle row has a menu with contextual actions based on its current status:

Completed cycles do not offer Add sub-cycle… because new sub-cycles are always Upcoming and cannot nest under a Completed parent. See Sub-Cycles. To resume work on a finished cycle, use Reopen cycle — see Reopening a cycle.

See Lifecycle for details on starting and closing cycles.

Permissions

When the listing cannot be shown, the Cycles page is careful to tell you why rather than defaulting to “access denied” — being told you lack a permission you actually hold is its own kind of bug. There are four states:

On a single cycle’s detail page the last message reads “You do not have permission to view this cycle.” instead.