Working a project by hand

Some work is better done in a terminal: a phase that needs a lot of back and forth, or something Pitwall cannot do yet. Mark the project as worked by hand first. While it is, Pitwall starts no ticket, phase or step in it, so nothing commits to the repository under you. When you release it, Pitwall reads the repository again and picks up where you left it.

The quick path

1. On the project’s Overview, choose Work by hand, say what you are doing, and confirm.
2. Work in your terminal: commit, push, check off phases.
3. Choose Release in the banner. Pitwall fetches the repository, then the tickets queued meanwhile start in order, and a milestone run waiting between phases can be continued.

From a terminal, the same is pitwall project hold KEY --note "phase 3 in a terminal" and pitwall project release KEY (pitwall CLI).

While it is held

What	Happens
The project’s pages and the board	A banner names who holds it, since when and their note, with Release
A ticket started meanwhile	Queues, shown as Waiting — project worked by hand, and starts after the release
A milestone run waiting between phases	Keeps its place; Continue is refused until the release, Stop still works
A question thread	Goes on: it writes nothing to the repository
The activity feed	Says who took the project, with the note, and who released it

When you can take it

With nothing running in the project, or while a milestone run waits between phases — the case it is made for: a phase done by hand between two of Pitwall’s. With a ticket or a phase running, it is refused and names the ticket; wait for it or cancel it.

Anyone who may run pipelines in the project can release it, not only who took it. A hold forgotten keeps every run queued, so its banner stays on the project’s pages until somebody does.

Back in Pitwall

Phases you checked off by hand count as done when the run goes on. If you finished every phase, Run milestone ▾ offers Run the close, which opens the pull request and the checklist (Milestones). A milestone you planned on its own branch is found there too (Planned on its branch).