Namespaces

A namespace is a label on a task that separates its subscriptions from other tasks’. Most organisations don’t need one: every task and rule without a namespace is in the default namespace, and routing works as described in Routing rules.

Namespaces matter when two workflows care about the same resource. Say a triage workflow creates a task for every Jira issue labelled needs-triage, while developers’ tasks subscribe to the issues they work on. Without namespaces, a developer’s task subscribed to an issue would stop the triage rule from creating its task: the rule would find a subscriber and deliver the event to it instead.

How namespaces scope routing

• A task’s namespace is set when it is created and can’t be changed. Its links, and so its subscriptions, are in that namespace.
• A routing rule’s namespace decides which subscriptions it sees. When the rule matches, gritz only looks for subscribed tasks in the rule’s namespace: it wakes those, and creates a task only if there are none there. A task the rule creates is in the rule’s namespace.

In the example, put the triage rule in a triage namespace. Developers’ tasks in the default namespace no longer stop it creating triage tasks, and the triage tasks it creates aren’t woken by the default namespace’s rules.

Namespaces don’t choose the rule

Rules are still checked in order, and the first rule that matches the event acts, whatever its namespace. Two rules that match the same event never both act, even in different namespaces. Give the rules of each workflow conditions that tell its events apart, such as label equals needs-triage for the triage rule.

Setting a namespace

A namespace is any name you choose. Leave the field empty for the default namespace. You can set it on:

• a task, in the Namespace field of the new task form;
• a routing rule, in its Namespace field, for the tasks it creates and the subscriptions it sees;
• a schedule, for the tasks it creates.

The task page’s sidebar shows a task’s namespace, and agents see it in get_my_task.