Knowledge Management for Dev Teams: Stop Losing Context
Why dev teams lose critical knowledge and how to build a system that keeps documentation alive, searchable, and connected to your workflow.
5 min read
Every team has repetitive workflows that eat into productive time. Moving cards, changing status, assigning owners, archiving completed work, and updating priorities are the kinds of repeatable actions Stellary automations can handle for you.
How Automations Work
Automations in Stellary follow a simple trigger-action model:
- Trigger — an event that starts the automation (card moved, status changed, checklist completed, deadline reached)
- Conditions — optional filters that narrow when the automation fires
- Actions — what happens when the trigger fires and conditions are met
Common Automation Recipes
Auto-assign Reviewers
When a card moves to the "Review" column, automatically assign the relevant reviewer.
Deadline Priority Bump
When a card reaches its due date, automatically raise its priority so it stays visible.
Checklist Completion
When every checklist item is completed, automatically change the card status to done.
Sprint Cleanup
When completed cards reach the final column, archive them to keep the active board focused.
Intake Routing
When a card is added to a board or assigned, route it to the person responsible for intake.
Building Your First Automation
Let's walk through creating a simple automation: assigning a reviewer when a card reaches review.
- Go to your project settings and open the Automations tab
- Click "New Automation"
- Set the trigger to "Task moved"
- Add the condition for the target column: "Review"
- Set the action to "Assign member" and choose the reviewer
That's it. From now on, review work lands with the right person automatically.
Advanced Patterns
Chained Automations
You can chain automations together. When automation A fires, it can modify a card in a way that triggers automation B. This lets you build complex workflows from simple building blocks.
Conditional Branching
Use conditions to create different paths. For example: when a card is moved, one rule can apply to the "Review" column and another to the "Done" column.
Automations with Agents
Automations work well alongside AI agents: use rules to keep cards routed and prioritized, then let agents handle the work that needs reasoning or review.
Measuring Impact
After setting up automations, review their impact:
- Which rules are active
- Whether each rule still points to the right column, member, status, or priority
- Whether the board is moving with less manual coordination
The Automations tab shows each rule and its trigger-to-action summary. Backend logs capture action errors for diagnostics.
Start Small, Scale Up
Don't try to automate everything at once. Start with one or two automations that address your biggest pain points, measure the results, and expand from there. The best automations are the ones your team doesn't even think about — they just work.