# Requests, Tickets and Tasks

ClearFeed's workflow is built on three core concepts that work together:

**Request** → **Ticket** → **Task**

* **Requests** - Internal tracking of customer inquiries
* **Tickets** - Formal, customer-facing support cases
* **Tasks** - Work items escalated to specialized teams

## What is a Request?

A **Request** is any inquiry tracked internally in ClearFeed, regardless of where it comes from.

### Key Characteristics

* **Internal only** - Not visible to customers
* **No public ID** - Only your team sees the request number
* **Private status** - Status changes are visible only to responders
* **Universal inbox** - All inquiries start as requests

### Sources

Requests can be created from:

* Slack channel messages
* Direct messages to ClearFeed app
* Emails to support address
* Web chat conversations
* Customer portal submissions
* API calls

### Request Fields

Every request includes:

* Author (who created it)
* Title (AI-generated or manual)
* Summary (AI-generated)
* Status (Open, In Progress, Pending, Solved, Closed)

  <div data-gb-custom-block data-tag="hint" data-style="info" class="hint hint-info"><p>For some accounts, manual transition to <strong>On Hold</strong> may be disabled by default i.e. "<strong>On Hold"</strong> will not appear as a selectable option in the request status dropdown. If you would like to enable the <strong>On Hold</strong> status for your account, please contact ClearFeed Support.</p></div>
* Assignee (responder responsible)
* Priority (Urgent, High, Normal, Low)
* Created time
* Last message time

[Learn more about creating requests →](https://docs.clearfeed.ai/clearfeed-help-center/how-it-works/creating-requests/from-slack-channels)

## What is a Ticket?

A **Ticket** is a formal, customer-visible support case converted from a request.

### Key Characteristics

* **Customer-visible** - Customers can see the ticket ID and status
* **Public tracking** - ID and status are shared with the requester
* **Formal record** - Official support case for tracking and SLAs
* **Same fields as requests** - All request information is preserved

### Difference from Requests

| Feature        | Request       | Ticket                 |
| -------------- | ------------- | ---------------------- |
| **Visibility** | Internal only | Customer-facing        |
| **ID**         | Private       | Public (e.g., CF-1234) |
| **Status**     | Private       | Shared with requestor  |

### Types of Tickets

#### **ClearFeed Tickets**

* Managed within ClearFeed
* Native ticket IDs (e.g., CF-1234)
* Visible in Slack and Customer Portal

#### **External Tickets**

* Created in external systems (Zendesk, Jira, Salesforce, etc.)
* External ticket IDs (e.g., ZEN-5678, JIRA-123)
* Synced bidirectionally between systems

[Learn more about creating/linking tickets →](https://docs.clearfeed.ai/clearfeed-help-center/how-it-works/creating-or-linking-tickets)

## What is a Task?

A **Task** is a work item escalated from a request or ticket to specialized teams (engineering, product, etc.) while maintaining the support context.

### Key Characteristics

* **Work escalation** - Moves technical work to engineering/project systems
* **SLA preservation** - Original request/ticket SLA continues tracking
* **Linked context** - Task remains connected to the customer request
* **System integration** - Created in Jira, Linear, Asana, GitHub, ClickUp, etc.

### Blocker Tasks

A special type of task that:

* Prevents the ticket from being closed
* Marks critical dependencies
* Ensures work is completed before resolution

### Task Visibility

Tasks can be configured with different visibility levels:

* **Full transparency** - Task link and updates visible to customers
* **Link only** - Task ID shared without detailed updates
* **Internal only** - No customer visibility

[Learn more about creating tasks →](https://docs.clearfeed.ai/clearfeed-help-center/how-it-works/creating-or-linking-tasks)

## Relationship Between Concepts

```
Customer Question
      ↓
   Request (Created automatically)
      ↓
   Ticket (Converted when formalization needed)
      ↓
   Task (Escalated when specialized work required)
```

**Example Flow:**

1. Customer posts in Slack: "API returning errors"
2. **Request** created automatically (private, internal tracking)
3. Agent converts to **Ticket** #CF-1234 (customer sees ID and status)
4. Agent escalates to **Task** JIRA-567 (engineering investigates)
5. Task marked as blocker (ticket can't close until bug fixed)
6. Engineering completes task → Ticket can be resolved

## Related Documentation

* [Creating Requests](https://docs.clearfeed.ai/clearfeed-help-center/how-it-works/creating-requests/from-slack-channels) - How requests are created
* [Creating Tickets](https://docs.clearfeed.ai/clearfeed-help-center/how-it-works/creating-or-linking-tickets) - How to convert requests to tickets
* [Creating Tasks](https://docs.clearfeed.ai/clearfeed-help-center/how-it-works/creating-or-linking-tasks) - How to escalate to engineering
* [Collections](https://docs.clearfeed.ai/clearfeed-help-center/clearfeed-helpdesk/collections) - Configure request/ticket behavior
* [SLA Management](https://docs.clearfeed.ai/clearfeed-help-center/clearfeed-helpdesk/sla-management) - Set up service level agreements
* [Custom Fields](https://docs.clearfeed.ai/clearfeed-help-center/clearfeed-helpdesk/custom-fields) - Add fields to requests/tickets