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BroodBoxby IT Labs India
BroodBox by IT Labs India

BroodBox features and progress

In developmentLast updated

BroodBox (Brood for short) is your company's own work tracker: every task with its code, tests, release and time in one place. Your own AI helpers connect through one secure door and do the work, and nothing joins main until a person says yes. The software is built and tested on our side; no person has tried it yet.

  • 0 Ready
  • 49 In testing
  • 5 Planned

Ready: built and passing its tests on our development system. In testing: built and in testing; anything that does not pass testing will be removed. Planned: not built yet; no date promised.

Sign-in and access

  • One sign-in through IT-Labs Core

    In testing

    Use the IT-Labs account you already have; Brood has no separate password to remember.

  • A second check for important steps

    In testing

    Closing a task or confirming a merge asks you to prove it is you once more, then leaves you alone for about 15 minutes.

  • Keep working when IT-Labs cannot be reached

    In testing

    A banner tells you, and everyday work on the board goes on for a time your company sets. Steps that need IT-Labs wait until it is back.

  • Seats that can write and seats that only look

    In testing

    View-only people read everything but see no buttons they cannot use.

  • Your company's work is kept apart from everyone else's

    In testing

    One company never sees another's tasks, code or reports; our own tests check this on every change.

  • Help on every page

    In testing

    A Help link at the top of each page opens a short manual in plain words for exactly that page.

Tasks and boards

  • Projects with a board

    In testing

    Make a project with a short key and see every task as a card in columns, with who has it and what its tests said.

  • Task page with everything about one piece of work

    In testing

    Type, priority, labels, due date, estimate, parent and child tasks, links, time and history on one page.

  • Epics, stories, tasks, bugs and subtasks

    In testing

    Break a big goal into smaller work; Brood keeps the parent and child rules straight for you.

  • Links between tasks

    In testing

    Say that a task blocks, relates to or duplicates another; the other task shows the link the other way round.

  • Log your time

    In testing

    Type 90 or 1h 30m, pick the day, and see the total and each person's share on the task.

  • Components

    In testing

    Group a project's tasks by the part of the product they touch and see the group on each card.

  • A person says yes before a task is done

    In testing

    A task closes only when a person presses Yes, done. An AI helper can ask, but never close.

Planning and workflow

  • Backlog in the order you will work it

    In testing

    Every open task that is in no sprint, with the first one on top; move a task up or to the top in one click.

  • Sprints with a goal

    In testing

    Plan a sprint, start it, and close it, choosing where unfinished work goes. Finished work stays to show what it delivered.

  • Sprint board

    In testing

    See a sprint's tasks in columns, its goal and dates, and how many tasks and points are done.

  • Your own workflow states

    In testing

    Name the steps your team really uses, choose which moves are allowed, and the board shows one column for each.

  • Custom fields on every task

    In testing

    Add text, number, date, pick-list or person fields, such as a customer or a cost, to all tasks of a project.

  • Change many tasks at once

    In testing

    Tick up to 200 tasks and move, assign, plan or drop them together. If one cannot change, none do, and you see why.

Code, tests and merging

  • Brood keeps your code itself

    In testing

    Make a repo in a project and clone and push over a secure web address with your API key. Your code stays with Brood.

  • SSH keys for your AI helpers

    In testing

    Give each helper its own key that ends on a date you set; end one at once without touching the others. On the dev box this works inside the server only.

  • One branch per task

    In testing

    Work for a task goes on a branch named after it, so code, task and tests always belong together.

  • Tests run on every pushed branch

    In testing

    Brood runs your tests on exactly the code that was pushed, within time and memory limits, and shows passed or failed on the task.

  • A short explanation of a failed test run

    In testing

    A red run gets a plain summary of what failed on the task. Without AI you still get the list of failures. Off until your company switches the local model on.

  • A hint about who should take a task

    In testing

    Brood suggests an assignee from your people and helpers; you decide. Works from simple rules, and a local model can help when it is on.

  • Merge request with a person's yes

    In testing

    The Merge button appears only when the tests are green and the task is in review. Pressing it is your yes, and the task closes as done.

  • Main cannot be changed any other way

    In testing

    Pushes straight to main are refused with a plain message. If the branch changed after you looked, the merge is refused so you only agree to what you saw.

Your own AI helpers

  • Connect your own AI sessions through one secure door

    In testing

    Your AI coding sessions join with a personal key plus an app name and session name, and each shows up as a helper working for you.

  • A helper is woken when work arrives

    In testing

    Assign a task to a connected helper and it is told straight away, so work starts without you asking twice.

  • Helpers work only on what is theirs

    In testing

    A helper changes only tasks assigned to it: it can set an estimate, add links and log time. It never drops or closes a task.

  • Helpers push work, never merge it

    In testing

    A helper can push its branch and ask for a merge request, but the yes is always a person's.

  • A limit on connected helpers

    In testing

    Your company can cap how many helpers are connected at once, so a runaway script cannot flood the box.

  • AI features off until your company turns them on

    In testing

    Everything works without the local model. Summaries and plain-word search are switched on per company and show where their text came from.

Releases, reports and moving in

  • Versions and fix versions

    In testing

    Make a version, put tasks into it, and release it. Open tasks can move to the next version in the same step.

  • Release notes you can download

    In testing

    Each version page lists its finished tasks by type, and one click gives a file to paste into your own release page.

  • Created versus resolved, and cycle time

    In testing

    See whether work piles up faster than it is finished, and how long finished tasks took from start to approval.

  • Velocity and burndown

    In testing

    See what each sprint took on and finished, and day by day how much is left. Charts come with a table that screen readers read out.

  • Import from another tracker

    In testing

    Bring titles, texts, types, priorities, labels, comments, links and open sprints from an exported file. Brood never contacts the other tracker.

  • You check the mapping and say yes before the import

    In testing

    Statuses, types, priorities and people are matched for you to review. Nothing is created until you confirm, and an import can be cancelled.

  • Importing again updates instead of copying

    In testing

    Run the same file again and the tasks made before are updated, not doubled. Imports wake nobody and send no notifications.

  • Import code and issues from an outside code host

    In testing

    Bring a repo's main branch, tags and issues into a Brood repo in one fetch, with the issues as tasks. The outside host is used for import only.

Coming next

  • Mail that is really sent

    Planned

    Today notification mail on the dev box is only written to a file and never sent.

  • Tests run on a separate, locked-down server

    Planned

    Your code will be tested in a throwaway container on its own server, kept apart from everything else.

  • Pilot companies

    Planned

    After IT-Labs has used Brood itself, a few invited companies will try it with their own code and helpers.

  • More tracking features

    Planned

    A further set of tracking features follows after the test week on the dev box.

  • Joining the wider IT-Labs suite

    Planned

    Brood is built to fit in later, so its board can sit beside IT-Labs' other work tools.

With AI and without AI

Same without AI51

  • One sign-in through IT-Labs CoreIn testing
  • A second check for important stepsIn testing
  • Keep working when IT-Labs cannot be reachedIn testing
  • Seats that can write and seats that only lookIn testing
  • Your company's work is kept apart from everyone else'sIn testing
  • Help on every pageIn testing
  • Projects with a boardIn testing
  • Task page with everything about one piece of workIn testing
  • Epics, stories, tasks, bugs and subtasksIn testing
  • Links between tasksIn testing
  • Log your timeIn testing
  • ComponentsIn testing
  • A person says yes before a task is doneIn testing
  • Backlog in the order you will work itIn testing
  • Sprints with a goalIn testing
  • Sprint boardIn testing
  • Your own workflow statesIn testing
  • Custom fields on every taskIn testing
  • Change many tasks at onceIn testing
  • Comments on every taskIn testing
  • Mention people and helpers with @In testing
  • Watch a taskIn testing
  • Notifications page with an unread countIn testing
  • Mail off, instant or a daily digestIn testing
  • Search with filter wordsIn testing
  • Saved and shared searchesIn testing
  • Brood keeps your code itselfIn testing
  • SSH keys for your AI helpersIn testing
  • One branch per taskIn testing
  • Tests run on every pushed branchIn testing
  • Merge request with a person's yesIn testing
  • Main cannot be changed any other wayIn testing
  • Connect your own AI sessions through one secure doorIn testing
  • A helper is woken when work arrivesIn testing
  • Helpers work only on what is theirsIn testing
  • Helpers push work, never merge itIn testing
  • A limit on connected helpersIn testing
  • AI features off until your company turns them onIn testing
  • Versions and fix versionsIn testing
  • Release notes you can downloadIn testing
  • Created versus resolved, and cycle timeIn testing
  • Velocity and burndownIn testing
  • Import from another trackerIn testing
  • You check the mapping and say yes before the importIn testing
  • Importing again updates instead of copyingIn testing
  • Import code and issues from an outside code hostIn testing
  • Mail that is really sentPlanned
  • Tests run on a separate, locked-down serverPlanned
  • Pilot companiesPlanned
  • More tracking featuresPlanned
  • Joining the wider IT-Labs suitePlanned

Faster with AI (works by hand too)3

  • Say what you want in plain wordsIn testing

    Your company's local AI model turns your sentence into a search with filter words; you see and can change it before it runs.

  • A short explanation of a failed test runIn testing

    Your company's local AI model reads the failed test output and writes a few plain lines on what broke; the full list of failures is always shown too.

  • A hint about who should take a taskIn testing

    By default simple rules pick whoever has the fewest open tasks; with your local AI model on, it chooses among the same people and helpers from the task title. It never assigns; you choose.

Suggest a feature

Something BroodBox should do for your business? Tell us; the founder reads every suggestion.

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