Custom Fields — Make Lifecycle Fit Your Workflow
Custom fields are where Lifecycle OS becomes truly yours. Every team tracks different information. Your engineering team needs Figma URLs and PR links. Your product team needs epic groupings and RICE scores. Your CS team needs customer-specific metadata. Custom fields let you add exactly the data your team needs — without any database migrations, without any code, and without any performance tradeoffs.
Why Custom Fields Matter
Built-in fields cover the universal workflow mechanics: status, priority, assignees, sprint, hours. Custom fields cover everything else — the context that makes work meaningful to your specific organization.
Custom field values are stored in a flexible JSONB column. You can add unlimited fields with no performance impact. Add a new field today, use it immediately across all items on the board.
Tip: Before building a new board from scratch, look at your current spreadsheets, Notion docs, or Jira workflows. The columns you track there are your custom fields. Migrate that context into Lifecycle — you'll have everything in one place.
Field Types
Lifecycle OS supports 6 custom field types. Choose the type that matches the kind of data you're capturing.
Select
A dropdown with predefined options. Each option has a name and an optional color.
Best for: Epic, Product, Team, Release, Phase, Stage (custom), Region, Customer Tier
How it works:
- Define the options in the field settings (e.g., "Backend", "Frontend", "Data Science")
- Assign colors to options for visual coding in tables and kanban
- Each item can have one selected value
- Can be made groupable — enabling group-by this field in any view
Example: An "Epic" select field with options named after your product initiatives. Enable grouping → create a view grouped by Epic → instant roadmap view.
Tags
A multi-value select. Items can have multiple tags selected simultaneously.
Best for: Category, Labels, Skills Required, Affected Area, Integrations
How it works:
- Define available tags in field settings
- Each tag can have a name and optional color
- Items can have zero, one, or many tags
- Displayed as colored chips in table view and kanban cards
- Can be made groupable
Example: A "Category" field with tags: API, UI, Database, Performance, Security, Integration. A single bug can be tagged "API" + "Security" if it touches both areas.
Text
A short free-text input for open-ended string values.
Best for: Customer name, Requested by, External ticket ID, Notes, Internal code name
How it works:
- Single-line text input
- No predefined options — free entry
- Supports text-based filtering (contains, not contains, is empty)
- Cannot be made groupable (use select for groupable text categories)
Example: A "Requested By" field on feature request stories. Track which customer or stakeholder asked for each feature.
Number
A numeric value — integer or decimal.
Best for: Votes, Story points, RICE scores (Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort), Complexity, MRR at risk
How it works:
- Numeric input with optional decimal precision
- Supports greater than / less than / equals filtering
- Sortable — create a view sorted by a number field descending to rank items
- The foundation of RICE scoring in Lifecycle
Example: A "Votes" field on a Feature Requests board. Product team upvotes features; sort by Votes descending to see highest demand.
URL
A clickable hyperlink stored as a URL string.
Best for: Figma URL, PR URL, Zendesk ticket, Notion doc, Slack thread, Design spec
How it works:
- Renders as a clickable link that opens in a new tab
- Validates URL format on entry
- Displayed with a link icon in table and kanban views
Example: A "Figma URL" on stories links directly to the design file. A "PR URL" on tasks links to the GitHub pull request.
Date
A calendar date picker.
Best for: Due date, Review date, Target ship date, Customer meeting date
How it works:
- Opens a calendar date picker (not a browser native date input)
- Supports before / after / equals / is empty filtering
- Sortable — sort by date to see what's due soonest
Example: A "Due Date" field on CS action items. Filter to items due this week and sort ascending to see the most urgent deadlines.
Creating Custom Fields
- Go to Settings → Fields
- Click + New Field
- The New Field panel opens with the following options:
Field Name
A human-readable name. This is what your team will see as the column header. Examples: "Epic", "Figma URL", "Votes", "Customer".
Slug
Auto-generated from the name (URL-friendly format). Used internally. You can customize it before saving. The slug cannot be changed after the field is created.
Type
Select one of the 6 field types described above. The type cannot be changed after creation — choose carefully.
Options (Select and Tags types only)
Add predefined options. For each option:
- Name — the display label
- Color — an optional color used in group headers, kanban columns, and tags
You can add, edit, reorder, and delete options after the field is created. Deleting an option removes it from any item that had it selected.
Applies To
Restrict this field to specific work item levels:
- All levels (default)
- Stories only
- Tasks and Sub-tasks only
- Sub-tasks only
Examples: "Design Status" applies to Stories only. "PR URL" applies to Tasks only. "Epic" applies to Stories and Bugs.
Can Be Used for Grouping
Toggle this on to make the field available in the group-by dropdown on all views.
Only Select and Tags fields can be made groupable — you need discrete, finite values to create meaningful groups. Text, Number, URL, and Date fields cannot be made groupable.
Tip: Don't make every field groupable. Only enable grouping for fields where grouping is genuinely useful: Epic, Product, Team, Release, Category. Too many options in the group-by dropdown adds noise.
Default Custom Fields
R&D boards are created with these custom fields pre-configured. They cover the most common needs for engineering teams:
| Field | Type | Applies To | Groupable | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Epic | Select | Stories, Bugs | Yes | Group related stories into larger initiatives |
| Product | Select | All levels | Yes | Categorize by product area |
| Team | Select (Backend, Frontend, Data Science) | All levels | Yes | Route and filter by team |
| Release | Select (Upcoming, Next) | Stories | Yes | Milestone targeting |
| Category | Tags (API, UI, Database, Performance, Security, Integration) | All levels | Yes | Work type classification |
| Figma URL | URL | Stories | No | Link to design files |
| PR URL | URL | Tasks, Sub-tasks | No | Link to pull requests |
| Release Note | Text | Tasks | No | Notes for release documentation |
You can edit any of these defaults — add more options, change colors, update the name, or delete ones your team doesn't use.
Using Custom Fields in Views
Table View Columns
In table view, toggle custom field columns on or off using the Columns button in the toolbar. Drag to reorder columns. Resize to adjust width.
Kanban Card Fields
In kanban view, add custom fields to card fields in View Settings → Card Fields. Choose which fields appear on each card — show Epic and Team on sprint planning cards, show Figma URL and Design Status on design review cards.
Filtering by Custom Fields
All custom fields are available in the query builder as filter conditions. Filter by Epic to see only one initiative. Filter by Team to route to a specific group. Filter by Votes to see only high-demand features.
Grouping by Custom Fields
Select or Tags fields with "Can be used for grouping" enabled appear in the group-by dropdown. Create views grouped by Epic, Product, Team, Release — turn a flat list into a structured, meaningful view.
Sorting by Custom Fields
Number and Date fields are sortable. Create a view sorted by Votes descending to see highest priority features. Sort by Due Date ascending to see what's due first.
Editing Custom Fields
Go to Settings → Fields to manage your custom fields.
From the fields list you can:
- Edit field name, options (for select/tags), and settings
- Reorder fields (affects column order defaults)
- Add options to select/tags fields at any time
- Delete options — removes the value from all items that had it
- Delete fields — permanently removes the field and all its data from all items
Tip: Be careful when deleting fields or options — the data is gone immediately. Consider archiving or renaming instead of deleting if there's any chance the data is still useful.
Per-Level Applicability in Practice
A custom field set to "Stories only" is invisible on Task and Sub-task rows in table view. It won't appear in the column chooser when a task row is selected. This keeps the interface clean — tasks don't show Figma URLs, stories don't show PR URLs.
In the item detail panel, only applicable fields appear. The panel adapts to the item's level automatically.
Tips for Great Custom Field Design
- Start with what your team already tracks. Look at your spreadsheets and Notion pages — those columns become your custom fields.
- Use Select for anything that should drive grouping or filtering. Use Text only for truly free-form information.
- Keep option lists short and mutually exclusive for Select fields. "Backend", "Frontend", "Data Science" — not 20 teams.
- Add colors to Select and Tags options. Colors make group headers and kanban columns scannable at a glance.
- Don't create fields your team won't fill in. Empty fields add noise without value.