# Decks

# Decks

![Deck Collection](https://manual.codecks.io/_astro/intro.B0e4R2uU_Z2bxvzU.webp)

Each Card in Codecks can belong to exactly one Deck. Your collection of Decks can be found in the **Decks tab**. This tab essentially serves as your project's backlog – a collection of all your tasks, ideas, and bugs that you might address at various points in the future, or perhaps not at all. It's the central repository for everything, from broad, ambitious concepts to concrete, actionable tasks.

## Organizing Your Decks

> We recommend setting up two types of Decks for each of your projects:
>
> 1. **GDD Decks** which contain cards for your high-level assets. E.g. an `Enemy` Deck which contains one Card per enemy.
> 2. **Tasks Decks** for each discipline. E.g. `Coding Tasks` or `Art Tasks`. Cards within these Decks are typically sub cards of Cards within a GDD Deck.
>
> That way you maintain a good high-level overview over the state of your assets within the GDD Decks, while your team members can find their relevant tasks within the respective Task Deck.

### Deck Types

Each Deck has a type that determines what kind of Cards it holds. You can set the Deck type using the dedicated button in the Deck header. There are four types to choose from:

![Card Types](https://manual.codecks.io/_astro/card-types.4_avJJyL_Z2ja16W.webp)

- **Asset Decks**: For your player-facing assets and gameplay systems. If you drop a Card here without sub-cards, it automatically becomes an empty Hero Card.
- **Task Decks**: Your standard work items containing task Cards and sub Cards. Defaults to Table View.
- **Knowledge Decks**: For documentation and meeting notes. Only allows [Doc Cards](https://manual.codecks.io/doc-cards/).
- **Mixed Decks**: The "anything goes" option when you need flexibility.

The Deck picker is smart about types - it won't let you accidentally drop a Card into a Deck type that doesn't fit.

There is a default Deck type for each new Deck that depends on the Space it is in (see below).

- **GDD** Spaces create Asset Decks by default
- **Tasks** Spaces create Task Decks by default
- **Knowledge** Spaces create Knowledge Decks by default

### Using Spaces for Navigation

[Spaces](https://manual.codecks.io/projects/) within Projects can be used to further categorize and separate different Deck types, which greatly helps with navigation and organization within your project.

![Decks with Spaces](https://manual.codecks.io/_astro/spaces.ece7yqfn_1sF0UM.webp)

### Deck Descriptions

You can add descriptions to each Deck. This makes it easier for your team to quickly identify where specific Cards belong and how those Cards should be structured, ensuring consistency and clarity.

> **Splitting Decks**
>
> Every game and team is different, so arrange your decks to match your team composition and game structure. There's no single right answer.
>
> One signal to watch for: when a deck grows disproportionately large (hundreds of cards), it's often worth splitting. Maybe "Art" becomes "Character Art" and "Environment Art," or "Code" splits into "Gameplay" and "Engine."
>
> We also recommend adding custom images to your decks. It makes navigation faster and gives each deck a distinct identity in the sidebar.

### Default Inbox Deck

To simplify Card creation, Codecks allows you to set a default inbox Deck per user. This means Cards created by a specific user can be automatically placed in their designated Deck (e.g., new art tasks go directly to the "Art Tasks" Deck). New organizations come with a default Inbox Deck already set up, so you can start capturing ideas immediately.

To configure a default inbox deck for your team members you can use the button on the top right of the [Team Hands](https://manual.codecks.io/hand/#team-hands). Only Admins can do this for others. Setting it up for each team member ensures their Cards land in the right spot automatically.

### Automation

Each Deck has an automation section, reachable via the 🤖 button on the Deck header bar. Here you can set up rules that apply automatically to Cards in that Deck:

- **Template Card:** define default content and properties that get applied whenever a Card is created in this Deck. Use it for a Card text with bug-reporting guidelines, a checklist for onboarding new team members, or to set a default tag or default owner for every Card in the Deck. It works independently of whether the Deck has a [Journey](https://manual.codecks.io/hero-cards/#journeys).
- **Auto-tagging:** [automatically assign](https://manual.codecks.io/tags/#auto-tagging) one project tag to every Card created in this Deck.

## Decks in the Codecks Workflow

Decks are a fundamental part of how work is managed and progressed in Codecks.

### Relationship with Cards

- Every Card can be assigned to at most one Deck.
- A Card created outside of a Deck starts out in your [Default Inbox Deck](#default-inbox-deck). If you pick **No deck** in the Deck picker — or have no Inbox Deck set — it becomes a private Ghost Card, hidden from other team members. To make it visible and shareable, you must place it into a Deck.
- Once a Card is in a Deck, it can't be made private again.

### Interaction with Other Features

- **Milestones and Runs**: You can assign any Card from your Decks to a [milestone](https://manual.codecks.io/milestones/) or a [Run](https://manual.codecks.io/runs/) to schedule your work.
- **Hand**: For your next immediate tasks, you might move Cards straight from the Decks tab into your [hand](https://manual.codecks.io/hand/).
- **Project Structure**: [Projects](https://manual.codecks.io/projects/) are containers for Decks. When setting up a new project, you might create spaces like `Tasks` with Decks for work areas (coding, animation) or `GDD` with Decks for game assets (enemies, levels).
- **Sorting and Filtering**: You can [sort and filter](https://manual.codecks.io/sorting/) the Cards within any Deck to view them in different ways, such as by priority or owner. Decks also support a `Manual` order where you can define a custom order via drag and drop, which is shared with the team.
- **Default Order**: You can define a [**Default Order**](https://manual.codecks.io/sorting/#default-view) for how Cards are displayed in a Deck. This shared preference will be the initial view for team members or public visitors (if part of Open Decks, see below).
- **Automation**: Each Deck can [apply a default Template Card and auto-assign a tag](#automation) to new Cards via the 🤖 button on the Deck header bar.
- **Journeys**: [Journeys](https://manual.codecks.io/hero-cards/#journeys) (template-based Sub Card creation) are always associated with Decks. To prepare a Journey, you open a Deck and click on the Journey button on the Deck header bar.
- **Guardians**: The [Guardians](https://manual.codecks.io/guardians/) feature, which helps manage Card completion workflows, can be enabled in the header area of any opened Deck by looking for the shield icon. Only appointed Guardians, Producers of that project and Admins can then mark Cards in that Deck as done directly.
- **Open Decks**: When you make a project public using [Open Decks](https://manual.codecks.io/open-decks/), visitors will see all the Decks contained in that public project. You can set a default Card order for these public Decks. Quick links (🌍 icon) to the public page of a Deck appear on the Deck header.