Task dependencies keep work in the right order without requiring you to remember every prerequisite. Connect tasks inside the same project, choose whether the dependency controls when work can start or when it can be completed, and let Moxie explain what is waiting and why.
Before you begin
Both tasks must belong to the same project. Dependencies cannot connect work from different projects.
The order of your task statuses matters. The first status is where work begins; the status marked complete and every status after it are completion stages.
You need permission to update the project and its tasks.
Choose the right dependency rule
Moxie supports two rules:
Cannot start keeps the dependent task in the project’s first task status until its prerequisite is complete. This is the default and the strongest sequencing rule.
Cannot complete allows work to begin and move through incomplete statuses, but prevents the task from entering a completed status until its prerequisite is complete.
Use Cannot start when work genuinely cannot begin, such as waiting for approved copy before designing a page. Use Cannot complete when work can proceed but requires a final input, such as finishing an invoice only after tracked time has been reviewed.
Add a dependency
Open a task and stay on Overview.
Find Dependencies and select Add dependency.
In the dependency window, select the prerequisite task from the same project.
Choose whether the current task cannot start or cannot complete.
Select Add dependency.
The focused dependency window explains both rules before you create the relationship.
Recognize blocked and blocking work
Dependency icons appear with tasks throughout Table, Board, Calendar, Gantt, and Workday views:
An incoming warning means the task cannot start or cannot complete yet.
An outgoing relationship means this task is currently holding up other work.
A task can show both states when it is in the middle of a longer dependency chain.
The indicators add dependency context without replacing the task’s status, project, or priority colors.
Understand related dependencies
Select a dependency indicator to see the relationships directly connected to that task. Waiting on shows its immediate prerequisites, while Blocking shows the tasks that immediately depend on it.
Each relationship explains whether it prevents starting or completing and shows the related task’s current project status. Select a task name to open that task without searching for it separately.
The dialog stays focused on the selected task and explains both sides of its direct relationships.
What happens when a move is blocked
Moxie checks dependencies whenever a task status changes, including changes made from a task, Table view, or Board view.
A task with an active Cannot start rule remains in the first status.
A task with an active Cannot complete rule may continue through incomplete statuses but cannot be completed.
Completing the prerequisite releases the applicable restriction automatically.
If a move would break a rule, Moxie keeps the task in its previous status and names the prerequisite that still needs attention.
Change or remove a dependency
Select the remove icon when a relationship is no longer needed. Moxie asks you to confirm that you are breaking the dependency; neither task is deleted or otherwise changed. To use a different rule, remove the relationship and add it again with the correct rule.
Reuse dependencies with project templates
Project templates can store the same Cannot start and Cannot complete relationships, so a repeatable project arrives with its work already sequenced.
Open a project template and select Tasks.
Open a template task and scroll to Dependencies on its Overview.
Add the tasks it waits for or the tasks it blocks, then save the template.
When the template creates a project, Moxie links the newly created tasks rather than reusing IDs from an older project. If you import only selected tasks from a template, a dependency comes across only when both linked tasks are included. Saving an existing project as a template preserves its current dependency graph.
Recurring template tasks are not available for dependencies because they create tasks later on their own schedule rather than when the project starts.
Use dependencies with a connected AI assistant
If your workspace owner has enabled the Moxie MCP Server, a connected AI assistant can inspect a task’s upstream and downstream chain, explain why work is blocked, identify the work a task is holding up, and help create, change, or remove project-local dependencies. Status changes still follow the same server-enforced rules.
Troubleshooting
The task I need is not available
Confirm that both tasks belong to the same project. Moxie intentionally does not create dependencies across projects.
I cannot move a task to another status
Select its dependency indicator to see which prerequisite is incomplete and whether the rule prevents starting or completing. Complete the prerequisite, or remove and recreate the relationship if the workflow has changed.
I reopened a prerequisite
Moxie does not automatically move downstream tasks backward. The reopened relationship appears in the dependency context so you can decide whether any downstream status should be adjusted.
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