---
name: "Unify story stuck states into a single status field"
status: "superseded"
superseded_by: 520
---

# Refactor 436: Unify story stuck states into a single status field

## Current State

- TBD

## Desired State

Replace the separate blocked, merge_failure, and review_hold front matter fields with a single status field (e.g. status: blocked, status: merge_failure, status: review_hold). Simplifies the unblock command, auto-assign checks, and pipeline advance logic.

## Acceptance Criteria

- [ ] Replace blocked: true, merge_failure: string, and review_hold: true with a single status: field in story front matter
- [ ] Auto-assign checks a single field instead of three separate ones
- [ ] Pipeline advance and lifecycle code reads/writes the unified status field
- [ ] Unblock command clears the status field regardless of which stuck state it was
- [ ] retry_count remains a separate field (it's a counter, not a state)
- [ ] Migration: existing stories with old fields are handled gracefully on read

## Out of Scope

- TBD
