DataItem

Work item — a ticket, task, story, change request, or any unit of work. The core primitive of Ekso. Items live inside a container, carry process-defined values in field, time history in time, and free-form metadata in meta. Every human attribute (name, description, status, priority, …) lives in field rather than as a top-level property.

Sample JSON

Copy, edit, paste. Server-set fields (id, created, tenantId, …) are omitted from the example — they’re populated by the server on response.

{
  "containerId": "container_01HCONTAINER_FEN",
  "processId": "process_01HPROCESS_DEFAULT",
  "boardId": "board_01HBOARD_FEN",
  "cycleId": "cycle_01HCYCLE_SPRINT_42",
  "resourceType": "User",
  "resourceId": "user_01HUSER_ASSIGNEE",
  "dateOpened": "2026-04-15T09:30:00Z",
  "field": [
    {
      "id": "field_01HFIELD_NAME",
      "data": "Investigate intermittent timeout in login flow"
    },
    {
      "id": "field_01HFIELD_DESCRIPTION",
      "data": "Customers report 500 errors after 30s of inactivity. Repro on Safari 17 + 3G throttling."
    },
    {
      "id": "field_01HFIELD_STATUS",
      "data": "fielddata_01HSTATUS_OPEN"
    },
    {
      "id": "field_01HFIELD_PRIORITY",
      "data": "fielddata_01HPRIORITY_HIGH"
    },
    {
      "id": "field_01HFIELD_SEVERITY",
      "data": "fielddata_01HSEVERITY_MAJOR"
    },
    {
      "id": "field_01HFIELD_RESOLUTION",
      "data": "fielddata_01HRESOLUTION_UNRESOLVED"
    },
    {
      "id": "field_01HFIELD_AREA",
      "data": "area_01HAREA_BACKEND"
    },
    {
      "id": "field_01HFIELD_PERCENTCOMPLETE",
      "data": "25"
    },
    {
      "id": "field_01HFIELD_WORKESTIMATE",
      "data": "4h 30m"
    },
    {
      "id": "field_01HFIELD_OWNEDBY",
      "data": "user_01HUSER_ASSIGNEE"
    },
    {
      "id": "field_01HFIELD_SKU",
      "data": "sku_01HSKU_DEV_HOURS"
    }
  ],
  "time": [
    {
      "userId": "user_01HUSER_ASSIGNEE",
      "dated": "2026-04-29T14:30:00Z",
      "timeLogged": "2h 15m",
      "comment": "Initial triage and reproduction.",
      "timeTypeId": "timetype_01HTIMETYPE_BILLABLE",
      "status": "Pending"
    }
  ],
  "meta": [
    {
      "key": "external_url",
      "value": "https://acme.example.com/tickets/T-1234"
    }
  ]
}

What Ekso fills in

These fields are managed by the server. You don’t pass them on writes — they appear on the response.

sequence — Auto-incrementing per-container number — the 123 in FEN-123. Server assigns it when the item is created.
clockStart — Set by the clock subsystem when the item enters a clock-eligible state.
clockFinish — Set by the clock subsystem when the item exits a clock-eligible state.
clockDelta — Computed elapsed duration between clockStart and clockFinish. Server-maintained.
clockHours — Convenience integer-hour view of clockDelta. Server-maintained.
clockStatus — Active / Paused / Breached / Stopped. Updated by the clock subsystem as the item moves through workflow states.
dependencyKey — Hierarchy path for tree views. Maintained by the dependency engine when parent/child links change.
dependencyIndent — Indent depth in the dependency tree. Server-maintained.
dependencyChild — Child ordering within the dependency tree. Server-maintained.

Fields

Field	Type	Required	Notes
`entity`	string • nullable	Server-set	Set by the server. Read-only on writes.
`containerId`	string	Required	The container this item belongs to. Determines billing / cost-center inheritance.
`processId`	string	Required	The process whose workflow + field schema applies to this item.
`sequence`	integer	Server-set	Auto-incrementing per-container sequence — the `123` in `FEN-123`. Server-managed.
`boardId`	string	Optional	Board the item appears on. Items can exist without a board until placed.
`cycleId`	string	Optional	Cycle (sprint / iteration) the item is assigned to.
`resourceType`	`ResourceType`	Optional	Type of the assigned resource: `User` or `JobRole`. See `ResourceType`.
`resourceId`	string	Optional	Id of the assigned resource. User id when `resourceType=User`; job-role id when `resourceType=JobRole`.
`dateOpened`	string • nullable	Optional	Set on workflow transition into the open state. Pre-populate on create to backdate the open event.
`dateWorking`	string • nullable	Optional	Set on transition into the working state.
`dateClosed`	string • nullable	Optional	Set on transition into a terminal state.
`time`	array<`ItemTime`>	Optional	Time entries logged against this item. See `ItemTime`. The `timeLogged` format is `Xh Ym` (e.g. `2h 15m`).
`field`	array<`DataItemFieldValue`>	Required	Array of `DataItemFieldValue { id, data }`. Carries every human attribute — Name, Description, Status, Priority, Severity, Resolution, plus any custom fields the process declares.
`meta`	`array<{ key: string, value: string }>`	Optional	Free-form key/value metadata for fields not modelled by the process. Lossless — useful on imports.
`clockStart`	string (date-time)	Server-set	Server-set when the item enters a clock-eligible state.
`clockFinish`	string (date-time)	Server-set	Server-set when the item exits a clock-eligible state.
`clockDelta`	number	Server-set	Computed elapsed duration between `clockStart` and `clockFinish`.
`clockHours`	integer	Server-set	Convenience integer-hour view of `clockDelta`.
`clockStatus`	`ClockStatusEnum`	Server-set	Active / Paused / Breached / Stopped. See `ClockStatusEnum`.
`dependencyKey`	string	Server-set	Hierarchy path key for tree views. Server-managed.
`dependencyIndent`	integer	Server-set	Indent depth in dependency tree. Server-managed.
`dependencyChild`	integer	Server-set	Child ordering within the dependency tree. Server-managed.
`tenantId`	string	Server-set	Set by the server. Read-only on writes.
`id`	string	Server-set	Set by the server. Read-only on writes.
`created`	string (date-time)	Server-set	Set by the server. Read-only on writes.
`createdBy`	string	Server-set	Set by the server. Read-only on writes.
`updated`	string (date-time)	Server-set	Set by the server. Read-only on writes.
`updatedBy`	string	Server-set	Set by the server. Read-only on writes.
`deleted`	boolean	Server-set	Set by the server. Read-only on writes.

Used by

Request body

POST /api/item
PUT /api/item/{id}

Response body

GET /api/board/{boardId}/cycle/{cycleId}/item
GET /api/item/{id}/dependency
POST /api/item/copy
POST /api/item/find
POST /api/item/list
POST /api/item/resource
POST /api/item/{id}
POST /api/time/resource/{userId}

CLI

ekso item — see the command branches page for available verbs. Body for create / update verbs typically passed via --data @file.json matching the sample JSON above.

Reference

Core

Items

Process

Fields

Constraints & Rules

People & Access

Time & Finance

Knowledge

Mail & Tickets

Operational

Settings

Sample JSON

What Ekso fills in

Fields

Used by

Request body

Response body

CLI

​Sample JSON

​What Ekso fills in

​Fields

​Used by

​Request body

​Response body

​CLI

Sample JSON

What Ekso fills in

Fields

Used by

Request body

Response body

CLI