Programmable pipeline
Move issues between states, query state, subscribe to transitions over the /api/events stream. The OpenAPI 3.1 spec is served at /api/openapi.json.
For platforms & integrators
Orchestration as substrate. Not a copilot.
Two kinds of teams build on Colony: platform-engineering groups making it the engine under internal services, and integrators wrapping it into products they ship. Both get the same stable contracts — an HTTP API with a published OpenAPI spec, the state machine, the ledger and the audit trail.
Two surfaces to build on
The pipeline is composable.
Colony is the orchestration — and the orchestration keeps widening. Build against the pipeline itself: move issues between states, query state, subscribe to transitions.
State-machine extension
Add states, add agents, gate transitions on your own checks. The state machine is designed to grow — bolt on a compliance-review state, fork the Inspector for a regulated codepath, schedule your own agent on the bus — without disrupting the core.
Stable contracts
The pipeline is the contract.
What you build against doesn’t shift under you. The state-machine schema is migrated, not rewritten. If a new state is added, your integration keeps working.
- State-machine schema migrated, not rewritten
- OpenAPI spec for every public surface
- Deprecations announced in the changelog with migration notes; removed config keys warn instead of failing to load
// move an issue from your product
POST /api/issues/acme/api/2841/transition
{ "targetState": "analyzing", "reason": "Customer replied in portal" }
HTTP 200 OK
{ "ok": true, "from": "needs-clarification", "to": "analyzing" } Three shapes the surface enables
What you could build on the pipeline.
Worked examples, not customer logos. The patterns below illustrate what the orchestration surface supports today — built on the API, the event stream and the enqueue label.
Bug-bash automation
Wrap the pipeline behind a Slack command. /colony-fix stages the linked issue; the team picks up the PR in their next standup. Engineers review; engineers merge.
Who pays: your team, and the per-issue cost ledger shows what each fix cost.
Customer-portal scaffolding
Give your customers a portal that stages issues into customer-owned repos. Colony runs underneath; you see the ledger and run the SLA.
Your customers see your product; the ledger keeps your unit economics honest.
Internal-tooling factory
Route internal tickets through Colony with a custom Inspector agent that enforces your golden-path tooling. Tickets convert to PRs to internal tools without engineer intervention.
Who pays: the platform team, with the ledger breaking cost down per issue so you can charge it back to each internal team.
Build on it.
Platform-tier pilots include integration support and a dedicated engineering contact. Integrators: ask about the OEM agreement on the first call.