diff --git a/veans/internal/status/status.go b/veans/internal/status/status.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..637ba889f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/veans/internal/status/status.go
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+// Package status maps the five canonical veans statuses to Vikunja bucket
+// IDs and the `done` flag. The mapping is canonical and reflected verbatim
+// in the agent prompt (see internal/commands/prompt.tmpl).
+package status
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+
+	"code.vikunja.io/veans/internal/config"
+)
+
+// Status is the agent-facing state name.
+type Status string
+
+const (
+	Todo       Status = "todo"
+	InProgress Status = "in-progress"
+	InReview   Status = "in-review"
+	Completed  Status = "completed"
+	Scrapped   Status = "scrapped"
+)
+
+// All returns the canonical statuses in display order.
+func All() []Status {
+	return []Status{Todo, InProgress, InReview, Completed, Scrapped}
+}
+
+// CanonicalBucketTitles is the strict-with-override list seeded by `init`.
+var CanonicalBucketTitles = []string{
+	"Todo",
+	"In Progress",
+	"In Review",
+	"Done",
+	"Scrapped",
+}
+
+// BucketTitle returns the bucket name that backs each status.
+func (s Status) BucketTitle() string {
+	switch s {
+	case Todo:
+		return "Todo"
+	case InProgress:
+		return "In Progress"
+	case InReview:
+		return "In Review"
+	case Completed:
+		return "Done"
+	case Scrapped:
+		return "Scrapped"
+	}
+	return ""
+}
+
+// Done reports whether tasks in this status should have done=true.
+func (s Status) Done() bool {
+	return s == Completed || s == Scrapped
+}
+
+// Parse normalizes user input. Accepts the canonical hyphenated form, plus
+// underscored/snake variants and a couple of natural-language synonyms.
+func Parse(raw string) (Status, error) {
+	n := strings.TrimSpace(strings.ToLower(raw))
+	n = strings.ReplaceAll(n, "_", "-")
+	n = strings.ReplaceAll(n, " ", "-")
+	switch n {
+	case "todo":
+		return Todo, nil
+	case "in-progress", "wip", "doing":
+		return InProgress, nil
+	case "in-review", "review":
+		return InReview, nil
+	case "completed", "done":
+		return Completed, nil
+	case "scrapped", "cancelled", "canceled":
+		return Scrapped, nil
+	}
+	return "", fmt.Errorf("unknown status %q (expected one of: %s)",
+		raw, strings.Join(allStrings(), ", "))
+}
+
+// BucketID resolves a status to the bucket ID stored in .veans.yml.
+func BucketID(s Status, b config.Buckets) (int64, error) {
+	switch s {
+	case Todo:
+		return b.Todo, nil
+	case InProgress:
+		return b.InProgress, nil
+	case InReview:
+		return b.InReview, nil
+	case Completed:
+		return b.Done, nil
+	case Scrapped:
+		return b.Scrapped, nil
+	}
+	return 0, fmt.Errorf("unknown status %q", s)
+}
+
+// FromBucketID is the inverse of BucketID — used by `list` to render the
+// status of a task fetched from the API.
+func FromBucketID(id int64, b config.Buckets) Status {
+	switch id {
+	case b.Todo:
+		return Todo
+	case b.InProgress:
+		return InProgress
+	case b.InReview:
+		return InReview
+	case b.Done:
+		return Completed
+	case b.Scrapped:
+		return Scrapped
+	}
+	return ""
+}
+
+func allStrings() []string {
+	out := make([]string, 0, 5)
+	for _, s := range All() {
+		out = append(out, string(s))
+	}
+	return out
+}
diff --git a/veans/internal/status/status_test.go b/veans/internal/status/status_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..49bf2669f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/veans/internal/status/status_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+package status
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"code.vikunja.io/veans/internal/config"
+)
+
+func TestParse(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := map[string]Status{
+		"todo":         Todo,
+		"TODO":         Todo,
+		"in-progress":  InProgress,
+		"in_progress":  InProgress,
+		"in progress":  InProgress,
+		"WIP":          InProgress,
+		"doing":        InProgress,
+		"in-review":    InReview,
+		"review":       InReview,
+		"completed":    Completed,
+		"done":         Completed,
+		"scrapped":     Scrapped,
+		"cancelled":    Scrapped,
+		"canceled":     Scrapped,
+	}
+	for in, want := range cases {
+		got, err := Parse(in)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("Parse(%q): %v", in, err)
+			continue
+		}
+		if got != want {
+			t.Errorf("Parse(%q): got %q, want %q", in, got, want)
+		}
+	}
+	if _, err := Parse("nope"); err == nil {
+		t.Errorf("Parse(\"nope\"): expected error")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestDoneFlag(t *testing.T) {
+	if !Completed.Done() || !Scrapped.Done() {
+		t.Fatal("Completed/Scrapped should be done")
+	}
+	if Todo.Done() || InProgress.Done() || InReview.Done() {
+		t.Fatal("Todo/InProgress/InReview should not be done")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestBucketIDRoundTrip(t *testing.T) {
+	b := config.Buckets{Todo: 11, InProgress: 12, InReview: 13, Done: 14, Scrapped: 15}
+	for _, s := range All() {
+		id, err := BucketID(s, b)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("BucketID(%q): %v", s, err)
+		}
+		if got := FromBucketID(id, b); got != s {
+			t.Errorf("FromBucketID(%d) = %q, want %q", id, got, s)
+		}
+	}
+}