Kaban Workflow

Persistent Kanban board for AI agent coordination. Tasks survive sessions and sync with TodoWrite.

Core principle: TodoWrite for session visibility, Kaban for persistence.

When to Activate

• Multi-step features (3+ tasks)
• User says "plan", "track", "board", "kanban"
• Session start with existing board
• Delegating to sub-agents

Not for: Single tasks, pure research, throwaway work.

Availability

MCP Tools (Preferred)

kaban_status                      - board status
kaban_list_tasks(assignee?)       - list tasks (filter by assignee)
kaban_add_task                    - add task
kaban_update_task(assignedTo?)    - update task / assign
kaban_move_task                   - move between columns
kaban_complete_task               - mark done

CLI Fallback

which kaban                        # check installation
kaban status                       # board status
kaban list                         # list tasks
kaban list --assignee <agent>      # list MY tasks
kaban add "title"                  # add task
kaban assign <id> <agent>          # assign task to agent
kaban move <id> <col> --assign     # move and claim task
kaban done <id>                    # complete task

Install: npm i -g @kaban-board/cli or brew install beshkenadze/tap/kaban

Never Do

• Check .kaban/board.db directly
• Run source code (bun run, npx ts-node)

Task Sync

Always mirror changes to both systems.

Session Start

1. kaban_status (or kaban status)
   ├─ No board → proceed normally
   └─ Board exists → check in-progress tasks
      └─ Ask: "Resume [task]?"

Sub-Agent Delegation

1. kaban assign <id> <agent-name>   # Assign task to sub-agent
2. Task tool prompt includes:
   - Kaban task ID
   - Agent name for --assignee filter
3. Sub-agent workflow:
   - kaban list --assignee <agent-name>  # See MY tasks
   - kaban move <id> in-progress --assign <agent-name>
   - kaban done <id>                     # When complete

Columns

Labels

Quick Reference

CLI Commands

MCP Tools

Rules

1. Always sync TodoWrite ↔ Kaban
2. Include task ID when delegating
3. Respect WIP limits (ask before forcing)
4. Use CLI or MCP tools only (never direct DB access)