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

Action TodoWrite Kaban

Create todowrite

kaban_add_task

Assign

kaban assign <id> <agent>

Start status: in_progress

kaban move <id> in-progress --assign

Complete status: completed

kaban_complete_task

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

Column WIP Limit

Backlog

To Do

In Progress 3

Done

Labels

Type Examples

Type bug , feature , refactor

Priority p0 , p1 , p2 , p3

Domain frontend , backend , infra

Quick Reference

CLI Commands

Command Description

kaban init

Initialize board

kaban status

Board summary

kaban add "title"

Add task

kaban list

List tasks

kaban list --assignee <agent>

List agent's tasks

kaban assign <id> <agent>

Assign task

kaban assign <id> --clear

Unassign task

kaban move <id> <col>

Move task

kaban move <id> <col> -A [agent]

Move and assign

kaban done <id>

Complete task

kaban archive

Archive done tasks

kaban restore <id>

Restore from archive

MCP Tools

Tool Key Parameters

kaban_add_task

title, column?, labels?

kaban_move_task

id, column

kaban_update_task

id, assignedTo?, labels?

kaban_complete_task

id

kaban_list_tasks

columnId?, assignee?, blocked?

kaban_status

kaban_archive_tasks

kaban_restore_task

id

Rules

• Always sync TodoWrite ↔ Kaban

• Include task ID when delegating

• Respect WIP limits (ask before forcing)

• Use CLI or MCP tools only (never direct DB access)