kan

README

Kan

A kanban board that lives in your repository.

What is Kan?

Kan is a kanban board stored as plain files in your repo. Run kan serve to open the web UI, or use the CLI for quick updates. Since it's just files, your board is version-controlled alongside your code and visible to anyone with access to the repo.

Quick Start

kan init
kan serve

That's it. Your board opens in the browser.

Documentation

Full documentation is available at amterp.dev/kan, or run kan serve and visit /docs.

CLI

Most users just need kan init and kan serve. The web UI handles everything else.

For scripting or automation (CI, AI agents, etc.), Kan has a full CLI:

kan add "Fix login bug"        # Add a card
kan edit fix-login-bug -c done # Move to column
kan list                       # List all cards
kan show fix-login-bug         # View card details
kan add -g "Buy milk"          # Add to your global board from any directory

Kan also ships with a skill file (extras/skill/) following the Agent Skills standard, so AI coding agents like Claude Code, Codex, and others can manage your board out of the box. See the AI Agents docs for details.

Why Kan?

Kan works great for solo developers and small teams juggling multiple projects. Every project gets its own board that lives in the repo - open the project, run kan serve, and you're right where you left off.

• Local and fast. No network calls, no loading spinners. Just files on disk.
• Self-contained. No accounts, no syncing, no external services to manage.
• Version-controlled. Your board history is your Git history.

Installation

Homebrew (macOS)

brew tap amterp/tap
brew install kan

Go Install

go install github.com/amterp/kan/cmd/kan@latest

How It Works

Kan stores data in a .kan/ directory:

.kan/
  boards/
    main/
      config.toml        # Board settings, columns, labels
      cards/
        k7xQ2m.json      # One file per card

Cards are JSON. Board config is TOML. Version control tracks changes like any other file.

Status

Kan is usable and actively developed. Core features are solid - boards, cards, columns, custom fields, comments, drag-and-drop, and a full CLI. Still to come: card relationships and other refinements.