The KanbanThing CLI

kanbanthing is a terminal client for a KanbanThing board. It signs in to a board with its link and password, then creates boards, lists, adds, edits and moves cards, and manages columns from a shell. Every command takes --json, so a script or an AI agent can drive the same board a person has open in a browser.

Install

Requires Node 20 or newer.

npm i -g kanbanthing

The binary is called kanban. To run it without installing anything:

npx kanbanthing

Quickstart

Sign in with the board link you already share with your team. The board password is asked for once and kept on this machine.

kanban login https://www.kanbanthing.com/board?id=<board-id>
kanban add "Write the spec"
kanban ls
kanban mv "Write the spec" Done

Use it from an AI agent

KanbanThing also hosts an MCP server, so an agent can drive a board without the CLI. It speaks Streamable HTTP at https://www.kanbanthing.com/mcp, needs no account and no API key, and works with any MCP client. Every tool takes a board id or board URL: there is deliberately no way to list or search boards, so paste the board link into the chat and keep the password to hand.

claude mcp add --transport http kanbanthing https://www.kanbanthing.com/mcp

Add --scope user to make it available in every project instead of only this one.

Tools

Tool	Meaning
create_board	Create a board and return its id, share URL and password
get_board	The board's name, expiry, columns and card counts
list_columns	The columns on a board, left to right, with their ids
list_cards	The cards on a board, or only those in one column
create_card	Add a card to a column
move_card	Move a card to another column
update_card	Change a card's title, description, due date or colour
delete_card	Delete a card

There is an installable skill and a longer setup guide for agents, covering what each tool takes and how to make an agent good at keeping a board current.

Commands

Command	Meaning
login <board-url>	Sign in to a board and remember it on this machine
logout	Forget the stored credentials for a board
boards	List the boards you are signed in to
use <alias>	Set the board later commands run against
create <name>	Create a board and sign in to it
board	Show the current board: name, columns and expiry
ls [--column <name>] [--all]	List cards, optionally in one column
add <title>	Add a card
mv <card> <column>	Move a card to another column
edit <card>	Change a card's title, description, colour or due date
rm <card>	Delete a card
columns	List the columns on the board
column add <name>	Add a column
column rename <col> <name>	Rename a column
column rm <col>	Delete a column and the cards in it
rename <name>	Rename the board
password	Change the board password
share	Print the board's share link
delete	Delete the board
version	Print the CLI version
help [command]	Show usage for the CLI or one command

Every command runs against the board set by use, or the one named by --board.

Global flags

Flag	Meaning
--json	Machine-readable output on every command
--board <alias\|uuid>	Run this command against a board other than the default
--no-color	Plain output with no ANSI escapes
--help	Usage for the CLI, or for the command in front of it
--version	Print the version and exit

Scripting the CLI

Add --json to any command and it prints a JSON object instead of formatted text. To sign in without a prompt, set KANBAN_BOARD to a board id or URL and KANBAN_PASSWORD to its password.

export KANBAN_BOARD=<board-id>
export KANBAN_PASSWORD=<board-password>
kanban ls --json

Exit codes:

Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	Error
2	Usage error
3	Authentication failure
4	Not found

Source

The CLI is open source at github.com/tronschell/kanban-cli.

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