Task management built for AI agents — not against them
The open-source kanban board that speaks your agent's language. CLI-first, API-native, built for the age of agentic development.
Your AI agent can write code in seconds.
But managing tasks? That's still 6 API calls and a prayer.
Every project management tool was built for humans clicking buttons. Your agent needs an API-native system that treats task management as code — not an afterthought.
6+ curl commands to move a task through its lifecycle. Status update, timer start, agent status, timer stop, completion comment, status done. Every. Single. Time.
Jira, Linear, Notion — beautiful UIs for humans. Hostile APIs for agents. Your AI shouldn't need a browser to update a task.
Cloud-only, proprietary formats, pay-per-seat. Your task data locked behind someone else's API. No local dev, no file access, no control.
vk begin and vk done replace 6 API calls with 2 commands.
# Start working
curl -X PATCH .../tasks/<id> \
-d '{"status":"in-progress"}'
curl -X POST .../tasks/<id>/time/start
curl -X POST .../agent/status \
-d '{"status":"working"}'
# Finish up
curl -X POST .../tasks/<id>/time/stop
curl -X PATCH .../tasks/<id> \
-d '{"status":"done"}'
curl -X POST .../tasks/<id>/comments \
-d '{"text":"summary"}'
❯ vk begin US-42
✓ Status → in-progress
✓ Timer started
✓ Agent status → working
❯ vk done US-42 "Added OAuth2"
✓ Timer stopped (47m 23s)
✓ Status → done
✓ Comment added
✓ Agent status → idle
"Automate everything you do twice."— Boris Cherny, creator of Claude Code
18 CLI subcommands, full REST API, MCP integration, and a beautiful UI for when you want to look at the board yourself.
Built for AI agents from day one — not retrofitted onto a human tool.
vk begin, vk done, and 18 subcommands for full lifecycle control.
Automatic timer management. Start, stop, manual entries — all from CLI or API.
Plan before you execute. Subtasks, dependencies, and verification checklists.
Done criteria that enforce quality. Every task has a definition of done.
Bidirectional, label-based. Import issues, push status changes back.
Real-time, filterable chronological feed. Know what every agent is doing.
Model Context Protocol for Claude Desktop and any MCP-compatible assistant.
Full lifecycle management. If it can make HTTP calls, it can drive the board.
Auto-generated standup reports. Completed, in-progress, blocked, upcoming.
Time-boxed iterations with auto-archive, velocity tracking, and sprint filtering.
API key auth, JWT, CORS, rate limiting, CSP headers, XSS prevention. Production-ready.
Veritas Kanban is the only task board built from the ground up for AI agent workflows.
| Feature | Veritas Kanban | Jira | Linear | Plane | Planka |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open source | ✅ MIT | ❌ | ❌ | ⚠️ AGPL | ⚠️ Fair Use |
| Local-first | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ⚠️ Self-host | ⚠️ Self-host |
| AI agent orchestration | ✅ Native | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| MCP server | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| CLI | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Git worktree integration | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Code review built-in | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Markdown file storage | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Local-first data ownership | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Time tracking | ✅ | ⚠️ Addon | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| REST API | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Free forever | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ⚠️ Limits | ✅ |
Buzz, Grok Build, OpenAI Codex, Claude Code, and GitHub Copilot CLI use one reviewed support matrix, exact build evidence, and fail-closed dispatch.
Immutable launch manifests, causal events, supervised runs, exact-action approvals, brokered credentials, and authoritative completion evidence stay provider-neutral.
Signed Squad Chat bridging, safe persona and team import, generic ACP task execution, run-scoped MCP tools, and replay-safe workflow triggers.
Generic ACP stdio support sits beside Codex app-server and Claude stream adapters, with capability-gated resume, fork, steer, interrupt, and close.
Read the v6 release notes, harness compatibility matrix, and upgrade guide.
Local-first SQLite and file-backed storage share one abstraction, with a React web app, TypeScript API, CLI, MCP server, and native desktop shell.
React 19 + TypeScript
Vite + Tailwind CSS
Mantine UI foundation
Node.js + Express
WebSocket real-time
TypeScript strict mode
SQLite + file adapters
Local-first by default
Governed backup and restore
Vitest unit coverage
Playwright E2E coverage
CI/CD with GitHub Actions
Clone, install, run. The board auto-seeds with example tasks so you can explore immediately.
Or ask your AI agent: "Clone and set up veritas-kanban locally."