v1.4 just shipped — CLI workflow commands

# Veritas Kanban

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.

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~/my-project — vk
❯ vk begin US-42 ✓ Status → in-progress ✓ Timer started ✓ Agent status → working ⋯ work happens ⋯ ❯ vk done US-42 "Added OAuth2 with PKCE flow" ✓ Timer stopped (47m 23s) ✓ Status → done ✓ Comment added ✓ Agent status → idle
The Problem

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.

🔗

### API Gymnastics

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.

🖱️

### Built for Clicks

Jira, Linear, Notion — beautiful UIs for humans. Hostile APIs for agents. Your AI shouldn't need a browser to update a task.

🔒

### Vendor Lock-in

Cloud-only, proprietary formats, pay-per-seat. Your task data locked behind someone else's API. No local dev, no file access, no control.

The Solution

## Two commands. Full lifecycle.

`vk begin` and `vk done` replace 6 API calls with 2 commands.

Before — 6 separate curl calls
The old way

    # 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"}'

After — 2 commands
The Veritas way

    ❯ 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
Features

## Everything your agent needs.

18 CLI subcommands, full REST API, MCP integration, and a beautiful UI for when you want to look at the board yourself.

🤖

### Agent-First Design

Built for AI agents from day one — not retrofitted onto a human tool.

⌨️

### CLI Workflow

`vk begin`, `vk done`, and 18 subcommands for full lifecycle control.

⏱️

### Time Tracking

Automatic timer management. Start, stop, manual entries — all from CLI or API.

📋

### Planning Phase

Plan before you execute. Subtasks, dependencies, and verification checklists.

✅

### Verification Checklists

Done criteria that enforce quality. Every task has a definition of done.

🔄

### GitHub Issues Sync

Bidirectional, label-based. Import issues, push status changes back.

📊

### Activity Feed

Real-time, filterable chronological feed. Know what every agent is doing.

🧩

### MCP Server

Model Context Protocol for Claude Desktop and any MCP-compatible assistant.

🔌

### REST API

Full lifecycle management. If it can make HTTP calls, it can drive the board.

📈

### Daily Standups

Auto-generated standup reports. Completed, in-progress, blocked, upcoming.

🏷️

### Sprint Management

Time-boxed iterations with auto-archive, velocity tracking, and sprint filtering.

🔒

### Security

API key auth, JWT, CORS, rate limiting, CSP headers, XSS prevention. Production-ready.

Compare

## Built for agents. Loved by humans.

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 | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌
No database required | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌
Time tracking | ✅ | ⚠️ Addon | ❌ | ✅ | ❌
REST API | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅
Free forever | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ⚠️ Limits | ✅

What's New

## v1.4 — Just Shipped

🚀 Latest Release
⚡

### CLI Workflow Commands

`vk begin` and `vk done` replace 6 API calls with 2 commands. Plus `vk block` and `vk unblock`.

⏱️

### Time Tracking CLI

Full time management from the terminal. Start, stop, manual entries, and summaries with `vk time`.

💬

### Comments & Agent Status CLI

Add comments and manage agent presence from the terminal. Full lifecycle without touching a browser.

📦

### 18 Subcommands, 651 Lines

5 new command modules covering workflows, time tracking, comments, agent status, and project management.

Tech Stack

## Modern. Minimal. Fast.

No database required. File-based storage means your tasks are plain markdown you can grep, diff, and version control.

⚛️

### Frontend

React 19 + TypeScript
Vite 6 + Tailwind CSS
shadcn/ui components

🟢

### Backend

Node.js + Express
WebSocket real-time
TypeScript strict mode

📄

### Storage

Markdown + YAML frontmatter
No database required
Human-readable files

🧪

### Testing

1,143+ unit tests (Vitest)
19 E2E tests (Playwright)
CI/CD with GitHub Actions

Quick Start

## Up and running in 60 seconds.

Clone, install, run. The board auto-seeds with example tasks so you can explore immediately.

Terminal
❯ git clone https://github.com/BradGroux/veritas-kanban.git ❯ cd veritas-kanban ❯ pnpm install && pnpm dev ✓ Board running at http://localhost:3000 ✓ API running at http://localhost:3001

Or ask your AI agent: "Clone and set up veritas-kanban locally."

Community

## Growing fast.

190+
GitHub stars in 72 hours
1,143
Unit tests passing
4
Major releases shipped
GitHub Repository
Discussions
Report Issues
Built by Digital Meld

## Ready to build with agents?

Star the repo, clone it, and ship your first agent-managed task in under a minute.

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