veritas-kanban/docs/CLI-GUIDE.md

CLI Guide

Comprehensive guide to the vk command-line tool for Veritas Kanban.

📋 Back to README · Features · Changelog

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Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Installation
• Quick Start
• Command Reference
  • Workflow Commands
  • Task Commands
  • Time Tracking
  • Comments
  • Agent Status
  • Project Management
  • Agent Commands
  • Automation Commands
  • GitHub Sync
  • Utilities
• Workflow Commands Deep Dive
• Scripting & Automation
• Configuration
• Tips & Tricks

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Introduction

vk is the command-line interface for Veritas Kanban — a local-first task management and AI agent orchestration platform. It lets you manage tasks, track time, coordinate agents, and run your entire project workflow without leaving the terminal.

💡 Philosophy: "Automate everything you do twice."

This principle — championed by Boris Cherny, creator of Claude Code — is at the heart of the v1.4 CLI additions. If you're doing the same multi-step workflow every time you start or finish a task, that workflow should be a single command. That's exactly what vk begin and vk done deliver.

The CLI talks to the Veritas Kanban server over its REST API, so any command you run in the terminal has the same effect as clicking through the web UI or calling the API directly with curl.

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Installation

# Clone the repository (if you haven't already)
git clone https://github.com/BradGroux/veritas-kanban.git
cd veritas-kanban

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Build shared code and the CLI before linking
pnpm --filter @veritas-kanban/shared build
pnpm --filter @veritas-kanban/cli build

# Link the CLI globally from the CLI package
cd cli
npm link

After linking, the vk command is available globally in your terminal.

vk --help
vk setup

Prerequisite: The Veritas Kanban server must be running for CLI commands to work. Start it with pnpm dev from the repository root.

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Quick Start

The complete task lifecycle in three commands:

# 1. Create a task
vk create "Implement OAuth login" --type code --project my-app

# 2. Start working — one command handles everything
vk begin task_20260201_abc123

# 3. Finish up — one command wraps it all
vk done task_20260201_abc123 "Added OAuth2 with Google and GitHub providers"

That's it. vk begin sets the task to in-progress, starts the time tracker, and marks the agent as working. vk done stops the timer, marks the task done, adds a closing comment, and sets the agent to idle. What used to require 6+ API calls now takes 2 commands.

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Command Reference

Workflow Commands

Composite commands that orchestrate multiple API calls into a single action.

vk begin <id>

Start working on a task. Orchestrates three actions in one command.

vk begin task_20260201_abc123

What it does:

1. Sets task status to in-progress
2. Starts the time tracker
3. Updates agent status to working (auto-fetches task title)

Flags:

Flag	Description
--json	Output result as JSON

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vk done <id> "summary"

Complete a task with a summary. Orchestrates four actions in one command.

vk done task_20260201_abc123 "Added OAuth2 with Google and GitHub providers"

What it does:

1. Stops the time tracker
2. Sets task status to done
3. Adds a comment with the summary text
4. Updates agent status to idle

Flags:

Flag	Description
--json	Output result as JSON

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vk block <id> "reason"

Block a task with a reason.

vk block task_20260201_abc123 "Waiting on API credentials from client"

What it does:

1. Sets task status to blocked
2. Adds a comment with the block reason

Flags:

Flag	Description
--json	Output result as JSON

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vk unblock <id>

Unblock a task and resume work.

vk unblock task_20260201_abc123

What it does:

1. Sets task status to in-progress
2. Restarts the time tracker

Flags:

Flag	Description
--json	Output result as JSON

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Task Commands

Core task management commands.

vk list

List tasks with optional filters.

vk list                           # All tasks
vk list --status in-progress      # Filter by status
vk list --type code               # Filter by type
vk list --project my-app          # Filter by project
vk list --status in-progress --type code  # Combine filters
vk list --json                    # JSON output

Aliases: ls

Flags:

Flag	Description
--status	Filter by status (todo, in-progress, blocked, done)
--type	Filter by task type
--project	Filter by project name
--json	Output as JSON

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vk show <id>

Show detailed information for a task.

vk show task_20260201_abc123
vk show abc123                    # Partial ID matching supported
vk show abc123 --json

Flags:

Flag	Description
--json	Output as JSON

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vk create <title>

Create a new task.

vk create "Implement OAuth login"
vk create "Fix button alignment" --type code --priority high --project my-app

Flags:

Flag	Description
--type	Task type (code, research, content, etc.)
--priority	Priority level (low, medium, high)
--project	Project name
--json	Output as JSON

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vk update <id>

Update task fields.

vk update abc123 --status review
vk update abc123 --title "New title" --priority high

Flags:

Flag	Description
--status	New status
--title	New title
--priority	New priority
--type	New type
--project	New project
--json	Output as JSON

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Time Tracking

Full time management from the terminal.

vk time start <id>

Start the time tracker for a task.

vk time start task_20260201_abc123

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vk time stop <id>

Stop the time tracker.

vk time stop task_20260201_abc123

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vk time entry <id> <seconds> "description"

Add a manual time entry.

vk time entry task_20260201_abc123 3600 "Implemented login flow"
vk time entry abc123 1800 "Code review"

Arguments:

Argument	Description
<id>	Task ID (supports partial matching)
<seconds>	Duration in seconds
"description"	Description of the work done

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vk time show <id>

Display time tracking summary for a task.

vk time show task_20260201_abc123
vk time show abc123 --json

Output includes: total time, whether a timer is currently running, and individual time entries with descriptions.

Flags:

Flag	Description
--json	Output as JSON

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Comments

Add comments to tasks from the terminal.

vk comment <id> "text"

vk comment task_20260201_abc123 "Fixed the race condition in the auth flow"
vk comment abc123 "Completed OAuth integration" --author Veritas

Flags:

Flag	Description
--author	Author name (default: CLI user)
--json	Output as JSON

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Agent Status

Manage the global agent status indicator.

vk agent status

Show the current agent status.

vk agent status
vk agent status --json

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vk agent working <id>

Set agent status to working on a specific task. Automatically fetches the task title.

vk agent working task_20260201_abc123

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vk agent idle

Set agent status to idle.

vk agent idle

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vk agent sub-agent <count>

Set agent status to sub-agent mode with a count of active sub-agents.

vk agent sub-agent 3

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Project Management

Manage projects from the terminal.

vk project list

List all projects.

vk project list
vk project list --json

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vk project create "name"

Create a new project.

vk project create "my-app"
vk project create "rubicon" --color "#7c3aed" --description "Main product"

Flags:

Flag	Description
--color	Project color (hex)
--description	Project description
--json	Output as JSON

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Agent Commands

Manage AI agents on code tasks.

Command	Description
vk start <id>	Start an agent on a code task (--agent to choose)
vk stop <id>	Stop a running agent
vk agents:pending	List pending agent requests
vk agents:status <id>	Check agent running status
vk agents:complete <id> -s	Mark agent complete (success)
vk agents:complete <id> -f	Mark agent complete (failure)

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Automation Commands

Manage automation tasks.

Command	Alias	Description
vk automation:pending	ap	List pending automation tasks
vk automation:running	ar	List running automation tasks
vk automation:start <id>	as	Start an automation task
vk automation:complete <id>	ac	Mark automation complete or failed

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GitHub Sync

Manage GitHub Issues bidirectional sync.

Command	Description
vk github sync	Trigger a manual GitHub Issues sync
vk github status	Show last sync status (timestamp, counts, errors)
vk github config	View or update GitHub sync configuration
vk github mappings	List issue↔task mappings

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Utilities

Command	Description
vk summary	Project stats: status counts, project progress, high-priority items
vk summary standup	Daily standup summary (--yesterday, --date YYYY-MM-DD, --json, --text)
vk notify <message>	Create a notification (--type, --title, --task options)
vk notify:check	Check for tasks that need notifications
vk notify:pending	Get pending notifications formatted for Teams

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Workflow Commands Deep Dive

The Problem

Before v1.4, starting or finishing a task required multiple separate API calls. A typical agent workflow looked like this:

# Starting a task (3 calls)
curl -X PATCH http://localhost:3001/api/tasks/<id> \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"status":"in-progress"}'

curl -X POST http://localhost:3001/api/tasks/<id>/time/start

curl -X POST http://localhost:3001/api/agent/status \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"status":"working","taskId":"<id>","taskTitle":"Implement OAuth"}'

# ... work happens ...

# Completing a task (4 calls)
curl -X POST http://localhost:3001/api/tasks/<id>/time/stop

curl -X PATCH http://localhost:3001/api/tasks/<id> \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"status":"done"}'

curl -X POST http://localhost:3001/api/tasks/<id>/comments \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"author":"agent","text":"Added OAuth2 with Google and GitHub providers"}'

curl -X POST http://localhost:3001/api/agent/status \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"status":"idle"}'

That's 7 curl commands across the lifecycle — easy to get wrong, tedious to type, and guaranteed to be inconsistent if you're doing it manually.

The Solution

vk begin <id>
# ... work happens ...
vk done <id> "Added OAuth2 with Google and GitHub providers"

Two commands. Same result. Every step is orchestrated in the correct order, every time.

What Each Command Orchestrates

Command	Step 1	Step 2	Step 3	Step 4
vk begin	Status → in-progress	Timer → start	Agent → working	—
vk done	Timer → stop	Status → done	Comment → added	Agent → idle
vk block	Status → blocked	Comment → reason	—	—
vk unblock	Status → in-progress	Timer → restart	—	—

Handling Blocked Tasks

Real-world tasks get blocked. The vk block and vk unblock commands handle this gracefully:

# Task hits a blocker
vk block abc123 "Waiting on API credentials from client"

# Blocker resolved — pick up where you left off
vk unblock abc123

The block reason is automatically recorded as a comment on the task, creating an audit trail of why work was paused.

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Scripting & Automation

Every command supports --json output for machine consumption, making vk a first-class tool for scripting and automation.

Piping and JSON Processing

# Get all in-progress task IDs
vk list --status in-progress --json | jq -r '.[] | .id'

# Count tasks by status
vk list --json | jq 'group_by(.status) | map({status: .[0].status, count: length})'

# Get time spent on a task
vk time show abc123 --json | jq '.totalTime'

Agent Automation

Use workflow commands in agent configurations (like AGENTS.md) to standardize task lifecycle management:

# In an agent's task handler
TASK_ID="$1"

# Start work
vk begin "$TASK_ID"

# ... perform the work ...

# Complete with summary
vk done "$TASK_ID" "Completed implementation of feature X"

CI/CD Integration

# Create a task for each deployment
TASK_ID=$(vk create "Deploy v2.1.2 to staging" --type automation --project ops --json | jq -r '.id')

# Track the deployment
vk begin "$TASK_ID"

# ... deployment steps ...

if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
  vk done "$TASK_ID" "Successfully deployed v2.1.2 to staging"
else
  vk block "$TASK_ID" "Deployment failed — check CI logs"
fi

Batch Operations

# Block all tasks in a project
vk list --project legacy-app --status in-progress --json | \
  jq -r '.[].id' | \
  xargs -I {} vk block {} "Project on hold pending budget approval"

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Configuration

The CLI reads configuration from environment variables:

Variable	Default	Description
VK_API_URL	http://localhost:3001	Veritas Kanban server URL
VK_API_KEY	(none)	API key for authentication

Setting the API URL

# Default — local development
export VK_API_URL=http://localhost:3001

# Remote server
export VK_API_URL=https://kanban.example.com

Setting the API Key

# Set your API key for authenticated endpoints
export VK_API_KEY=your-api-key-here

If you're running locally with localhost auth bypass enabled, read commands may work without a key. Write commands need VK_API_KEY unless VERITAS_AUTH_LOCALHOST_ROLE is set to agent or admin. Prefer an agent role key for CLI automation.

For v5, issue dedicated CLI keys instead of sharing the admin key. Routine automation should use an agent role key; read-only dashboards and reporting scripts should use read-only. Reserve the admin key for setup, migration, backup/import, and policy operations.

The CLI preflights protected commands against /api/auth/context before it calls the target endpoint. If VK_API_KEY lacks the mapped permission, the command fails locally without sending the mutating request.

Read/Write Smoke Check

Use this check after linking vk and exporting VK_API_URL/VK_API_KEY. It proves the CLI can both read from and write to the configured VK server.

# Read check
vk list --json | jq 'length'

# Write check, then cleanup
TASK_ID=$(vk create "CLI auth smoke test" \
  --type automation \
  --priority low \
  --description "Temporary task created by CLI auth smoke test." \
  --json | jq -r '.id')
vk show "$TASK_ID" --json | jq -e --arg id "$TASK_ID" '.id == $id'
vk delete "$TASK_ID" --json

Expected result: the read command prints a number, the show command exits 0, and the delete command returns { "deleted": true }. If read succeeds but write fails with 401 or 403, confirm the exported VK_API_KEY matches an agent or admin role key in VERITAS_API_KEYS, then restart the server.

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Tips & Tricks

Shell Aliases

Add these to your .bashrc or .zshrc for even faster workflows:

# Quick task lifecycle
alias vkb='vk begin'
alias vkd='vk done'
alias vkl='vk list --status in-progress'

# Common filters
alias vktodo='vk list --status todo'
alias vkblocked='vk list --status blocked'
alias vkdone='vk list --status done'

# Agent status shortcuts
alias vka='vk agent status'
alias vkai='vk agent idle'

Partial ID Matching

You don't need to type the full task ID. vk show and other commands support partial matching:

# Full ID
vk show task_20260201_abc123

# Partial — just the unique suffix
vk show abc123

Quick Standup

Generate your daily standup in one command:

# Today's standup in the terminal
vk summary standup

# Yesterday's standup (for morning standups)
vk summary standup --yesterday

# Pipe to clipboard (macOS)
vk summary standup --text | pbcopy

Combined Create + Begin

Create a task and immediately start working on it:

# Create and capture the ID
TASK_ID=$(vk create "Fix login bug" --type code --project my-app --json | jq -r '.id')

# Start working
vk begin "$TASK_ID"

Monitoring Agent Status

Check what the agent is up to:

# Current agent status
vk agent status

# See all in-progress tasks (what's being worked on)
vk list --status in-progress

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