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.

CLI

kan add "Fix login bug"       # Add a card
kan add "Update docs" -c done # Add to specific column
kan list                      # See all cards
kan show fix-login-bug        # View card details (by alias or ID)
kan edit fix-login-bug        # Edit a card

Why Kan?

• Your board lives where your project lives. Clone a repo, see its board.
• Runs locally. No SaaS, no accounts, works offline, stays snappy.
• Plain files, no lock-in. Cards are JSON, config is TOML.
• Version-controlled. Changes tracked by Git (or any VCS) like everything else.

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 in early development. Core features work - boards, cards, columns, drag-and-drop in the web UI, CLI commands. More coming: comments, search, and other refinements.