Task board

Each project has its own task board, next to its agents. Keep it local, or show the project's GitHub or GitLab issues. Start an agent on a task with one shortcut, and post its summary back when it is done.

Why it helps

Tasks usually live in another app, like Trello or Linear. You copy the title and the description by hand into each prompt, then go back to update the card. In Kanbell, the task goes into the agent's input in one step, and the result goes back in one click.

What you get

• Local Board: no account. Columns Backlog, Todo, In Progress, In Review, Done and Canceled. Priority, labels, due date, comments and Markdown descriptions.
• GitHub (github.com): columns by Open / closed, or by Labels (1 to 5). Create issues and comment.
• GitLab (gitlab.com or self-hosted, up to 5 servers): columns by state or by 1 to 5 labels, scoped labels included. Create issues and comment.
• Start Agent, Publish Summary, plus Link to Issue… and Link Session… to connect a session and a task by hand.
• "$KANBELL_CLI", a command agents use to read and update the local board.

How it works

1. Open the board with ⌘2 (Linux: Ctrl+Shift+2). Pick the source in Settings › Projects › Board source, or click Use Local Board.
2. Add a task with New Task, or use the issues already on GitHub or GitLab.
3. Select a task and press Start Agent, ⌘⏎ (Linux: Ctrl+Enter). Choose a profile and a folder.
4. Kanbell pastes the title and description into the agent's input but does not send them. Read, then press Enter. A Todo task moves to In Progress.
5. When the agent is done, click Publish Summary and confirm. Kanbell posts the agent's last message as a comment and moves the issue to In Review.

On the local board, agents can manage tasks themselves:

"$KANBELL_CLI" list
"$KANBELL_CLI" show 9
"$KANBELL_CLI" create "Title" --column backlog --description "..."
"$KANBELL_CLI" move 9 in_progress
"$KANBELL_CLI" comment 9 "Text"

Works with

Start Agent works with Claude Code, Codex and Gemini CLI, not with shells. Claude Code sessions on a local-board project get a short brief about "$KANBELL_CLI" automatically. With Codex and Gemini CLI, tell them Run "$KANBELL_CLI" help.

Good to know

• Publish Summary is never automatic.
• Kanbell warns about hidden text (HTML comments, invisible characters) and external authors in a task.
• Switching the board source deletes nothing.
• "$KANBELL_CLI" is read-only (list, show) on GitHub and GitLab boards. It only exists in terminals opened by Kanbell, not in Terminal.app or iTerm.
• On GitHub and GitLab, what you can edit depends on your permissions. Kanbell never deletes issues or creates labels. GitHub boards show the most recent issues only.

Step by step: Task board.