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.

⭐ Star on GitHub Get Started →

~/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."