Kanban CLI

Command-line interface for kanban task management

from praisonaiagents import Agent

agent = Agent(name="kanban-agent", instructions="Manage kanban boards via CLI.")
agent.start("Show the current kanban board and move completed tasks to Done.")

The user runs praisonai kanban commands to list boards, add tasks, and update status from the terminal.

CLI commands for kanban task management through praisonai kanban subcommands.

Feature Status: The CLI commands documented here require wrapper implementation. The core SDK provides protocols only. See praisonaiagents.kanban.protocols for available interfaces.

Quick Start

1. Install Wrapper

   CLI commands require the wrapper package with kanban implementation:

   # Wrapper installation (implementation-specific)
   pip install praisonai[kanban]  # Example
   
2. Basic Usage

   # List tasks (requires implementation)
   praisonai kanban list --status ready
   

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How It Works

CLI commands operate through the KanbanStoreProtocol interface:

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Configuration Options

CLI commands use environment variables for configuration:

Variable	Purpose	Default	Example
PRAISONAI_KANBAN_BOARD	Active board name	"default"	export PRAISONAI_KANBAN_BOARD=project-a
PRAISONAI_KANBAN_DB	Database path	~/.praisonai/kanban.db	export PRAISONAI_KANBAN_DB=/custom/kanban.db

Tuning lease & reclamation

Variable	Default	What it controls
PRAISONAI_KANBAN_CLAIM_TTL	900 (15 min)	How long a worker’s claim stays valid before it can be reclaimed
PRAISONAI_KANBAN_STALE_TIMEOUT	1800 (30 min)	How long a heartbeat can go stale before the worker is treated as hung

Increase PRAISONAI_KANBAN_CLAIM_TTL for long-running tasks. See Kanban Reliability for full details.

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Common Patterns

Project Workflow

# Set project board
export PRAISONAI_KANBAN_BOARD=project-a

# Create tasks (requires implementation)
praisonai kanban create "Design login UI" --assignee designer
praisonai kanban create "Implement auth API" --assignee developer

# Link dependencies (requires implementation)
praisonai kanban link design_task api_task

Multi-Agent Coordination

# Human creates high-level task
praisonai kanban create "Build user system" --assignee coordinator

# Coordinator agent breaks it down (via agent tools)
# Worker agents claim and complete subtasks (via agent tools)

# Human monitors progress
praisonai kanban list --status running --json | jq '.tasks[] | .title'

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Each kanban task now records every attempt (kanban_runs), supports a per-task retry/circuit-breaker (max_retries), and accepts idempotent creation (idempotency_key). See Attempt History & Retry.

Best Practices

Board Organization

Use separate boards for different projects. Set PRAISONAI_KANBAN_BOARD environment variable to switch between projects efficiently.

Task Naming

Use clear, actionable task titles. Include context and expected outcomes. Example: “Fix login validation error in user service” vs “Fix bug”.

Status Workflow

Follow the standard workflow: todo → ready → running → done. Use blocked for dependencies and review for approval gates.

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kanban_runs tool

The kanban_runs tool lists all execution attempts for a specific task, enabling agents to inspect retry history and handoff summaries.

# From agent tool invocation:
kanban_runs --task-id task-abc123

# Outputs:
# run-1: outcome=success, summary="Auth module tests passed", finished_at=2026-06-29T10:00:00Z
# run-2: outcome=failure, summary="DB connection refused", finished_at=2026-06-29T10:05:00Z

CLI example with runs

# Create a task with retry limits
praisonai kanban create "Deploy to staging" --max-retries 3

# Complete with structured handoff
praisonai kanban complete <task-id> --summary "Deployed v2.1.0" --metadata '{"sha": "abc123"}'

# List runs for a task
praisonai kanban runs <task-id>

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Related

Kanban Feature

Main kanban documentation including runs, retries, and structured handoff

Background Tasks

Async job processing and scheduling

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Commands Reference

The following command reference describes the expected CLI interface. Implementation depends on wrapper package.

list

List kanban tasks with filtering options.

# List all tasks
praisonai kanban list

# Filter by status
praisonai kanban list --status ready

# Filter by assignee
praisonai kanban list --assignee developer

# Specific board
praisonai kanban list --board project-a

# JSON output
praisonai kanban list --json

# Combine filters
praisonai kanban list --status todo --assignee agent --limit 10

Options:

• --status, -s: Filter by status (triage, todo, ready, running, blocked, review, done, archived)
• --assignee, -a: Filter by assignee username
• --board, -b: Board name (default: “default”)
• --limit, -l: Maximum tasks to show (default: 50)
• --json: Output as JSON

create

Create a new kanban task.

# Basic task
praisonai kanban create "Implement user authentication"

# With details
praisonai kanban create "Fix login bug" \
  --body "Users can't log in with special characters" \
  --assignee developer \
  --status ready \
  --priority 5

# Different board
praisonai kanban create "Review PR #123" --board project-a

# JSON output
praisonai kanban create "Setup CI/CD" --json

Arguments:

• title: Task title (required)

Options:

• --body, -b: Task description
• --assignee, -a: Username to assign task to
• --status, -s: Initial status (default: “todo”)
• --priority, -p: Priority level (higher = more important, default: 0)
• --board: Board name (default: “default”)
• --json: Output as JSON

show

Display detailed task information.

# Show task details
praisonai kanban show task_abc123

# JSON output  
praisonai kanban show task_abc123 --json

Shows task details, comments, and dependency information.

Arguments:

• task_id: The task ID to display (required)

Options:

• --json: Output as JSON

move

Move a task to a different status.

# Move to ready
praisonai kanban move task_abc123 ready

# Move to running
praisonai kanban move task_abc123 running

# Move to done
praisonai kanban move task_abc123 done

Arguments:

• task_id: The task ID to move (required)
• status: New status (required)

Valid statuses: triage, todo, scheduled, ready, running, blocked, review, done, archived

comment

Add a comment to a task.

# Add progress comment
praisonai kanban comment task_abc123 "Authentication module 50% complete"

# Different author
praisonai kanban comment task_abc123 "Looks good to me" --author reviewer

# JSON output
praisonai kanban comment task_abc123 "Testing phase started" --json

Arguments:

• task_id: The task ID to comment on (required)
• text: Comment text (required)

Options:

• --author, -a: Comment author (default: current user)
• --json: Output as JSON

link

Create a dependency link between tasks.

# Create dependency (design must finish before implementation)
praisonai kanban link task_design task_implement

# JSON output
praisonai kanban link task_parent task_child --json

Child task waits in its current column (todo/blocked) until all parents reach done/archived — then the dispatcher auto-promotes it to ready. See Dependency Auto-Promotion.

Arguments:

• parent_id: Parent task ID (must complete first)
• child_id: Child task ID (depends on parent)

Options:

• --json: Output as JSON

complete

Mark a task as completed.

# Mark complete
praisonai kanban complete task_abc123

# With completion message
praisonai kanban complete task_abc123 --comment "Authentication working perfectly"

# JSON output
praisonai kanban complete task_abc123 --json

Automatically moves task to “done” status.

Arguments:

• task_id: The task ID to complete (required)

Options:

• --comment, -c: Completion comment
• --json: Output as JSON

block

Mark a task as blocked with a reason.

# Block task with reason
praisonai kanban block task_abc123 "Waiting for API credentials"

# JSON output
praisonai kanban block task_abc123 "Database migration needed" --json

Automatically moves task to “blocked” status and adds a comment with the reason.

Arguments:

• task_id: The task ID to block (required)
• reason: Blocking reason (required)

Options:

• --json: Output as JSON

unblock

Remove block and move task back to ready status.

# Unblock task
praisonai kanban unblock task_abc123

# With resolution comment
praisonai kanban unblock task_abc123 --comment "Got API credentials"

Arguments:

• task_id: The task ID to unblock (required)

Options:

• --comment, -c: Resolution comment
• --json: Output as JSON

boards

List and manage available boards.

# List all boards
praisonai kanban boards

# Switch active board
praisonai kanban boards --switch project-a

# Create new board
praisonai kanban boards --create new-project

Options:

• --switch, -s: Switch to different board
• --create, -c: Create new board
• --json: Output as JSON

dispatch

Start background task dispatcher.

# Start dispatcher with defaults
praisonai kanban dispatch

# Custom configuration
praisonai kanban dispatch --max-concurrent 5 --poll-interval 15

# Check dispatcher status
praisonai kanban dispatch --status

# Stop running dispatcher
praisonai kanban dispatch --stop

On each tick the dispatcher first promotes any dependent tasks whose parents are all complete, then claims ready tasks. The dispatcher automatically claims “ready” tasks and spawns agent processes to work on them.

Options:

• --max-concurrent, -m: Maximum concurrent tasks (default: 3)
• --poll-interval, -p: Seconds between polls (default: 5.0)
• --status: Check if dispatcher is running
• --stop: Stop the dispatcher
• --daemon, -d: Run in background

reclaim

Reclaim orphaned tasks from crashed workers.

# Reclaim all orphaned tasks
praisonai kanban reclaim

# Reclaim specific task
praisonai kanban reclaim --task-id task_abc123

# Force reclaim (ignore timeouts)
praisonai kanban reclaim --force

Used to recover tasks that were claimed by agents that crashed or were interrupted.

Options:

• --task-id, -t: Specific task to reclaim
• --force, -f: Force reclaim ignoring normal timeouts
• --json: Output as JSON

Environment Variables

Variable	Effect	Example
PRAISONAI_KANBAN_BOARD	Default board for all commands	export PRAISONAI_KANBAN_BOARD=project-a
PRAISONAI_KANBAN_DB	Override database file path	export PRAISONAI_KANBAN_DB=/custom/kanban.db

Examples

Basic Workflow

# Create a task
praisonai kanban create "Implement login system" --assignee developer --status ready

# Check tasks assigned to you
praisonai kanban list --assignee developer --status ready

# Work on task (from agent)
# ... agent claims and processes task ...

# Check progress
praisonai kanban show task_abc123

# Mark complete
praisonai kanban complete task_abc123 --comment "Login system implemented and tested"

Multi-Agent Coordination

# Coordinator creates tasks
praisonai kanban create "Design authentication flow" --status todo
praisonai kanban create "Implement auth backend" --status todo  
praisonai kanban create "Create login UI" --status todo

# Link dependencies
praisonai kanban link design_task backend_task
praisonai kanban link backend_task ui_task

# Start background processing
praisonai kanban dispatch --max-concurrent 2

# Monitor progress
praisonai kanban list --status running

Project Management

# Switch to project board
export PRAISONAI_KANBAN_BOARD=mobile-app

# Create feature tasks
praisonai kanban create "User profile screen" --assignee frontend
praisonai kanban create "Profile API endpoint" --assignee backend  
praisonai kanban create "Unit tests for profile" --assignee qa

# Track progress
praisonai kanban list --json > project_status.json