A command-line client for Kanboard — manage projects, tasks, and comments directly from your terminal or scripts.
- Projects — list, create, delete
- Tasks — list with status, tag, and column filters; get, create, assign, delete, move (column/position), move to another project or swimlane, open, close
- Comments — list, add, delete
- Secure credential storage — API token is stored in the OS keyring (GNOME Keyring / libsecret on Linux, Keychain on macOS, Credential Manager on Windows); only the username is written to disk
- JSON output — every command accepts
--jsonfor machine-readable output, suitable for agents and scripting - Version info — build-time version, commit, and date injection
| Platform | Keyring backend |
|---|---|
| Linux | libsecret / GNOME Keyring (or KWallet via D-Bus) |
| macOS | macOS Keychain Services |
| Windows | Windows Credential Manager |
A running Kanboard instance with API access enabled.
git clone <repo-url> kanboard-cli
cd kanboard-cli
just build # produces ./kanboard-clinix build .#default # result/bin/kanboard-cli
nix run .#default -- --help # run without installingDownload the appropriate archive for your platform from the
Releases page, extract, and place kanboard-cli somewhere
on your $PATH.
kanboard-cli auth loginYou will be prompted for:
- Kanboard URL — the base URL of your Kanboard instance.
- Username — use
jsonrpcfor the application API (token from Settings › API), or your own username for the user API (requires a personal access token from your profile page). - API token — entered via a hidden prompt (not echoed).
The server URL and username are stored in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/kanboard-cli/config.json.
The token is stored only in the OS keyring — never in a plain-text file.
You can also pass the URL non-interactively:
kanboard-cli auth login --url https://kanboard.example.comSet KANBOARD_URL to override the stored server URL for a command:
export KANBOARD_URL=https://kanboard.example.comexport KANBOARD_URL=https://kanboard.example.com
export KANBOARD_USERNAME=jsonrpc
export KANBOARD_TOKEN=<token>
kanboard-cli project listSetting KANBOARD_TOKEN bypasses the keyring entirely.
kanboard-cli [--json] <command> [subcommand] [flags]
The --json flag is available on every command and outputs the result as
pretty-printed JSON instead of a human-readable table.
kanboard-cli auth login # store credentials in OS keyring
kanboard-cli auth status # show server URL and masked token
kanboard-cli auth logout # remove stored credentialskanboard-cli project list
kanboard-cli project create "My Project" --description "Optional description"
kanboard-cli project delete <project-id># List active tasks in a project
kanboard-cli task list --project-id <id>
# Include closed tasks
kanboard-cli task list --project-id <id> --all
# Filter by status, tag, or column title/ID
kanboard-cli task list --project-id <id> --status open --tag bulletin --column Refinement
kanboard-cli task list --project-id <id> --status closed --column 42
# Show full task details
kanboard-cli task get <task-id>
# Create a task
kanboard-cli task create "Fix login bug" \
--project-id <id> \
--column-id <id> \
--description "Steps to reproduce…" \
--color red \
--due "2024-12-31 09:00"
# Move within the same project board
kanboard-cli task move <task-id> \
--project-id <id> \
--column-id <target-column-id> \
--position 1
# Move to a different project
kanboard-cli task move-project <task-id> <target-project-id>
# Move one or more tasks to a project board by ID or exact name
kanboard-cli task move-board <task-id> <task-id> --project "Software Solutions"
# Move to a project board and swimlane/column by ID or exact name
kanboard-cli task move-board <task-id> --project "Software Solutions" --swimlane "Team Chameleon"
kanboard-cli task move-board <task-id> --project "Software Solutions" --column Refinement
# Assign to the authenticated user
kanboard-cli task assign <task-id>
kanboard-cli task assign <task-id> <task-id> <task-id>
# Assign to a specific user ID
kanboard-cli task assign <task-id> --user-id <user-id>
# Close / re-open
kanboard-cli task close <task-id>
kanboard-cli task close <task-id> <task-id> <task-id>
kanboard-cli task open <task-id>
# Delete
kanboard-cli task delete <task-id>kanboard-cli comment list <task-id>
kanboard-cli comment add <task-id> "This looks good!"
kanboard-cli comment delete <comment-id>kanboard-cli version
kanboard-cli --json versionPass --json to any command to get structured JSON output, useful for piping
into jq or calling from scripts and agents:
kanboard-cli --json task list --project-id 1 | jq '.[].title'
kanboard-cli --json task list --project-id 1 --tag bulletin --column Refinement | jq '.[].tags'
kanboard-cli --json task get 42 | jq '{id, title, status: (if .is_active == "1" then "open" else "closed" end)}'
kanboard-cli --json task assign 42 43 | jq '.[].task_id'Mutating commands return a small confirmation object, e.g.:
{ "task_id": 42, "deleted": true }devenv shell # or: nix developThe shell provides Go, gopls, golangci-lint, goimports, and (on Linux) libsecret/pkg-config.
just # list all recipes
just build # build with version/commit/date ldflags
just run <args>
just test
just test-race
just lint
just fmt
just clean
just vendor # go mod tidy + go mod vendor
just nix-build
just nix-run <args>kanboard-cli/
├── main.go
├── go.mod / go.sum
├── vendor/
├── devenv.nix devenv dev shell
├── flake.nix nix build + devShell
├── justfile task runner
├── .goreleaser.yaml release configuration
└── internal/
├── api/
│ ├── client.go JSON-RPC HTTP client (Basic Auth)
│ ├── flextime.go FlexibleTime — handles numeric/string timestamps
│ └── methods.go typed wrappers for all API procedures
├── config/
│ └── config.go OS keyring + config file management
├── cmd/
│ ├── root.go root command + --json flag + helpers
│ ├── auth.go
│ ├── project.go
│ ├── task.go
│ ├── comment.go
│ └── version.go
└── version/
└── version.go build-time version variables
Push to the release branch to trigger the GitHub Actions release workflow.
GoReleaser will cross-compile for Linux, macOS, and Windows, create a GitHub
Release, and upload archives with checksums.
Tag the commit with vX.Y.Z before pushing to produce a properly versioned
release:
git tag v1.0.0
git push origin v1.0.0:releaseCopyright (C) 2024 TU Graz
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3 (or any later version) as published by the Free Software Foundation.