Overview of Vibe Kanban #
- Purpose: An open-source, visual orchestration tool designed to manage various AI coding agents (Claude Code, Gemini CLI, etc.) as asynchronous tasks.
- The "Vibe" Philosophy: Shifts from a "chat-based" interaction to a "job-based" workflow where developers define tasks and let agents work in the background.
- Architecture: Built as a local web interface that sits on top of your CLI tools, allowing you to run multiple agents simultaneously on the same codebase.
Key Features and Interface #
- Kanban Boards: Tasks are organized into visual columns (Backlog, To Do, In Progress, Done) similar to Trello or Jira.
- Agent Integration: Supports Claude Code, Gemini CLI, and standard shell commands natively.
- Parallel Execution: Allows users to fire off multiple coding tasks at once without being blocked by a single terminal window.
- Project Context: Operates within your actual project directory, ensuring agents have access to local files and git history.
Workflow and Task Management #
- Task Creation: Users enter a prompt (e.g., "Refactor this component") and select which agent should handle it.
- Visual Logs: Each task card provides a real-time log of the agent's actions, making it easy to monitor progress or debug failures.
- Prompt Library: Features a built-in library for saving and reusing common prompts or system instructions.
- Auto-Cleanup: Includes settings to automatically delete task logs or temporary files after completion to keep the workspace clean.
Technical Setup and Installation #
- Environment: Runs locally via Node.js; installation typically involves cloning the repository and running
npm installandnpm run dev. - Dependencies: Requires the agents (like Claude Code) to be pre-installed on the system via their respective CLI commands.
- Configuration: Uses a
config.jsonfile to define custom agents, environment variables, and visual preferences.
Use Cases and Benefits #
- Large-Scale Refactors: Efficient for breaking down a large migration into smaller tasks and assigning them to different agents.
- "Set and Forget" Coding: Ideal for tasks that take several minutes, allowing the developer to work on other things while the agent completes the job.
- Agent Comparison: Enables side-by-side comparison of how Gemini vs. Claude handles the exact same prompt on a specific file.
Summary #
Vibe Kanban transforms the often chaotic experience of managing AI coding agents into a structured project management workflow. By moving away from a linear chat interface and into a visual Kanban board, it allows developers to treat AI agents as background workers. The tool excels at parallelizing development tasks, maintaining a clean record of agent activities, and providing a unified dashboard for multiple LLM-powered CLI tools. It is an ideal solution for developers who find standard terminal-based AI interactions too limiting for complex, multi-task projects.
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