Documentation

Kbn is a personal kanban board that runs entirely in your browser. No account, no server, no setup. Your data is stored in localStorage and never leaves your device.

1. Open the board — you'll see a "Welcome" project with sample tasks
2. Click the + button in the top tab bar to create a new project
3. It starts with To Do, In Progress and Done — rename them or add your own
4. Click + on any column, or press N to create a task in whichever column you are focused on in the column you are focused on
5. Drag tasks between columns, edit them, add tags and priorities

That's it. No configuration required. Everything else is optional power features documented below.

Kbn organizes work into projects, each containing one or more boards. Think of a project as a repo and boards as different views (e.g. "Frontend", "Backend", "DevOps").

Columns represent workflow stages. Every new board starts with To Do, In Progress and Done, and you can rename, recolor, reorder or replace them.

Tasks are the core unit of work in Kbn. Each task has content (written in any of 18 languages), optional tags, priorities, and due dates.

Plaintext and markdown tasks open in a plain textarea, which renders instantly. Pick any code language and the task switches to a full Monaco editor — the same one that powers VS Code — loaded on demand, so notes never pay for it.

Kbn is designed for keyboard-first usage. Press ? anywhere to see the full shortcuts dialog.

Press ⌘K to open the command palette — even while typing in an input. It provides instant access to every action in Kbn.

Press / to filter tasks by text across the board. Esc clears the filter and a second Esc leaves the box, so the single-key shortcuts come back. Enter focuses the first match and hands off to J / K.

While a filter is active, a column with no match says No matches rather than offering to add a task the filter would immediately hide.

Press A to open the Quick Add bar. Type a task description using natural syntax:

If no @column is specified, the task goes to the first column. A#tag matches an existing tag regardless of case or spacing, and creates the tag when there is no match.

@column accepts the full name with its spaces (@In Progress), the name without them (@inprogress), or any prefix that matches only one column (@in).

Set a due date on any task from the editor. Cards show a due date badge that changes color based on urgency:

• Red — overdue
• Amber — due today or tomorrow
• Gray — due later

When a board has overdue tasks, the count appears in the header next to the search box. Kbn does not use browser notifications — they only fire while the tab is open and need a permission prompt, and the badge is accurate either way.

Navigate to a column with vim keys and press F to enter focus mode. All other columns are dimmed, letting you concentrate on one workflow stage. Press F again or Esc to exit.

Each column decides how its own cards are ordered. Open the column menu → Sort by, or use the command palette → Sort column.

• Manual — the drag-and-drop order (default)
• Priority — urgent first, unset priorities last
• Due date — soonest first, undated tasks last
• Recently updated — most recently edited first

A sorted column shows its sort in the header; click that label to go back to manual order. Sorting only changes the display — your manual order is remembered underneath, and dragging a card still works.

Open Settings from the gear icon in the top-right corner. Settings are organized into two tabs: Appearance and Account.

Set preferences in Settings → Appearance → Board & Cards that apply to all new items you create:

• Default Task Language — the language new tasks open in (e.g. TypeScript, Markdown)
• Default Task Priority — priority assigned to new tasks (or "None")

These defaults save time when you consistently use the same setup.

Kbn is a Progressive Web App. On supported browsers, you can install it as a standalone app on your desktop or phone.

• Install — click the install prompt in your browser's address bar, or go to browser menu → "Install Kbn"
• Offline — the service worker caches the app shell. Once loaded, Kbn works fully offline since all data is in localStorage

Kbn is free. There are no plans, no tiers, no limits and no payments — every feature described on this page is available to everyone, forever.

Your data lives in your own browser, so there is nothing to meter. The optional account exists only to back that data up and sync it between your devices, and it is free too.