Titan Kanban

Titan Kanban is a lightweight VS Code extension that keeps a local, agent-friendly Kanban board inside your workspace. It exposes structured commands, a tree view, and file access that automation agents (or you) can call without leaving the editor.

Features

• Local board storage in local/kanban.json, automatically created if missing. Optionally attach supporting docs under local/tasks/*.md and local/plans/* for source material.
• Dual board surfaces: the List view (kanbanView) stays for compact tree navigation, while the new Board webview (kanbanBoardView) renders full Kanban columns with drag-and-drop and multi-select support. Both live under the Kanban activity bar and stay in sync.
• Workflow defaults: Fresh boards now ship with seven columns that mirror an idea-to-completion loop (Idea → Working → Breakdown → Iterating → Testing → Ready → Feature complete).
• Inline mutations: Create/move tasks and columns directly from the view, update statuses via context menus, and write history into local/tasks/*.md for easy auditing.
• Agent-ready commands (see the table below) so automations can open the board, pick work, export JSON, filter tasks, or mark progress.
• Plan importer: Drop Markdown or JSON plans under local/plans/ and run the import command to upsert tasks, fill structured fields (acceptance criteria, dependencies, risks, checklists, agent readiness), and auto-create docs.
• Codex prompt generation: Any task (especially plan-derived work) can be turned into a clipboard-ready prompt that summarizes context, acceptance criteria, entry points, and risks.
• Filter toggles so you can stack text/tag queries with agentReady/blocked switches for quick saved-view behavior.
• File system helpers for entryPoints (e.g., src/feature.ts or local/tasks/foo.md) and for opening plan context slices directly from the task modal.
• Board tools view (kanbanManagerView): Manage columns without touching JSON—drag to reorder them, see live card counts, and trigger create/rename/delete right from the activity bar.
• Card editor webview: A dedicated “Card Details” panel mirrors whichever task you focus, so you can edit title, summary, tags, status, priority, readiness, or delete the card without touching JSON.
• Feature checklists: Break large efforts into nested feature tasks inside the Card Details view. Each checklist task tracks its own summary plus per-item status so you can measure progress without flattening everything into the parent card.
• Fast feature drafts: Hitting the plus button instantly drops a “New Feature” card into “I have an Idea” and opens Card Details so you can fill in the real data before saving.
• Drag-and-drop + multi-select: Move one or many cards between columns from the Board view. Shift/Ctrl-click adds to the selection, a banner shows how many cards are selected, and a single drag rehomes the entire batch.

Commands

Board schema

local/kanban.json is modeled as:

{
	"version": 1,
	"columns": [
		{ "id": "col-idea", "name": "I have an Idea", "position": 1 },
		{ "id": "col-working", "name": "I am working through the idea", "position": 2 },
		{ "id": "col-breakdown", "name": "I am breaking it down into pieces", "position": 3 },
		{ "id": "col-iterating", "name": "I am iterating through implementation", "position": 4 },
		{ "id": "col-testing", "name": "I am testing this feature component", "position": 5 },
		{ "id": "col-ready", "name": "This component is ready", "position": 6 },
		{ "id": "col-complete", "name": "Feature complete", "position": 7 }
	],
	"items": [
		{
			"id": "task-123",
			"columnId": "todo",
			"title": "Wire minimal API",
			"summary": "Expose commands and tree view",
			"status": "todo",
			"priority": "high",
			"tags": ["agentReady"],
			"updatedAt": "2025-11-27T12:00:00Z",
			"entryPoints": ["src/extension.ts", "local/tasks/api.md"],
			"agentReady": true,
			"acceptanceCriteria": ["Expose commands", "Render board"],
			"dependencies": ["col-api"],
			"risks": ["Scope creep"],
			"checklist": ["Wire commands", "Render tree"],
			"context": "Long-form planning context...",
			"contextFile": "local/plans/minimal.md",
			"contextRange": { "startLine": 10, "endLine": 48 },
			"source": { "type": "plan", "planFile": "local/plans/minimal.md", "taskId": "wire-minimal-api" },
			"featureTasks": [
				{
					"id": "feat-api",
					"title": "API polish",
					"summary": "Track the smaller work items",
					"items": [
						{ "id": "feat-api-plumb", "title": "Wire providers", "status": "in_progress" },
						{ "id": "feat-api-tests", "title": "Add smoke tests", "status": "todo" }
					]
				}
			]
		}
	]
}

Columns render at their position (ascending). Tasks are sorted by status (in_progress, todo, blocked, review, done), then priority (high/p0, medium/p1, low/p2), then by oldest updatedAt. Missing files or folders are created automatically the first time you run kanban.openBoard. Rich task metadata (agent readiness, acceptance criteria, dependencies, risks, checklist, context info) is optional but preserved end-to-end. New boards automatically include the seven-column workflow shown above; you can rename or delete columns at any time.

Each task can also carry an optional featureTasks array. Every entry represents a checklist lane with its own summary plus a list of items. Item statuses support todo, in_progress, blocked, review, or done, and the Card Details view keeps their progress in sync with the JSON.

Filtering and search

• Run Kanban: Filter Tasks to enter a query. Plain words match titles, summaries, status, priority, and column names. Tag filters are prefixed with # or tag: (e.g., #agentReady in_progress). All tokens are combined with logical AND.
• Layer on Kanban: Toggle Agent-Ready Filter or Kanban: Toggle Blocked Filter to keep reusable saved-view states without editing the text query. The active state is summarized above the tree.
• The active filter string appears at the top of the Kanban view and can be cleared via the title-bar button or the Kanban: Clear Task Filter command.
• Tasks that do not satisfy the filter are hidden. If you try to reveal a hidden task, the extension reminds you to clear the filter first.

Agent workflow tips

1. List work: run kanban.getTasks so your agent has structured JSON. Filter on status (todo, in_progress) and any custom flags (e.g., agentReady).
2. Pick work: call kanban.pickNextTask to let the extension suggest the next card and automatically highlight it in the view.
3. Open context: include entryPoints per task; the extension can open each path (plus plan context ranges) relative to the workspace root.
4. Mutate or import in place: use the column/task context menus (or kanban.importPlan) to move work forward without hand-editing JSON. Each status change is logged to local/tasks/<taskId>.md, which agents can read for lightweight history.
5. Hand off prompts: run kanban.generateCodexPrompt on any task to drop a structured summary into your clipboard/editor before sending it to an agent.

Plan documents

• Place Markdown or JSON plans under local/plans/. Markdown parses headings (### Task Foo) plus metadata blocks (Summary, Column, Status, Priority, Tags, Entry Points, Dependencies, Acceptance Criteria, Checklist, Agent Ready, Risks) and captures inline context paragraphs with line ranges.
• JSON plans expect { "tasks": [...] } with similar fields; entryPoints, acceptanceCriteria, dependencies, risks, checklist, agentReady, and context are all optional.
• Importing a plan creates missing columns, upserts tasks keyed by source.planFile + taskId, merges global entry points/risks, and writes local/tasks/<taskId>.md summaries that agents can edit later.
• Each imported task keeps a pointer to the originating plan (contextFile/contextRange) so you can jump back to the source text from kanban.showTaskDetails.

Codex prompts

kanban.generateCodexPrompt creates a markdown prompt containing the task metadata, context, acceptance criteria, checklist, entry points, and risks. The prompt is copied to your clipboard and opened in a preview editor so you can tweak it before sending it to a coding agent.

Board view (web renderer)

• Column layout mirrors the data in local/kanban.json and honors the same sorting heuristics as the List view.
• Shift/Ctrl-click to multi-select tasks, then drag the stack to a new column. Drop targets highlight before the move fires.
• The selection banner keeps multi-select context visible and offers a one-click “Clear Selection” shortcut (or press Esc).
• Each column header exposes a + button so you can create a new feature directly in that column without diving back into the list view.
• Every card now has an Open Card button, so you can drill into details without scrolling back to the top toolbar.
• Double-click or use the Open Card button to jump directly into the Card Details editor for the highlighted task.
• The Board view respects filters and agent-ready/blocked toggles, so you can iterate on the same subset of work everywhere.

Card Details view

• The Card Details webview (inside the Kanban activity bar) always reflects the task you last clicked or moved to via command palette.
• Edit the title, summary, tags, status, priority, or agent-ready flag from this panel and hit Save to persist changes back to local/kanban.json.
• Add checklist groups via Add Checklist Task, then track per-item progress with Todo/In Progress/Blocked/Review/Done statuses. These map to the featureTasks field in local/kanban.json and help you keep sub-work organized for agents.
• Use the delete button to remove a task entirely; the tree view and filters refresh automatically.
• Context menu entries (Show Card Details, Open Entry Points, Open Task Context) remain available on every task node so you can jump between JSON, files, and the editor quickly.

Development

• Build once: pnpm install && pnpm compile
• Watch mode: pnpm watch
• Tests: pnpm test

The extension is bundled with esbuild and targets VS Code ^1.106.1.