Kanboard Skill

Overview

Kanboard uses JSON-RPC 2.0 over HTTP POST. All calls go to a single endpoint.

Make sure you have follow parameter to to access Kanboard:

1. KANBOARD_URL, the server url.
2. KANBOARD_API_TOKEN, the access api token.

Auth modes

Application API skips permission checks and has no session. Use it for automation.

Here is an example of curl:

curl "${KANBOARD_URL}/jsonrpc.php" -u "jsonrpc:$token" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{\"jsonrpc\":\"2.0\",\"method\":\"$method\",\"id\":1,\"params\":$params}"

Core Helper

Always use this shell function to call the API:

kb() {
  local method="$1"
  local params="${2:-{}}"
  local token="${KANBOARD_PASS:-$KANBOARD_API_TOKEN}"

  curl -s -X POST \
    -u "jsonrpc:$token" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d "{\"jsonrpc\":\"2.0\",\"method\":\"$method\",\"id\":1,\"params\":$params}" \
    "${KANBOARD_URL}/jsonrpc.php" | jq .
}

Check for errors in every response:

# Always verify result is not null/false
result=$(kb getMe | jq '.result')
if [ "$result" = "null" ] || [ "$result" = "false" ]; then
  echo "Error: $(kb getMe | jq -r '.error.message // "unknown error"')"
fi

Projects

# List all projects
kb getAllProjects

# Get single project by ID
kb getProjectById '{"project_id": 1}'

# Get project by name
kb getProjectByName '{"name": "My Project"}'

# Create project
kb createProject '{"name": "New Project", "description": "Optional description"}'

# Update project
kb updateProject '{"id": 1, "name": "Renamed", "description": "Updated"}'

# Remove project (irreversible)
kb removeProject '{"project_id": 1}'

# Enable / disable project
kb enableProject  '{"project_id": 1}'
kb disableProject '{"project_id": 1}'

# Get project activity feed
kb getProjectActivity '{"project_id": 1}'

Board & Columns

# Get full board (columns + tasks) for a project
kb getBoard '{"project_id": 1}'

# List columns
kb getColumns '{"project_id": 1}'

# Get single column
kb getColumn '{"column_id": 5}'

# Create column
kb addColumn '{"project_id": 1, "title": "In Review", "task_limit": 3}'

# Update column
kb updateColumn '{"column_id": 5, "title": "Review", "task_limit": 5}'

# Remove column
kb removeColumn '{"column_id": 5}'

# Change column position
kb changeColumnPosition '{"project_id": 1, "column_id": 5, "position": 2}'

Tasks

# Create task (minimum required: title + project_id)
kb createTask '{
  "title":      "Fix login bug",
  "project_id": 1,
  "column_id":  2,
  "swimlane_id": 1,
  "color_id":   "red",
  "priority":   2,
  "due_date":   "2025-12-31",
  "description": "Detailed description here",
  "owner_id":   3,
  "tags":       ["bug", "urgent"]
}'

# Get task by ID
kb getTask '{"task_id": 42}'

# Get task by reference (external ref)
kb getTaskByReference '{"project_id": 1, "reference": "EXT-123"}'

# List all tasks in a project (status: 1=open, 2=closed)
kb getAllTasks '{"project_id": 1, "status_id": 1}'

# Search tasks with advanced query
kb searchTasks '{"project_id": 1, "query": "assignee:me status:open"}'

# Update task
kb updateTask '{
  "id":         42,
  "title":      "Fix login bug (updated)",
  "column_id":  3,
  "color_id":   "green",
  "priority":   1,
  "due_date":   "2025-11-30"
}'

# Move task to another column/swimlane/position
kb moveTaskPosition "{
  \"project_id\":  $project_id,
  \"task_id\":     $task_id,
  \"column_id\":   $in_progress_col,
  \"position\":    1,
  \"swimlane_id\": 1
}"

Move task to another project

kb moveTaskToProject '{

"task_id": 42,

"project_id": 2,

"swimlane_id": 1,

"column_id": 1,

"category_id": 0

}'

Duplicate task to another project

kb duplicateTaskToProject '{

"task_id": 42,

"project_id": 2

}'

Close / Open task

kb closeTask '{"task_id": 42}'

kb openTask '{"task_id": 42}'

Remove task (irreversible)

kb removeTask '{"task_id": 42}'

Get task color list

kb getTaskColors

### Task color IDs
`yellow`, `blue`, `green`, `purple`, `red`, `orange`, `grey`, `brown`, `deep_orange`, `dark_grey`, `pink`, `teal`, `cyan`, `lime`, `light_green`, `amber`

---

## Subtasks

List subtasks for a task

kb getAllSubtasks '{"task_id": 42}'

Create subtask

kb createSubtask '{

"task_id": 42,

"title": "Write unit tests",

"user_id": 3,

"time_estimated": 4

}'

Update subtask (status: 0=todo, 1=in-progress, 2=done)

kb updateSubtask '{

"id": 10,

"task_id": 42,

"status": 1,

"time_spent": 2

}'

Remove subtask

kb removeSubtask '{"subtask_id": 10}'

---

## Comments

List comments for a task

kb getAllComments '{"task_id": 42}'

Create comment

kb createComment '{

"task_id": 42,

"user_id": 1,

"content": "This is a markdown comment."

}'

Update comment

kb updateComment '{"id": 7, "content": "Updated comment text."}'

Remove comment

kb removeComment '{"comment_id": 7}'

---

## Swimlanes

List swimlanes for a project

kb getSwimlanes '{"project_id": 1}'

Get active swimlanes only

kb getActiveSwimlanes '{"project_id": 1}'

Create swimlane

kb addSwimlane '{"project_id": 1, "name": "Team Alpha"}'

Update swimlane

kb updateSwimlane '{"swimlane_id": 3, "name": "Team Beta"}'

Remove swimlane

kb removeSwimlane '{"project_id": 1, "swimlane_id": 3}'

Change swimlane position

kb changeSwimlanePosition '{"project_id": 1, "swimlane_id": 3, "position": 1}'

---

## Categories

List categories for a project

kb getAllCategories '{"project_id": 1}'

Create category

kb createCategory '{"project_id": 1, "name": "Backend"}'

Update category

kb updateCategory '{"id": 5, "name": "Backend & API"}'

Remove category

kb removeCategory '{"category_id": 5}'

---

## Users

List all users (Application API only)

kb getAllUsers

Get user by ID

kb getUserById '{"user_id": 3}'

Get user by username

kb getUserByName '{"username": "alice"}'

Create user

kb createUser '{

"username": "bob",

"password": "S3cur3P@ss",

"name": "Bob Smith",

"email": "bob@example.com",

"role": "app-user"

}'

Roles: app-admin | app-manager | app-user

Update user

kb updateUser '{"id": 3, "name": "Bob Jones", "email": "bob.jones@example.com"}'

Disable / Enable user

kb disableUser '{"user_id": 3}'

kb enableUser '{"user_id": 3}'

Remove user

kb removeUser '{"user_id": 3}'

Current user (User API only)

kb getMe

kb getMyProjects

kb getMyDashboard

kb getMyActivityStream

kb getMyCalendar

kb getMyNotifications

---

## Project Permissions

List project users

kb getProjectUsers '{"project_id": 1}'

Add user to project

kb addProjectUser '{

"project_id": 1,

"user_id": 3,

"role": "project-member"

}'

Roles: project-manager | project-member | project-viewer

Change user role in project

kb changeProjectUserRole '{"project_id": 1, "user_id": 3, "role": "project-manager"}'

Remove user from project

kb removeProjectUser '{"project_id": 1, "user_id": 3}'

Add/remove group to project

kb addProjectGroup '{"project_id": 1, "group_id": 2, "role": "project-member"}'

kb removeProjectGroup '{"project_id": 1, "group_id": 2}'

---

## Tags

Get all tags for a project

kb getTagsByProject '{"project_id": 1}'

Create tag

kb createTag '{"project_id": 1, "tag": "urgent"}'

Update tag

kb updateTag '{"id": 4, "tag": "critical"}'

Remove tag

kb removeTag '{"tag_id": 4}'

Get tags for a task

kb getTaskTags '{"task_id": 42}'

Assign tags to a task (replaces existing tags)

kb setTaskTags '{"project_id": 1, "task_id": 42, "tags": ["bug", "urgent"]}'

---

## Task Links (Internal)

Get link types

kb getAllLinks

Get links for a task

kb getAllTaskLinks '{"task_id": 42}'

Create task link

kb createTaskLink '{

"task_id": 42,

"opposite_task_id": 55,

"link_id": 1

}'

Common link_id: 1=relates to, 2=blocks, 3=is blocked by, 4=duplicates, 5=is duplicated by

Remove task link

kb removeTaskLink '{"task_link_id": 8}'

---

## Application

Get app version

kb getVersion

Get app timezone

kb getTimezone

Get app default language

kb getDefaultLanguage

Get current datetime

kb now

Get available board column types

kb getDefaultTaskColors

---

## Common Workflows

### Create project with full setup

1. Create project

project_id=$(kb createProject '{"name":"Sprint 1"}' | jq '.result')

2. Add columns

kb addColumn "{\"project_id\": $project_id, \"title\": \"Backlog\"}"

kb addColumn "{\"project_id\": $project_id, \"title\": \"In Progress\", \"task_limit\": 3}"

kb addColumn "{\"project_id\": $project_id, \"title\": \"Review\"}"

kb addColumn "{\"project_id\": $project_id, \"title\": \"Done\"}"

3. Add swimlane

kb addSwimlane "{\"project_id\": $project_id, \"name\": \"Team Alpha\"}"

4. Show board

kb getBoard "{\"project_id\": $project_id}"

### Move task through workflow

task_id=42

project_id=1

Get column IDs first

columns=$(kb getColumns "{\"project_id\": $project_id}" | jq '.result')

in_progress_col=$(echo $columns | jq '[.[] | select(.title=="In Progress")][0].id')

Move task

kb moveTaskPosition "{

\"project_id\": $project_id,

\"task_id\": $task_id,

\"column_id\": $in_progress_col,

\"position\": 1,

\"swimlane_id\": 1

}"

### Create task with subtasks

Create parent task

task_id=$(kb createTask '{

"title": "Implement feature X",

"project_id": 1,

"priority": 2

}' | jq '.result')

Add subtasks

kb createSubtask "{\"task_id\": $task_id, \"title\": \"Write spec\"}"

kb createSubtask "{\"task_id\": $task_id, \"title\": \"Implement\"}"

kb createSubtask "{\"task_id\": $task_id, \"title\": \"Write tests\"}"

kb createSubtask "{\"task_id\": $task_id, \"title\": \"Code review\"}"

### Bulk close completed tasks

project_id=1

Get all open tasks, close those tagged "done"

kb getAllTasks "{\"project_id\": $project_id, \"status_id\": 1}" \

| jq -r '.result[] | select(.tags[]? == "done") | .id' \

| while read task_id; do

kb closeTask "{\"task_id\": $task_id}"

echo "Closed task $task_id"

done

---

## Setup & Configuration

Add to your OpenClaw environment:

Required

export KANBOARD_URL="https://kanboard.example.com"

export KANBOARD_API_TOKEN="your_token_from_settings_page"

**Getting your API token:**
1. Log in to Kanboard as admin
2. Go to **Settings → API**
3. Copy the token shown there

---

## Notes

- Kanboard use Http basic auth, pass token by --user/-u parameter. You **must not** set token at http header.
- All dates use `YYYY-MM-DD` format or Unix timestamps
- Task `priority`: 0=low, 1=normal, 2=high, 3=urgent
- Kanboard supports **batch requests** — multiple JSON-RPC calls in one HTTP request (useful for bulk ops)
- `status_id` for tasks: 1=open, 2=closed
- API endpoint is always `<KANBOARD_URL>/jsonrpc.php`