Vibe Kanban
A kanban workspace for planning, running, reviewing, and shipping coding-agent work.
Per-dimension scores and reasoning
Evidence shows: project uses environment variables for analytics (POSTHOG_API_KEY etc.), has VK_ALLOWED_ORIGINS to restrict origins, SSH key management, but least privilege principle not explicit. User confirmation mechanism not documented. Data flow transparency insufficient, no explanation of data transmission. Sensitive data handling not detailed. Dependency security has lock files but no audit. External effects include creating branches, terminals, servers, but permission controls not explicit. Rollback mechanism not mentioned. Source attribution has GitHub Actions and release process, but publisher unverified. Deductions: lack of specific implementation details, mostly inferred.
Evidence shows: project structure consistent, multiple crates and packages, but self-consistency moderate. Dependency availability has lock files, but not verified. Failure messages not documented. Deductions: static review cannot verify runtime behavior.
Evidence shows: targets developers and teams, supports multiple coding agents, scenarios clear. Capability boundaries not explicitly stated. Trigger precision not detailed. Environment fit has environment variables and cross-platform builds. Deductions: capability boundaries and trigger precision lack documentation.
Evidence shows: information architecture clear, README and docs links. Install notes simple. Naming stable but version frequent. Examples and FAQ insufficient. Known limitations not explicit. License Apache-2.0. Versioning changelog not provided. Maintenance responsibility has GitHub Discussions and Discord. Deductions: missing examples, FAQ, and known limitations.
Evidence shows: output usability has screenshots and description, but not verified. Marginal value high, claims 10x efficiency. Cost benefit not explained. Deductions: lack of actual usage evidence.
Evidence shows: claims have documentation support, but no specific evidence provided. Cross-source corroboration insufficient. Fact-inference separation not clear. Deductions: static review cannot verify claims.
- Project is sunsetting, use with caution.
- Publisher unverified, identity unknown.
- Static review cannot verify runtime behavior, actual testing needed.
What does this agent do, and when should you use it?
Vibe Kanban is a kanban-based workspace for software engineering teams, and its README states that the product is sunsetting. It uses kanban issues to create, prioritize, and assign work, then creates isolated workspaces for execution. Each workspace gives a coding agent a Git branch, terminal, and development server, while reviewers can inspect diffs, leave inline feedback, and preview the app. It supports Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot, Amp, Cursor, OpenCode, Droid, CCR, and Qwen Code, and can create GitHub pull requests with AI-generated descriptions for review and merge.
After npx vibe-kanban starts the application, users create, prioritize, and assign kanban issues, then create a workspace for the selected work. A workspace runs a coding agent on its own branch with a terminal and dev server; the built-in browser offers devtools, inspect mode, and device emulation for previewing the app. Users review code diffs, add inline comments, and send that feedback to the agent, then create a pull request with an AI-generated description for GitHub review and merge. Runtime configuration includes PORT, BACKEND_PORT, FRONTEND_PORT, HOST, MCP_HOST, MCP_PORT, VK_ALLOWED_ORIGINS, VK_SHARED_API_BASE, VK_SHARED_RELAY_API_BASE, and VK_TUNNEL.
- A solo developer running Codex on several features who needs issue-based planning and isolated branches for each task.
- An engineering lead breaking planned work into kanban issues, prioritizing it, and assigning it before the team starts coding agents.
- A reviewer who wants to inspect an agent-produced diff in the UI and send line-level revision requests back to the agent.
- A developer who needs to check a workspace’s running app with an embedded browser, devtools, and device emulation before opening a PR.
- A team running the application on a remote server and using Remote SSH so local VSCode can open server-side projects.
- A GitHub-based team that wants to create a pull request with an AI-generated description after workspace work is complete.
What are this agent's strengths and limitations?
- Combines a planning board, isolated Git-branch workspaces, terminals, dev servers, and diff review in one workflow.
- Explicitly supports several coding agents, including Codex, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, and GitHub Copilot, rather than a single agent.
- Includes in-app previewing with devtools, inspect mode, and device emulation for checking a running application.
- Lets reviewers send inline diff feedback to an agent and create GitHub pull requests with AI-generated descriptions.
- The README explicitly says Vibe Kanban is sunsetting, creating substantial continuity, maintenance, and migration risk for new adopters.
- A preferred coding agent must already be authenticated, so availability depends on external tools and their credentials.
- Source development requires Rust, Node.js, and pnpm; remote editor integration additionally requires SSH keys, an SSH-accessible server, and the VSCode Remote-SSH extension.
- Reverse-proxy and custom-domain deployments require correct VK_ALLOWED_ORIGINS configuration or backend API requests will fail with 403.
How do you install or deploy this agent?
Authenticate with your preferred coding agent first. The first working invocation is: npx vibe-kanban. For source development, install Rust (latest stable), Node.js >=20, and pnpm >=8; then run pnpm i followed by pnpm run dev. The README states that this starts the backend and web app and copies a blank database from dev_assets_seed.
How do you use this agent?
Run npx vibe-kanban, create a kanban issue, set its priority or assignment, and create a workspace for it. Choose an authenticated coding agent and let it work through that workspace’s branch, terminal, and dev server; review the diff and leave inline comments, then preview the application when needed. Create a pull request when the work is ready, review it on GitHub, and merge it there. Behind a reverse proxy or custom domain, set VK_ALLOWED_ORIGINS, for example VK_ALLOWED_ORIGINS=https://vk.example.com; otherwise the backend can reject API requests with 403 Forbidden because the browser Origin does not match the expected host.
How does this agent compare with similar options?
The repository presents Vibe Kanban as a unified workspace for Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot, Amp, Cursor, OpenCode, Droid, CCR, and Qwen Code; the supplied material does not provide feature or performance comparisons among them.