With a dozen agent threads running across several projects, bb's sidebar tells you which ones are busy but not where each piece of work stands. This plugin adds a board where every card is a bb thread, and the agents move their own cards as the work changes.
Demo projects and threads written for the screenshot. bb 0.45.
Status: maintained. It works on bb 0.44 and 0.45, and I keep it working as bb releases new versions. Issues and pull requests are welcome.
Build checks · Changelog · MIT license
bb plugin install git:https://github.com/davideiffert/bb-plugin-kanban@^0.2.0Then open Kanban in bb's sidebar. Your recent threads are already on it.
The plugin stores each card's column, order, and one-line note, plus a cached copy of the thread's last message. Titles, run status, and branch are read live from bb, so a card can't disagree with its thread.
Cards move themselves. With autoAdvance on (the default), automation only
moves a card out of the columns named in this table. A card you put in Done or
in a column you added stays there.
| Thread event | Card move |
|---|---|
| Created | Backlog |
| Starts running | Backlog or Needs review → In progress |
| Goes idle or fails | In progress → Needs review |
| Archived | Done |
| Deleted | Card removed |
Agents move their own cards. The plugin ships a kanban-board skill that
tells agents to move their card when they start, get blocked, or need review,
with a one-line note saying why. They use a native tool or the CLI:
bb kanban move doing --note "wiring the importer"Only you mark work done. Dropping a card in Done archives its thread, and dragging it back out unarchives it. If archiving fails, the card stays where it was. An agent that asks for Done lands in Needs review instead and is told why. If the board has no Needs review column, the agent's move is refused. This matters because when the last thread in a managed worktree is archived, bb deletes that worktree and its branch. An agent reporting success should not be able to delete its own working folder.
- All projects is the default view. Columns merge by role, so every project's "Needs review" cards share one column, each with a project chip. Pick a single project to add, rename, or delete its columns.
- Click a card to read and reply to its thread in bb's chat panel beside the board. The selection is in the URL, so you can link to a card.
- Child threads roll up. A thread spawned by another one shows as a thin row under its top-level parent's card, even when it runs in a different project. A card shows up to 20 of them. The rows stay open while a child is running or waiting on you, then fold into a count.
- Each card shows the agent's note or last message and how long since the
card last moved (
3h here), which is how you spot stalled work. - Card buttons.
✎renames the thread in bb.↗opens the full thread page.✕takes the card off the board and leaves the thread alone. A removed card is not added back automatically; moving it with the CLI or the agent tool puts it back. - + New thread in a column opens bb's composer and puts the new thread in that column. If the project you pick doesn't have that column, the card goes in its first column.
- Narrow windows keep In progress and Needs review readable and collapse the other columns into strips you can still drop cards on.
- Screens under 768px wide, like phones, show one column at a time with a "Move to" picker on each card.
- Deleting a column moves its cards to the project's first column.
- Finished cards leave the board after 7 days. The threads stay in bb.
bb kanban board # every project (or the current thread's project)
bb kanban board --project <proj_id> # one project
bb kanban move review --thread <thr_id> --note "ready for a look"
bb kanban note "blocked on staging credentials"
bb kanban columns --project <proj_id>A column can be named by its id, its display name, or its role: todo,
doing, or review. Inside a thread, move and note act on that thread.
| Setting | Default | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
autoAdvance |
on | Move cards from thread events |
backfillDays |
14 |
Add threads updated within this many days to the board (0 turns it off) |
archiveOnDone |
on | Archive a thread when you drop its card in Done, and unarchive it when you drag it out |
doneVisibleDays |
7 |
Hide finished cards after this many days (0 keeps them) |
bb plugin config kanban set archiveOnDone false- Tested on bb 0.44 and 0.45. It uses parts of bb's plugin SDK marked experimental (the chat tab, the composer, thread renaming), so a later bb release can break it.
- Card positions and notes live in the plugin's own storage, not in your threads. The board never deletes a thread; only Done archives one.
- Drag and drop needs a mouse. Phones get the "Move to" picker instead, but a touch screen wider than 768px, like a tablet, gets neither.
- The board reads up to 500 open and 300 archived threads across all projects. On a bigger server, cards for older threads drop off without a warning.
- An agent only moves its card if it follows the bundled skill. Automatic moves cover the rest.
npm ci
npm run typecheck
npm test
npm run build
bb plugin install . # install your local copybb plugin dev rebuilds and reloads on save.
MIT. Created by David Eiffert. Not affiliated with bb.
kanban_move_card { "column": "review", "note": "needs your call on the schema" }