kanzo

kanzo

Runs a kanban board in your browser and an MCP server from one small program, so you and your coding agents share one task list. It needs no account and no server.

Made by emanuele-em on GitHub. These notes are Mindket's, written from its README; the project's own files and license are in its repository.

About

What it is: Kanzo combines a kanban board with an MCP server, in a single program of 4.7 MB. You see tasks on a board in your browser, and your coding agents take tasks, move cards and leave comments through MCP. It runs on one computer, or as one board shared across several. There is no account to make and no server to set up.

Who it suits: It suits developers who run coding agents such as Claude Code or Codex and want a plain way to hand them work and follow progress. Small teams can share one board across laptops.

Industry | Who uses it | How they use it | Example
Software development | Developers using coding agents | Queue tasks and watch cards move as agents work | An agent picks up the next task from the board
Small teams | People sharing a project | Share one board across several computers | One laptop shares the board and another joins it
Code review | Reviewers of agent work | Read the agent's comments, including how to resume its session | A card waiting in review

You can skip it if you want a hosted board with accounts, since Kanzo needs neither.

Where to use it:

• Claude Code: connects with one command
• Codex: connects with one command
• Other MCP clients: run the MCP command or use the board's MCP endpoint, and give apps such as Raycast the full path
• Your browser: the board opens there, and Chrome or Edge can install it as an app
• Terminal and scripts: the kanzo command
• macOS, Linux (Raspberry Pi included) and Windows

Use case | Who | What they get back
Hand work to an agent | Developers | An agent that picks up the next task, sets the card to doing and keeps commenting while it works
Order dependent tasks | Developers | Tasks that wait on others and are skipped until those are done
Park ideas | Anyone planning | A backlog column that agents ignore until you promote tasks to todo

How to set it up: You need only a few things in place.

• A computer running macOS, Linux or Windows, with no account and no server
• Cargo, only if you choose the Cargo route
• The gh tool, only if you want to verify a download

1. Install Kanzo with the one-line installer for macOS and Linux, or the PowerShell one for Windows. Both are listed in the README, and each release also offers a Windows zip.
2. Or install from crates.io with Cargo, using the command below.
3. Open a new terminal so the PATH change applies, or load the Cargo environment in the one you used.
4. Run kanzo. The first run creates a ~/kanzo folder that holds the whole board.
5. Connect your agents, then restart them.

Install with Cargo:

cargo install kanzo

Load the Cargo environment in the terminal you installed from:

source $HOME/.cargo/env

Start the board:

kanzo

Connect Claude Code and Codex:

claude mcp add kanzo --scope user -- kanzo mcp
codex mcp add kanzo -- kanzo mcp

GitHub signs each release. To check a download, run this with the file you got:

gh attestation verify <file> --repo emanuele-em/kanzo

How to use it: Open the board and press n to add a task, then tell your agent to pick up the next Kanzo task. A task marked Human is left for you, and agents skip it. List view shows the same tasks as sortable, groupable rows. You can paste an image into a task or comment, or give a task a link such as its pull request.

Title: Keys on the board
Key | What it does
n | Adds a new task
/ or ⌘K | Searches every project
f | Filters the board, and Enter keeps the filter
Tab | Moves to the description
⌘↵ | Saves and closes
Esc | In a description or tags field it keeps your text, and elsewhere it cancels the edit

Tool | What it does
kanzo | Starts the board in your browser
kanzo mcp | Runs the MCP server for agents that start it themselves
next_task | Gives an agent the next task, skipping any that still wait on others
waits_on | Lets an agent say which tasks a task waits on
url | Lets an agent attach a link to a task, such as its pull request

Example: Tell your agent to pick up the next Kanzo task. It works out the project from your repository's git remote. It sets the card to doing and keeps adding comments while it works. When the work reaches review, a comment explains how to resume its session. You see all of it on the board in your browser.

For newcomers and experts: If you are new, install it, run kanzo and press n to add a first task. The README also suggests asking your agent to install and start Kanzo for you, and to add itself as an MCP server.

If you know the field, note the shape. The board and the MCP endpoint live in one binary. Agents reach it through the kanzo mcp command, or over HTTP from the running board. A task can wait on others through waits_on, and next_task skips it until all of them are done.

Run kanzo
Add tasks on the board
Agent takes the next task
Card moves to doing
Agent comments, then sends it to review
You review the result

Good to know:

• License: AGPL-3.0
• A waiting task is released only by done, so tasks sitting in review keep it waiting
• The board updates itself only when kanzo.exe sits in a bin folder on your PATH, such as the Cargo bin folder
• On macOS, the kanzo command then opens the installed app instead of a tab

On GitHub, 6 November 2026

• Stars: 1,045
• Forks: 74
• Watching: 7
• Open issues and pull requests: 2
• Language: Rust
• License: AGPL-3.0
• Topics: ai-agents, claude-code, cli, codex, coding-agents, kanban, local-first, mcp, mcp-server, model-context-protocol, productivity, project-management

Links

• Code: https://github.com/emanuele-em/kanzo
• Releases: https://github.com/emanuele-em/kanzo/releases
• Issues: https://github.com/emanuele-em/kanzo/issues
• Star history: https://www.star-history.com/#emanuele-em/kanzo&Date

Get the code

git clone https://github.com/emanuele-em/kanzo.git

Then follow the setup in its README. Nothing in this kit runs by itself.