Backmark

🤖 AI-Powered Task Management for Developers

100% Markdown • 100% Offline • 100% Yours

Transform plain Markdown files into a powerful task management system designed for AI-powered vibe coding.

Watch Demo • Quick Start • Documentation • Why Backmark?

🎬 Watch the Demo

New to Backmark? Watch this 2-minute introduction:

👆 Click to watch on YouTube • 🌐 Full Documentation

⚡ Quick Start

# Install globally
npm install -g @grazulex/backmark

# Initialize your project
backmark init "My Awesome Project"

# Create your first task
backmark task create "Build authentication system" \
  --priority high \
  --assignees "Claude"

# Let AI document the implementation plan
backmark task ai-plan 1 "
## Implementation Plan
1. Install JWT libraries
2. Create auth middleware
3. Add protected routes
4. Write tests
"

# View your Kanban board
backmark board

→ Complete Getting Started Guide

✨ Why Backmark?

🤖 AI-First Design

Four dedicated spaces for AI collaboration:

• AI Plan - Implementation strategy
• AI Notes - Work log with timestamps
• AI Documentation - Generated docs
• AI Review - Self-assessment

📝 Markdown Native

Tasks are plain .md files with YAML frontmatter. No proprietary formats, no vendor lock-in. Your tasks will be readable in 50 years.

⚡ Blazing Fast

LokiJS indexing delivers sub-10ms queries even with 1000+ tasks. Fuzzy search, filters, and complex queries run instantly.

🎨 Beautiful CLI

Interactive Kanban board, colorful tables, intuitive commands. Task management that feels like a modern dev tool.

🔒 Privacy First

100% offline, zero telemetry, no cloud dependencies. Your data stays on your machine, under your control.

🔌 MCP Integration

Seamless integration with Claude Code via Model Context Protocol. AI can read, create, and update tasks directly.

🎯 What is Vibe Coding?

Backmark is built for vibe coding - a collaborative workflow where humans and AI work together seamlessly:

"The AI doesn't just execute commands—it plans, documents its decisions, tracks its progress, and reviews its own work. Backmark provides the shared memory that makes this collaboration possible."

Key Principles:

• 🧑 Human defines goals, validates results, makes strategic decisions
• 🤖 AI implements, documents, tests, and self-reviews
• 🔄 Backmark maintains shared context across sessions

→ Learn More About Vibe Coding

📚 Full Documentation

Complete documentation is available at backmark.tech

Essential Guides

| Guide | Description | |-------|-------------| | 📖 Installation | Multiple installation methods, troubleshooting | | 🚀 Getting Started | First steps, basic commands, examples | | 🤖 AI Workflow | Complete guide to AI collaboration patterns | | 📋 Commands | Full command reference with examples | | ⚙️ Configuration | Customize workflows, board columns, validations | | 🔌 MCP Integration | Setup Claude Code integration | | 🏗️ Architecture | How Backmark works under the hood | | 🐛 Troubleshooting | Common issues and solutions |

🎓 Example Workflow

# 1. Human creates a task
backmark task create "Add user authentication" \
  --template feature \
  --priority high \
  --milestone "v1.0"

# 2. AI reads the task and creates a plan
backmark task ai-plan 1 "$(cat <<'EOF'
## Implementation Steps
1. Install passport.js and JWT libraries
2. Create User model with password hashing
3. Implement /login and /register endpoints
4. Add authentication middleware
5. Write integration tests
EOF
)"

# 3. AI updates status and works on the task
backmark task edit 1 --status "In Progress"

# 4. AI logs progress as it works
backmark task ai-note 1 "Installed passport.js v0.6.0"
backmark task ai-note 1 "Created User model with bcrypt hashing"
backmark task ai-note 1 "Problem: JWT secret not in env. Fixed by adding to .env.example"

# 5. AI generates documentation
backmark task ai-doc 1 "$(cat auth-implementation.md)"

# 6. AI performs self-review
backmark task ai-review 1 "
## Review Summary
✅ All acceptance criteria met
✅ Tests passing (15/15)
✅ Coverage: 94%

⚠️ Recommendation: Add rate limiting before production
"

# 7. Human reviews and approves
backmark task view 1 --ai-all
backmark task edit 1 --status "Done"

→ See More Workflow Examples

🌟 Key Features

Task Management

• ✅ Create, edit, list, search tasks
• ✅ Hierarchical tasks (parent/subtasks)
• ✅ Dependencies and blockers
• ✅ Acceptance criteria checklists
• ✅ Milestones and labels
• ✅ Priority levels
• ✅ Automatic changelog

AI Collaboration

• 🤖 Dedicated AI plan space
• 📓 Timestamped AI work notes
• 📚 AI-generated documentation
• ✅ AI self-review
• 🎯 Task templates for consistency
• 🔍 AI breakdown for complex tasks
• 📊 AI estimation for planning

User Experience

• 🎨 Interactive Kanban board (terminal UI)
• 🔍 Fuzzy search across all content
• 📊 Project overview with statistics
• 🎯 Powerful filtering (status, priority, labels, milestones)
• 🌈 Colorful, intuitive CLI
• ⚡ Sub-10ms query performance

Integration

• 🔌 MCP server for Claude Code
• 📝 100% Markdown files
• 🔒 Fully offline
• 🚫 Zero telemetry
• 📦 Git-friendly (plain text)

🚀 Installation

npm (Recommended)

npm install -g @grazulex/backmark

Verify Installation

backmark --version
# Should output: 1.2.1 or higher

Other Methods

See the complete installation guide for:

• Local project installation
• npx usage
• Building from source
• Troubleshooting

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Whether it's:

• 🐛 Bug reports
• ✨ Feature requests
• 📝 Documentation improvements
• 🔧 Code contributions

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

📊 Comparison

| Feature | Backmark | Jira | Linear | GitHub Issues | |---------|----------|------|--------|---------------| | AI-First Design | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Offline-First | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Plain Markdown | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ⚠️ | | Zero Cost | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ⚠️ | | No Vendor Lock-in | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ⚠️ | | CLI Native | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ⚠️ | | MCP Integration | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |

→ Detailed Comparison

🛣️ Roadmap

• ✅ Core task management (v0.1)
• ✅ Kanban board (v0.2)
• ✅ AI workflow spaces (v0.3)
• ✅ MCP server integration (v0.5)
• ✅ Task templates (v0.7)
• ✅ AI automation commands (v0.8)
• 🔄 Export/import (JSON, CSV) (v0.9) - In Progress
• 🔜 Git integration (auto-commit) (v1.0)
• 🔜 Custom workflows (v1.1)
• 🔜 Plugin system (v1.2)

See the full roadmap for details.

📄 License

MIT © Jean-Marc Strauven

🔗 Links

🌐 Website • 🎬 YouTube • 💬 Discussions • 🐛 Issues • 📦 npm

Built with ❤️ for developers who vibe code with AI

Star this repo if Backmark helps your workflow! ⭐