Kanbo MCP Server

AI-native project management via Model Context Protocol. Connect your AI assistant (VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Claude Code, Claude Desktop) to Kanbo and manage tickets, projects, releases, and workflows through natural conversation.

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Quick Setup

npx @kanbodev/mcp login

That's it. This single command will:

1. Open your browser to sign in and select your organization
2. Store credentials locally at ~/.kanbo/config.json
3. Auto-register the MCP server with detected editors (VS Code, VS Code Insiders, Cursor, Windsurf, Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Claude Code CLI)

Reload your editor and start using Kanbo tools immediately.

Already logged in? Register manually

If you authenticated previously and need to register with a new editor:

npx @kanbodev/mcp install

Windows note

On Windows, npx can cause stdio piping issues with some MCP hosts. The install command automatically uses node with a direct path instead. If you're setting up manually on Windows, use:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kanbodev": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["C:\\Users\\<you>\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm\\node_modules\\@kanbodev\\mcp\\dist\\index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Replace <you> with your Windows username, or run npm root -g to find the correct path.

Manual setup

If auto-registration doesn't detect your editor, add the config manually:

VS Code / VS Code Insiders / Cursor — add to mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "kanbodev": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@kanbodev/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop / Windsurf / Claude Code — add to config with mcpServers key:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kanbodev": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@kanbodev/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code CLI:

claude mcp add kanbodev -- npx @kanbodev/mcp

| Editor | Config Path | |--------|-------------| | VS Code | ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/mcp.json (macOS) / %APPDATA%\Code\User\mcp.json (Windows) | | VS Code Insiders | ~/Library/Application Support/Code - Insiders/User/mcp.json (macOS) / %APPDATA%\Code - Insiders\User\mcp.json (Windows) | | Cursor | ~/.cursor/mcp.json | | Windsurf | ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json | | Claude Code | ~/.claude/settings.json | | Claude Desktop | ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) / %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows) |

Manual API key setup

If you prefer environment variables over the login flow:

1. Go to your Kanbo dashboard → Settings → API Keys
2. Create a new key and copy the token
3. Add "env": { "KANBO_API_KEY": "kanbo_pat_..." } to your editor's MCP config

Environment variables

| Variable | Description | Default | |----------|-------------|---------| | KANBO_API_KEY | Personal Access Token (overrides config file) | from ~/.kanbo/config.json | | KANBO_API_URL | API server URL | https://api.kanbo.dev | | KANBO_WEB_URL | Web app URL for login | https://kanbo.dev |

User Guide

Once connected, you interact with Kanbo through natural language. Here's what you can do and how to ask for it.

Getting oriented

Start by asking your AI assistant to discover your workspace:

"What Kanbo organizations do I have access to?"

"List all my projects"

"Show me the project stats for the frontend project"

The assistant will call list_organizations, list_projects, and get_project_stats behind the scenes.

Creating a ticket

You can create tickets with as much or as little detail as you want:

"Create a ticket in the Frontend project called 'Fix login button not responding on mobile'"

The assistant will look up your project, check for similar/related tickets, find available statuses, priorities, and sizes, then create the ticket with acceptance criteria. You can also be more specific:

"Create a high-priority bug in Frontend: 'Payment form crashes on Safari'. Assign it to me and put it in the To Do column."

For AI-assisted creation:

"I need a ticket about improving the search performance. Can you polish the title, generate a description, and suggest the right priority and type?"

This uses the AI tools (polish_title, generate_description, suggest_attributes) to craft a well-defined ticket before creating it.

Acceptance criteria

Every ticket includes structured acceptance criteria — specific, testable conditions that define "done":

"Add acceptance criteria to PROJ-123: users can export in CSV and JSON, progress shows for large exports, and errors display a retry option"

"Show me the acceptance criteria for PROJ-45"

The assistant uses Given/When/Then format and includes both happy-path and edge-case criteria automatically.

Related tickets and subtasks

The assistant checks for duplicates and related work before creating tickets, and supports parent-child relationships for breaking down work:

"Create a subtask under PROJ-100: 'Write unit tests for auth module'"

"Show me the child tickets of PROJ-100"

"Find tickets similar to 'password reset not working'"

Finding and viewing tickets

"Show me all my assigned tickets"

"What tickets are in the backlog for the API project?"

"Get ticket PROJ-123"

"What tickets are overdue?"

"Show me tickets due in the next 3 days"

"Search for tickets related to 'authentication'"

Moving tickets through the workflow

"Move PROJ-123 to In Progress"

"Complete ticket PROJ-45"

"Move all the QA-approved tickets to Done"

The assistant respects your workflow transition rules — it checks which status transitions are allowed before moving tickets.

Managing the backlog

"Move PROJ-78 to the backlog"

"Pull PROJ-78 back to the board and put it in To Do"

"Show me the backlog for the mobile project"

"Restore the deleted ticket PROJ-99 and put it in the backlog"

Comments and collaboration

"Add a comment to PROJ-123: 'Tested on Chrome and Firefox, both working now'"

"Show me the comments on PROJ-45"

"What are my unread notifications?"

"Mark all notifications as read"

Tags and labels

"List all tags in the Frontend project"

"Create a tag called 'performance' with color orange"

"Tag PROJ-123 with 'performance' and 'backend'"

Release management

"Create a release called 'v2.1.0' with target date March 15"

"Add tickets PROJ-10, PROJ-11, and PROJ-12 to the v2.1.0 release"

"Show me the burndown for v2.1.0"

"Ship the v2.1.0 release"

Bulk operations

"Complete all tickets in the Done column"

"Assign all unassigned tickets in Sprint 5 to me"

"Move these 10 tickets to the QA status"

Batch operations work on up to 50 tickets at once.

AI features

"Find tickets similar to 'user can't reset password'"

"Fix the grammar in this ticket description: ..."

"Make this description clearer: ..."

"Check if this title is clear enough: 'fix thing'"

"Create a ticket from my notes: users need to be able to export reports as PDF, it should respect filters, and show a progress bar for large exports"

The last example passes your raw notes directly to generate_description — the AI organizes, structures, and expands them into a full ticket description rather than generating from scratch.

Analytics and reporting

"Show me the team analytics for the Frontend project"

"What's the average cycle time for tickets?"

"Show the ticket distribution by priority and type"

Checking usage

"How many MCP requests have I used today?"

"What's my AI usage this week?"

Example Workflows

Daily standup

"Show me my tickets, any overdue items, and what's due this week"

Sprint planning

"Create a release called 'Sprint 12' with target date Feb 28. Then show me the backlog so I can pick tickets to include."

Triage new bugs

"Show me all tickets tagged 'bug' that don't have an assignee. For each one, suggest a priority and size."

End of sprint

"Show me all tickets in Sprint 11. Complete the ones in the Done column, and move any incomplete ones to the backlog."

Available Tools (125)

| Category | Count | Key Tools | |----------|-------|-----------| | Tickets | 24 | create_ticket, update_ticket, move_ticket, complete_ticket, get_my_tickets, get_overdue_tickets | | Projects | 11 | list_projects, create_project, get_project_stats, get_project_summaries | | Releases | 17 | create_release, assign_tickets_to_release, mark_release_shipped, get_release_burndown, get_release_history | | Workflow | 8 | list_statuses, get_available_transitions, create_status, create_transition | | Tags | 8 | list_tags, create_tag, add_tag_to_ticket, set_ticket_tags | | AI | 8 | polish_title, generate_description, find_similar_tickets, suggest_attributes | | Organization | 6 | list_organizations, set_organization, list_organization_members | | Comments | 5 | add_comment, list_comments, update_comment | | Notifications | 5 | list_notifications, get_unread_count, mark_all_notifications_read | | Priorities | 5 | list_priorities, create_priority, update_priority | | Sizes | 5 | list_sizes, create_size, update_size | | Ticket Types | 5 | list_ticket_types, create_ticket_type | | Members | 4 | add_project_member, remove_project_member, update_project_member_role | | Batch | 3 | batch_move_tickets, batch_complete_tickets, batch_assign_tickets | | Analytics | 3 | get_member_analytics, get_cycle_time_analytics, get_distribution_analytics | | History | 2 | get_ticket_history, get_project_activity | | Watchers | 2 | get_watch_status, toggle_watch | | Usage | 2 | get_mcp_usage, get_ai_usage | | Attachments | 1 | list_attachments | | Help | 1 | get_help |

CLI Commands

npx @kanbodev/mcp login      # Authenticate + auto-register MCP server
npx @kanbodev/mcp install    # Register MCP server with detected editors
npx @kanbodev/mcp uninstall  # Remove MCP server from all editors
npx @kanbodev/mcp whoami     # Check auth status
npx @kanbodev/mcp logout     # Remove credentials
npx @kanbodev/mcp help       # Show help
npx @kanbodev/mcp version    # Show version

Links

• Kanbo Website
• Interactive Demo
• Public Project Hub
• npm Package

License

MIT