KamKan

Markdown-native kanban board manager for desktop

A free lightweight Tauri + React desktop app that stores all tasks as plain .md files — fully readable and editable outside the app, version-control friendly, and zero external dependencies.

See https://github.com/dayeggpi/KamKan-MCP-SKILL for MCP server and AI SKILL (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI) support.

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Features

Boards & Columns

• Create, rename, and delete boards with a custom short ID (e.g. NOW, PROJ)
• Add, rename, reorder (drag-and-drop), and delete columns
• Mark a column as Done — tasks moved there are auto-completed
• Archive columns — hidden from active view, keeps old tasks accessible
• Hide/show individual columns without deleting them
• Set a max task limit per column with overflow detection and resolution UI
• Custom column accent colors (hex color picker)
• Column headers support markdown formatting

Tasks

• Quick-create tasks with Enter, or open the full editor with Alt+Enter
• Drag and drop tasks between columns (with visual drop indicator)
• Reorder tasks within a column via context menu
• Inline rename by double-clicking a card title
• Auto-assigned numeric IDs per board (e.g. NOW-1, PROJ-5)
• Duplicate ID detection with auto-repair on board load

Task Details

Each task can have:

• Priority — Extreme, High, Medium, Low (color-coded badges)
• Tags — comma/enter-separated, searchable
• Due date — DD/MM/YYYY with overdue highlighting
• Subtasks — checkbox list with completion counter
• Dependencies — "Depends on" and "Blocks" links to other tasks
• Description — full markdown editor with live preview

Markdown Support

Full markdown in task descriptions and column headers:

• Bold, italic, strikethrough, highlight (==text==)
• Headings (H1–H6), blockquotes (> ), horizontal rules (---)
• Bullet, numbered, and task lists (- [ ] / - [x]) with live checkbox toggle
• Inline code and fenced code blocks
• Comments (%% comment %%) which wont show on rendered markdown
• External links and bare URL auto-detection (highlight text, copy link, will format it to [url link](https://google.com/))
• Wikilinks — [[BOARD-ID]] links to a board, [[BOARD-ID-N]] links to a specific task
• Wikilink autocomplete when typing [[
• Internal attachment link (![[filename]])
• Table
• Formatting toolbar in edit mode

Search & Filtering

• Full-text search across titles, descriptions, and tags (real-time)
• Filter by priority (Extreme / High / Medium / Low toggle buttons)
• Filter by date range
• Filter to tasks with descriptions or subtasks
• Filter to tasks with open subtasks
• Filters persist while navigating between tasks

Bulk Operations

• Toggle bulk mode (Ctrl+B) to select multiple tasks
• Bulk move selected tasks to any column in the current board
• Bulk move selected tasks to another board entirely
• Overflow detection with resolution prompts for bulk moves

Workspace & Folders

• Choose workspace folder — all boards live as .md files inside it
• Organize boards into folders via sidebar tree (create, rename, delete, drag)
• Drag boards between folders (physically moves files on disk)
• File watcher (Chokidar) — detects external changes and auto-reloads (e.g. editing in VS Code)
• Single-instance enforcement (portable builds)

Theme Customization

20+ individually configurable color properties, organized into groups:

• Base backgrounds (app, panel, card, hover, active)
• Text tiers (primary, secondary, muted, disabled)
• Borders, sidebar, tags, dates
• Priority colors, wikilinks, checkboxes, highlights
• Edit popup, accent, scrollbar

Import/export themes as JSON. Changes apply live. Full reset to defaults.

System Integration

• Custom frameless window with title bar controls (minimize, maximize, close)
• System tray icon — click to show/focus window, right-click for menu
• Minimize to tray — close button hides instead of quitting (optional)
• Run on Windows startup (optional)
• Zoom level (Ctrl+Scroll) — 60% to 170%, badge shows current level
• Collapsible sidebar

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Data Format

All data is stored as plain markdown files — no database, no binary format.

Board file — board_ID.md

## Todo [max:10] [color:#5B8DEF]
- [ ] 1|Task title
- [ ] 2|Another task

## In Progress
- [ ] 3|Task in progress

***

## Archive
- [x] 4|Archived task

• [max:N] — column task limit
• [color:#HEX] — column accent color
• *** — separator before Archive section
• Task format: - [x] numericId|Title

Task detail file — BOARD_ID/BOARD_ID-N.md

---
ID: 1
Tags: [bug, frontend]
Priority: High
Link:
  Depends_on: [PROJ-2]
  Blocks: [NOW-5]
Due_date: 2025-06-01
---

## Description
Full markdown content here.

## Subtasks
- [ ] Write tests
- [x] Fix the bug

Settings — settings.json

Stored in AppData, next to the executable (portable mode), or a custom location.

{
  "workspacePath": "C:\\Users\\you\\boards",
  "minimizeToTray": true,
  "runOnStartup": false,
  "settingsLocation": "appdata"
}

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Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
Enter	Create task (quick)
Alt+Enter	Create task + open detail editor
Escape	Close modal
Double-click card	Inline rename
Right-click card	Open detail editor
Ctrl+F	Jump to search field
Ctrl+L	Toggle left panel
Ctrl+B	Add new column to board
Ctrl+T	Create new board
Ctrl+A	Archive all tasks from Done column
Ctrl+Scroll	Zoom board in/out

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Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
UI	React 18, CSS Modules
Desktop	Tauri 2
Bundler	Vite 8 + Terser
Packaging	Tauri bundler
File watching	Chokidar

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Notes

• All data lives in .md files — readable and editable in any text editor
• Boards are valid markdown documents with no proprietary encoding
• The file watcher detects external edits and refreshes the UI automatically
• [[BOARD-ID]] links a whole board; [[BOARD-ID-N]] links a specific task
• Duplicate task IDs are auto-detected on load and can be repaired interactively