Swimlane Kanban

An Obsidian plugin providing Kanban boards with swimlanes, WIP limits, and per-swimlane columns.

Features

• Swimlanes — group columns under named swim lanes (H1 headings in markdown)
• Columns — per-swimlane columns with optional WIP limits (H2 headings)
• Cards — task items stored as - [ ] / - [x] markdown list items
• Drag & Drop — reorder cards within and across columns/swimlanes
• WIP limits — visual badge and highlight when a column is at/over limit
• CRUD — add, rename, and delete cards, columns, and swimlanes via context menus

Board File Format

A board file must have swimlane-kanban: board in its frontmatter:

---
swimlane-kanban: board
---

# Swimlane One

## To Do [wip:3]
- [ ] Task A
- [ ] Task B

## In Progress [wip:1]
- [ ] Task C

## Done
- [x] Task D

# Swimlane Two

## Backlog
- [ ] Task E

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• npm

Setup

git clone https://github.com/AnythingMapping/swimlane-kanban
cd swimlane-kanban
npm install

Build

# Production build (minified, no source maps)
npm run build

# Development build (watch mode, inline source maps)
npm run dev

# Type check only
npm run typecheck

Build outputs main.js and styles.css to the project root.

Once built, ctrl p and reload the app or close and re-open obsidian

Deployment

Manual deploy to a vault

Copy the three required files to your vault's plugin directory:

<vault>/.obsidian/plugins/swimlane-kanban/
  main.js
  styles.css
  manifest.json

Deploy script

A helper script is included for deploying to the local vault. Edit the VAULT path at the top of deploy.sh to match your vault location, then run:

bash deploy.sh

The script creates the plugin directory if it does not exist and copies main.js, styles.css, and manifest.json.

Typical workflow

npm run build && bash deploy.sh

After deploying, reload Obsidian (or use Settings → Community plugins → Reload) and enable Swimlane Kanban in the plugin list.

Enable the plugin in Obsidian

1. Open Settings → Community plugins
2. Disable Safe mode if prompted
3. Find Swimlane Kanban in the installed plugins list and toggle it on

Usage

1. Create a new note in your vault
2. Add swimlane-kanban: board to the frontmatter
3. The note will open automatically as a Kanban board
4. Use right-click context menus to add/rename/delete columns and swimlanes
5. Drag cards between columns and swimlanes

Acknowledgements

Drag-and-drop system adapted from obsidian-kanban by mgmeyers (MIT License).

License

MIT