Kanban Flow

Kanban Flow is an Obsidian community plugin that turns Markdown files into Kanban boards, with a focus on native workflow, readable files, and predictable behavior.

Table of contents

• What Kanban Flow is
• Features
• Installation
• Quick start
• Commands and context actions
• Settings
• Board data format
• Contributing
• Development
• License and attribution

What Kanban Flow is

Kanban Flow is a board experience built on top of .md files.

Data is stored in:

• frontmatter (kf-version, kf-settings, kf-labels);
• managed body blocks (kf:col and kf:card).

This keeps boards portable and git-friendly.

Features

• Create/open boards from ribbon, command palette, and folder context menu.
• Drag-and-drop columns and cards with visual drop indicator.
• Board closes automatically when source file is deleted.
• Card modal with due date, priority, checklist, labels, and Markdown support.
• Global labels and board-specific labels.
• Display overrides at board level (labels, priority, checklist).
• Card sorting at board level and per-column override (Follow board supported).
• Markdown migration:
  • available from command and file context menu,
  • creates a new file (does not overwrite source),
  • extracts due date from @[[YYYY-MM-DD]].
• Open board as source Markdown without flicker/reopen loop.

Installation

Obsidian Community Plugins [Not yet]

1. Open Settings → Community plugins in Obsidian.
2. Search for Kanban Flow.
3. Install and enable the plugin.

Manual install

copy main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css to: <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/kanban-flow/

Quick start

1. Run Kanban Flow: New board.
2. Name your board.
3. Add columns and cards.
4. Open board settings and choose display/sorting options.
5. If you already have task notes, use migration to bootstrap your board.

Commands and context actions

Commands

• New board
• Open board
• Migrate current Markdown file to board

Context menu actions

• Folder context:
  • New board (kanban flow)
• Markdown file context:
  • Migrate to board (kanban flow)

Settings

Global settings

• Boards folder (with autocomplete).
• Markdown migration target (same folder or boards folder).
• Default columns.
• Display defaults (labels, priority, checklist).
• Auto-complete on move by column name.
• Global labels.

Board settings

• Label/priority/checklist display overrides.
• Board-level card order mode.
• Auto-complete-on-move column mapping.
• Board labels editor.

Changing board-level order affects columns set to Follow board.

Column settings

Each column can override sorting with: Follow board, None, Alphabetical, Created date, Due date.

Board data format

A board file is identified by kf-version in frontmatter.

---
kf-version: 1
kf-settings:
  cardOrderMode: dueDate
kf-labels: []
---

<!-- kf:col id="..." name="To do" order="0" -->
<!-- kf:card id="..." title="Task" order="0" createdAt="..." -->
Description
- [ ] checklist item
<!-- /kf:card -->
<!-- /kf:col -->

Contributing

Contributions are welcome.

1. Open an issue with problem statement and expected behavior.
2. Implement in a dedicated branch.
3. Run:
   • npm run lint
   • npm run build
4. Open a PR with context and validation steps.

Development

Requirements:

• Node.js 18+
• npm

Commands:

npm install
npm run dev
npm run lint
npm run build