Configuration

Every board has a .kanbai/config.toml, created by kanbai init. It's plain TOML you can edit by hand.

[board]
name = "my-project"
columns = ["backlog", "todo", "doing", "review", "done"]

[defaults]
priority = "medium"

[types]
available = ["feature", "bug", "refactor", "chore", "docs", "spike"]

# Optional hex color overrides for the UI badge, per type (default is a
# built-in color for the types above, or gray for anything else).
# [types.colors]
# bug = "#ff0000"

# Optional work-in-progress limits per column (the CLI and UI warn when exceeded).
[wip]
doing = 3

[board]

Key	Description
name	The board's display name (shown in the CLI and the web UI).
columns	The ordered list of columns. The folders under .kanbai/ follow this list.

Column roles

KanbAI resolves a few roles from the column list, by name when possible and by position otherwise, so the workflow keeps working even if you rename columns:

Role	Default column	Used by
Capture (where new cards land)	backlog	add
Sprint (what next reads)	todo	next
In progress	doing	start
Review	review	review
Done	done	done, close-sprint

Tip

You can add extra columns (e.g. a blocked or qa stage). Keep the first column as the capture/backlog column and the last as the done column for the roles to resolve cleanly.

[defaults]

Key	Description
priority	Default priority for new cards when --priority isn't given (low/medium/high).

[types]

Configures the valid values for a card's type.

Key	Description
available	The list of valid types. Defaults to feature, bug, refactor, chore, docs, spike.

[types.colors]

Optional per-type hex color (#rrggbb) for the badge shown in the web UI — overrides the built-in color for a default type, or gives a custom type its own color instead of the neutral gray fallback. Invalid values are silently ignored.

[types.colors]
bug = "#ff0000"
spec = "#00ffaa"

[wip]

Set a work-in-progress limit per column. When a column exceeds its limit, the CLI and web UI show a warning — they never block the move, so limits are a nudge, not a gate.

[wip]
doing = 3
review = 5

[notifications]

Controls the native desktop and ntfy notifications fired whenever a card reaches review/done, from any command (kanbai review/done/move, the CLI in general, or the web UI) — no background process required.

Key	Description
native	Native desktop notifications (macOS/Linux/Windows). Default true.
ntfy_topic	ntfy.sh topic to push to. Default unset (channel off).

[notifications]
native = false
ntfy_topic = "my-kanbai-topic"

The ntfy topic is your only secret

ntfy.sh is a public server with no signup or authentication — anyone who knows (or guesses) your topic name receives your notifications. Pick something unguessable, not e.g. my-project.