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Using KanbAI with other AI coding harnesses

KanbAI's core is harness-agnostic: the board is just Markdown files under .kanbai/, and everything is driven through the kanbai CLI. Any assistant that can run shell commands and read files can drive the board — Claude Code just gets a first-class, auto-installed integration.

kanbai init writes the Claude-specific integration (.claude/rules/kanbai.md and the kanbai-* skills). For any other tool, give your assistant the same workflow instructions through that tool's own rules / system-prompt mechanism.

The portable workflow

Paste (or adapt) this into your assistant's rules/instructions:

This project uses KanbAI, a file-based Kanban board in `.kanbai/`. Manage it only through
the `kanbai` CLI — never edit the card files by hand.

Columns: backlog → todo → doing → review → done. `kanbai next` reads the sprint (`todo`).

Work one card at a time:
1. `kanbai next --json` — the next actionable sprint task (null = sprint empty/blocked; stop).
2. `kanbai start <id>` — move it to `doing`.
3. Implement it (see `kanbai show <id> --json` for the description and acceptance criteria).
   If the scope is unclear, stop and ask before coding.
4. `kanbai review <id>` — send it to `review`, then stop. Do NOT run `kanbai done`;
   the human approves it to `done`.

Create work with `kanbai add "title" -d "..." -p high` (lands in the backlog) and plan it
with `kanbai move <id> todo`.

--json on the read commands (next, show, list) gives structured output that's easy for an agent to parse.

Per-tool pointers

  • Cursor — put the workflow in a rule under .cursor/rules/ (or .cursorrules).
  • Windsurf — add it to .windsurfrules (or a workspace rule).
  • Aider — add it to a CONVENTIONS.md and load it (aider --read CONVENTIONS.md), or paste it into the chat.
  • GitHub Copilot — add it to .github/copilot-instructions.md.
  • Anything else — put it in the tool's system prompt / custom instructions.

The only tool-specific piece is where the instructions live; the CLI workflow is identical everywhere. If you'd like a tool's integration auto-installed by kanbai init (like the Claude one), open an issue or PR.

Allowing the CLI without prompts

Most agent tools ask before running shell commands. Pre-approve KanbAI where your tool supports it (for Claude Code, add Bash(kanbai *) to .claude/settings.json).