| name | kanban-work |
| description | Start working through planned tickets on the Kanban board. Use when the user wants to begin executing planned work, or confirms they want to start after planning. Moves tickets through columns and updates them as work progresses. |
| argument-hint | [{"optional":"specific ticket or story to start with"}] |
| allowed-tools | Bash, Read, Write, Edit, Grep, Glob, mcp__kanban__open_board, mcp__kanban__list_columns, mcp__kanban__list_tickets, mcp__kanban__get_ticket, mcp__kanban__move_ticket, mcp__kanban__update_ticket, mcp__kanban__complete_subtask, mcp__kanban__create_subtask |
Work Through Kanban Tickets
You are executing planned work from the mcp-kanban board. Move tickets through columns and update them as you work.
Step 0: Start the board (MANDATORY FIRST STEP)
You MUST call mcp__kanban__open_board FIRST, before any other kanban tool. This starts the web UI server. Wait for it to return, then open the URL in the browser:
open "<url from open_board>"
Do NOT call any other kanban tool until this step is complete.
Step 1: Discover the board
Use mcp__kanban__list_columns to get the column IDs. Identify:
- The "in progress" column (for active work)
- The "review" column (if it exists, for completed-but-not-verified work)
- The "done" column (for finished work)
Use mcp__kanban__list_tickets to see all tickets and find which ones are ready to work on (in Backlog or Todo).
Step 2: Pick the next ticket
If $ARGUMENTS specifies a ticket or story, start with that. Otherwise, pick the highest-priority story that hasn't been started yet.
Use mcp__kanban__get_ticket to read the full ticket details including subtasks.
Step 3: Move the story to In Progress
Use mcp__kanban__move_ticket to move the parent story to the "in progress" column. This signals on the board that work has begun.
Step 4: Work through each subtask
For each subtask in the story:
- Before starting: Move the subtask to "in progress" with
mcp__kanban__move_ticket
- Do the work: Implement the changes — read files, write code, run tests, etc.
- Update the ticket: Use
mcp__kanban__update_ticket to add implementation notes to the subtask description — what was done, what files were changed, any decisions made
- Mark complete: Use
mcp__kanban__complete_subtask to move the subtask to Done
Step 5: Complete the story
Once all subtasks are done:
- Use
mcp__kanban__update_ticket to update the parent story's description with a summary of what was implemented
- Move the story to "review" or "done" column with
mcp__kanban__move_ticket
Step 6: Continue or stop
After completing a story, check if there are more stories to work on:
- If yes, ask the user: "Story complete. Ready to move on to the next one?"
- If no more stories, report: "All planned work is complete."
Guidelines
- Always move tickets BEFORE starting work on them — the board should reflect what you're currently doing
- Update ticket descriptions as you go, not just at the end — if the user is watching the board, they should see progress
- If you discover additional work needed while implementing, create new subtasks with
mcp__kanban__create_subtask rather than expanding the scope of existing ones
- If a subtask turns out to be unnecessary, update its description explaining why and mark it complete
- If you hit a blocker, update the ticket description with what's blocking it and move on to the next subtask
- Run tests after meaningful changes to catch issues early
