I’ve been a Kanban believer for years. Not the buzzword version—the real thing. The system that transforms chaotic work into visible, manageable flow. The methodology that helps teams stop starting and start finishing.
But here’s the problem: most “Kanban” tools aren’t really Kanban at all. They’re glorified task lists with columns.
The Gap That Bothered Me
If you’ve ever used Trello, Asana, or any of the dozens of board-style apps out there, you might have walked away thinking Kanban is just… accounting. Moving cards around. Busy work that pulls you away from actual work.
I get it. I’ve felt that frustration too.
Where were the WIP limits that force you to finish before starting something new? Where was the real-time collaboration that didn’t require a page refresh to see what your teammate just did? Why did every tool feel like it was designed by someone who’d never actually used it during a stressful sprint?
So I spent the last few months building what I wished existed.
Meet Taskleef
Taskleef.com is a Kanban board that takes the methodology seriously—without taking itself too seriously.
Work is stressful enough. Your tools shouldn’t add to that. Taskleef wraps powerful features in a calm, focused design meant to help you find flow, not fight your software.
What Makes It Different
Real-time by default. When your teammate moves a card or adds a comment, you see it instantly. No refresh dance. No “someone else is editing” warnings. Just seamless collaboration powered by SignalR.
AI that actually does things. This isn’t another chatbot that just talks at you. The AI assistant in Taskleef can create subtasks, reorganize your cards, suggest tags, and move work through your pipeline based on conversation. And you choose your provider—OpenAI, Claude, or Gemini—and swap between them whenever you want. Bring your own API key, keep your costs transparent.
Subtasks that grow up. Sometimes a subtask turns out to be bigger than you thought. In Taskleef, you can promote it to a full card on the board while keeping its connection to the parent. Context preserved, complexity managed.
Smart recurring tasks. Not just “every Friday”—though we do that. Taskleef also supports completion-based recurrence: “4 hours after I finish this.” Two distinct models for two different workflows.
Real WIP limits. Actual constraints on work-in-progress, per column. The feature that makes Kanban Kanban, finally implemented.
Everything Else You’d Expect (And Some You Wouldn’t)
- Quick-add capture with inline tag parsing (
[tagname]) - Unlimited nested subtasks
- Due dates and defer dates (for when something shouldn’t surface until later)
- Sub-column states—mark cards as blocked or done without moving them
- GTD-style inbox for rapid capture
- Comments, activity logs, and card subscriptions
- Project grouping for organizing multiple boards
- List view when you need a different perspective
Watch Your AI Work
Here’s something I haven’t seen anywhere else: you can watch AI make progress on your board in real-time.
Most AI integrations are black boxes. You ask for help, wait, and eventually get a result. Maybe it worked. Maybe it didn’t. You have no idea what happened in between.
Taskleef is different. Because the board updates in real-time for everyone—teammates and AI agents—you can literally sit back and watch as an AI breaks down a complex card into subtasks, reorganizes your backlog, or moves completed work through your pipeline.
It’s not magic happening behind a curtain. It’s visible work.
Ask the built-in assistant to break down a feature into implementation steps, and you’ll see the subtasks appear one by one. Connect an external agent through the API, and watch it triage your inbox while you grab coffee. There’s something deeply satisfying about seeing work get organized without lifting a finger—and something reassuring about being able to see exactly what’s happening.
This isn’t just a gimmick. Visibility builds trust. When you can observe your AI’s decisions as they happen, you catch mistakes early, understand its reasoning, and stay in control. The same principle that makes Kanban powerful for teams—making work visible—makes AI assistants more useful too.
Built for Developers and AI Agents
Taskleef isn’t a walled garden. If you want to build on top of it, integrate it into your workflow, or let your AI agents manage your tasks—you can.
Fully documented API. Every feature in Taskleef is accessible programmatically. Create cards from scripts, sync with other tools, or build your own integrations. Full documentation lives at taskleef.com/docs.
Open source examples. I’ve published the tools I actually use while developing Taskleef, including a simple CLI for quick task capture and a REPL loop for interactive board management. Grab them, fork them, or use them as a starting point for your own integrations: github.com/Xatter/taskleef
AI-agent ready. With a clean API and structured responses, Taskleef plays nicely with AI coding assistants, automation scripts, and agent workflows. Point Claude, GPT, or any agentic system at your board and give it work to do. The real-time sync means you’re never wondering what state things are in—you’re watching it happen.
Built for Focus
Every design decision in Taskleef asked the same question: does this help someone get into flow, or does it interrupt them?
The result is a tool that stays out of your way when you’re working and surfaces exactly what you need when you need it. No visual clutter. No notification overload. No enterprise complexity masquerading as “features.”
Just a clean board, your work made visible, and the confidence that you’re actually practicing Kanban—not just shuffling cards.
Try It
Taskleef is live at taskleef.com.
If you’ve bounced between capture apps, Kanban boards, and team tools looking for something that combines all three without the bloat—this is what I built it for.
I’d love to hear what you think.
Questions, feedback, or feature requests? Hit me up on Threads.