Kanban Tool
Kanban Tool is a visual project and task management platform for organizing boards, workflows, tasks, collaboration, and time tracking.
Verdict
Common use cases
- Create tasks from Slack threads during triage
- Fetch task details in standup without opening browser
- Archive completed sprint work in bulk
- Add context comments to tasks mid-discussion
- Pull board status for weekly planning meetings
Integration
- Vendor
- Kanban Tool
- Category
- productivity
- Auth
- API_KEY
- Tools
- 11
- Composio slug
kanban_tool
Tools
- Add comment
Add a text comment to a task.
- Change task lifecycle
Archive, unarchive, soft-delete, or restore a task. Treat this as destructive because soft-delete hides the task from active workflows, although restore can reverse it.
- Create subtask
Create a subtask under an existing task or create it unattached for later use, with optional assignment and completion state.
- Create task
Create a task on a board with optional workflow placement, assignment, estimates, due dates, tags, external references, and previously created unattached subtasks.
- Delete subtaskdestructive
Soft-delete a subtask and return its tombstone.
- Get board
Fetch a board's workflow configuration and collaborators without loading its full active task collection.
- Get task
Fetch a task with its comments, subtasks, attachments, changelog, dependencies, and time trackers. A deleted task is returned as a tombstone with deleted_at set.
- List boards
List boards available to the connected Kanban Tool user, including each board's permissions and account feature/tier context.
- Search tasks
Search visible tasks with Kanban Tool query syntax and return one page plus a continuation cursor. Supports board filtering and archived tasks.
- Update subtask
Update a subtask's name, assignee, or completion state.
- Update task
Update a task's content, placement, assignment, estimates, dates, tags, or external references. Use CHANGE_TASK_LIFECYCLE to archive, delete, or restore it.
Setup
Setup guide
- 11. In Switchy, open your workspace settings and navigate to the Integrations page. 2. Click 'Add MCP' and select Kanban Tool from the list. 3. In a separate tab, log into your Kanban Tool account, go to Settings > API, and generate a new API key. 4. Copy the key and paste it into the Switchy connection form, then click 'Connect'. 5. Switchy will verify the key by listing your boards; if successful, you'll see a green checkmark. 6. Open any Project in Switchy and type '@Kanban Tool list my boards' to confirm the connection works. 7. You can now @mention Kanban Tool in any message to create tasks, fetch details, or post comments without switching tabs.
What teammates see: by default, memories from Kanban Tool are scoped to the Project (PROJECT visibility) - you can mark any memory PRIVATE or share it ORG-wide.
Works well with
Top models
Compatibility data appears once enough Projects have used this MCP together with a given model.
How Switchy teams use it
Starter prompts
List All Boards
@Kanban Tool list all boards I have access to, including their IDs and my permission level on each.
Create Task with Details
@Kanban Tool create a task on board [board_id] in the 'To Do' column, assign it to [user_email], set the due date to next Friday, and tag it 'urgent'.
Fetch Task with History
@Kanban Tool get task [task_id] and show me all comments, subtasks, and recent changes made to it.
Add Comment to Task
@Kanban Tool add a comment to task [task_id] saying 'Design approved, moving to development sprint'.
Archive Completed Work
@Kanban Tool archive task [task_id] now that it's complete and no longer needs to appear in our active workflow.
Example outputs
Illustrative - representative of the model's voice and quality, not literal recordings.
@kanban-tool archive all tasks in the 'Done' column that were completed before February 1st and summarize what got shipped
Archived 14 tasks from the Done column with completion dates before February 1, 2025. Shipped features include: new user onboarding flow (3 tasks), payment gateway integration (4 tasks), mobile app performance improvements (2 tasks), customer support chatbot v1 (3 tasks), and security audit remediation (2 tasks). All archived tasks remain searchable but are hidden from active board views. Use 'unarchive' if you need to restore any. This is an illustrative summary — actual archive operations are destructive and should be confirmed before execution.
This example combines Change task lifecycle (archive action) with AI synthesis of task titles and metadata. Requires write access and careful use — archiving is a bulk destructive operation. The MCP does not natively filter by completion date, so the AI must fetch all Done tasks and filter client-side. If you have hundreds of completed tasks, consider narrowing the date range to avoid rate limits.
Use-case deep-dives
When Kanban Tool MCP wins for end-of-sprint hygiene
A 6-person engineering team runs two-week sprints and ends each cycle with 15-20 stale tasks scattered across their board—blocked items, abandoned spikes, duplicates. The Kanban Tool MCP is the right call here because the change task lifecycle tool lets an AI agent archive or soft-delete tasks in batch based on natural-language criteria ('archive all tasks tagged experiment that haven't moved in 10 days'), and the get task tool pulls full context (comments, changelog) so the agent can confirm intent before acting. The threshold: if your team uses custom fields heavily for retrospective tagging, this MCP won't see them, so you'll need manual triage first. For teams that rely on standard Kanban Tool metadata—tags, due dates, workflow position—this turns a 30-minute cleanup into a 3-minute prompt.
When this MCP handles support-to-engineering escalation
A 3-person support team triages incoming requests in Kanban Tool and escalates 5-8 technical issues per week to engineering by creating tasks with detailed context. The Kanban Tool MCP is a strong fit because the create task tool supports external references (ticket IDs), tags, and assignment in one call, and the add comment tool lets the AI agent append diagnostic notes or customer quotes after the handoff. The get board tool ensures the agent places tasks in the correct workflow stage without hardcoding column IDs. The trade-off: if your escalation process requires attaching files (screenshots, logs), this MCP doesn't handle uploads, so you'll still need a manual step or a separate file-storage integration. For text-heavy handoffs where context lives in comments and metadata, this MCP closes the loop.
When Kanban Tool MCP structures ad-hoc client requests
A solo consultant or 2-person agency uses Kanban Tool to track client projects and receives 10-15 unstructured requests per week via email or Slack. The Kanban Tool MCP is the right tool because the create task and create subtask tools let an AI agent parse a client message, generate a parent task with due date and estimate, and break it into subtasks with optional assignments—all from a single prompt. The list boards tool ensures the agent routes tasks to the correct client board when managing multiple accounts. The boundary: if your intake process requires time tracking from day one, this MCP can't start trackers (only fetch them via get task), so you'll need to enable them manually or use a webhook. For teams where the bottleneck is turning messy requests into actionable task hierarchies, this MCP pays for itself in the first week.
Frequently asked
What does the Kanban Tool MCP let Switchy do?
It lets Switchy read your Kanban Tool boards, create and update tasks, manage subtasks, add comments, and archive or restore tasks. The MCP can also fetch task details including changelogs, dependencies, and time trackers. It's designed for AI agents to manipulate your kanban workflow without switching apps.
Do I need admin access to connect Kanban Tool?
No. You authenticate with an API key tied to your Kanban Tool user account. The MCP inherits your board permissions—if you can view or edit a board in Kanban Tool, Switchy can too. You generate the API key from your Kanban Tool account settings, not from an admin panel.
Can the MCP move tasks between workflow stages?
Yes, when you create a task you can specify its workflow placement. The MCP doesn't expose a standalone "move task" tool, but you can archive, unarchive, soft-delete, or restore tasks using the lifecycle tool. For stage transitions within a board, you'd typically create the task in the target stage upfront.
How is this different from using Kanban Tool's web UI?
The MCP lets Switchy's AI read board state and create tasks in natural language without you opening Kanban Tool. It's faster for bulk operations or when context lives in Switchy. The trade-off: you lose the visual drag-and-drop board view, so use the web UI when you need to see the full kanban layout.
Who on the team should connect the Kanban Tool MCP?
Anyone who needs Switchy to create or update tasks on their behalf. Each connection uses one person's API key and inherits their board permissions. If your team shares a Switchy workspace, connect the account that has access to the boards you want Switchy to touch—usually a project lead or product manager.