Why kanban-only? Why not lists, gantt, sprints?

Because every workflow that fits a kanban also fits a file. Adding sprint dashboards means giving up the file-as-truth model. We'd rather be unapologetically kanban than do five layouts badly.

Does this replace Linear / Plane / GitHub Projects?

For solo devs and small teams who live in the terminal — yes. For 200-person product orgs with PMs writing tickets in a browser — no, and we won't pretend otherwise.

What happens if backlog.md and the kanban disagree?

backlog.md wins on `dm backlog push`. The kanban wins for changes made via the UI or `dm task` CLI. Conflicts are resolved deterministically by the most recent write.

Do I need an account?

Free tier hosts your boards on devmesh.app. Self-hosting is on the roadmap.

Can my non-developer teammates use it?

They can view the kanban in the browser. The CLI is for devs. If they need to write tickets, the file is plain markdown — they can PR it.

Home ProductsDevMesh DevBoard

~/devmesh — zsh

$ dm task add "Wire OAuth callback handler"

✔ DEVM-83 → todo · synced

$ dm backlog watch

▶ watching backlog.md … press Ctrl-C to stop

↻ DEVM-83 todo → in_progress

✔ DEVM-81 in_review → complete

Live Board

backlog.md · synced

TODO · 3

DEVM-83

Wire OAuth callback handler

DEVM-84

Rotate leaked Stripe secret

DEVM-86

Patch SQL injection in /api/search

DOING · 2

DEVM-79

Refactor task modal to drag-only

DEVM-80

Add CSRF tokens to settings forms

DONE · 3

DEVM-72

Viewport-fit kanban columns

DEVM-71

Commit-status badges on cards

DEVM-69

Auto-bind tasks to repo

DevBoard — Kanban That Lives In Your Repo

DevMesh DevBoard

Your kanban lives in backlog.md. Your terminal drives it. Edit the file, save, the card lands.

Get Started

See the Board →

The Concept

What Is
DevMesh DevBoard?

DevBoard is a kanban that treats your backlog.md as the source of truth. Tickets are markdown headings. Status is an HTML comment. Groups are a label. That’s the whole format.

The dm CLI is the driver. Add tasks from inside your repo and they auto-bind to it. Run dm backlog watch and the file syncs to the board on every save.

The result: your tickets live next to the code that resolves them. Reviewers comment on tickets the same way they comment on diffs. Nothing about your project lives in a database you can’t git log.

backlog.md

# Backlog

## Wire OAuth callback handler
<!-- devmesh:status=todo -->
<!-- devmesh:group=auth-rewrite -->

Handle Supabase callback edge cases.

## Patch SQLi in /api/search
<!-- devmesh:status=in_progress -->
<!-- devmesh:group=security-audit -->

Replace string concat with parameterized
queries. Audit other endpoints.

## Rotate leaked Stripe secret
<!-- devmesh:status=in_review -->
<!-- devmesh:group=security-audit -->

## Viewport-fit kanban
<!-- devmesh:status=complete -->

The Flow

How DevBoard Works

Edit backlog.md

Add `## Wire OAuth callback handler` with ``. That's the whole format. Plain markdown, plain HTML comments, plain git.

Push to the board

Run `dm backlog push` once, or `dm backlog watch` for live sync. The file becomes the board, and the board reflects the file — both directions.

Drive from the terminal

`dm task add "Quick fix" --group security-audit` auto-binds to the current repo via `.devmesh.json`. No browser tab, no copy-pasted IDs.

Code references the card

Commit messages mentioning `DEVM-83` light up the badge on the card. Pushed vs local is visible. The work and the ticket stay in lockstep without you typing twice.

Move it on the board

Drag a card across columns, or `dm task move DEVM-83 in_review`. Both update backlog.md and the kanban together. The next git diff tells the team what shipped.

The Edge

Six Reasons It Sticks

Counter-positioned against Linear, Plane, and GitHub Projects. Different model, different audience, on purpose.

Your backlog is a file

backlog.md is the source of truth. Git diffs, PR reviews, blame, all of it. Reviewers can comment on tickets the same way they comment on code.

## Wire OAuth callback handler
<!-- devmesh:status=todo -->
<!-- devmesh:group=auth-rewrite -->

`dm task add` from anywhere

Tasks auto-bind to the current repo via .devmesh.json. No browser tab required, no IDs to copy/paste.

$ dm task add "Quick fix for retry logic"
✔ DEVM-91 → todo · bound to devmesh

Commit status on every card

Reference a task ID in any commit message and the card's badge updates. Pushed vs local is visible at a glance.

$ git commit -m "fix: handle OAuth retry (DEVM-83)"
↳ DEVM-83 · commit local · push to publish

Visual task grouping

--group security-audit paints sibling cards a shared color from an 8-color hash palette. Tasks born from the same prompt or audit visually cluster.

$ dm task add "Patch SQLi in /api/search" \
    --group security-audit

Viewport-fit board

Columns scroll, the page doesn't. Cards keep their natural height even in crowded columns. The board respects your screen.

Centered modal, drag-only cards

Click to read, drag to move. No accidental opens, no keyboard fights with column scroll.

Protocol

The Format Rules

Eight conventions that make the file-as-truth model work. Memorize the footgun on rule 3.

backlog.md lives at the repo root and is the source of truth on `dm backlog push`.

Valid statuses: `todo`, `in_progress`, `in_review`, `complete`, `cancelled`.

Footgun: `done` is NOT valid — it silently parses as `todo`. Use `complete`.

Items without an `id` field get a server-minted UUID written back into the file on next push.

Tasks created via `dm task add` auto-bind to the current repo from `.devmesh.json`.

Pass `--group <label>` on every sibling task to share a color on the board.

Group labels are lowercase-with-dashes, case-insensitive after first use.

A task can belong to multiple groups — repeat `--group` to attach more.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Stop tab-switching. Start shipping from your terminal.

DevBoard is free on devmesh.app. Install the CLI, write a backlog, watch the cards land.

Install the CLI