Kanban
Give work a durable brief
A Kanban task carries a title, detailed description, assignee, type and priority. Add dependencies when one result must exist before another task starts. Schedule work only after checking the intended date and timezone.
The board uses four statuses:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
PENDING | Waiting for dispatch, scheduling or dependencies |
IN_PROGRESS | Work is being executed |
DONE | A result has been recorded |
BLOCKED | A reason prevents completion or continuation |
PENDING used to be called TODO. The old name is still accepted on input
(API, CLI, MCP) as a deprecated alias, and is never returned in a response.
Update your scripts: the board's idea column is named "TO DO", and only the
status was renamed.
Creating a task can lead to execution by the dispatcher. The following creates real work for an existing agent:
timon task create --title "Improve installation instructions" --type code --agent project.coder --description "Update the README and verify each documented command." --pipeline full
timon task list --status PENDING
Keep ideas in TO DO
The TO DO column is an idea notebook: adding an idea does not schedule work. Project TO DO and Kanban TO DO widgets show the same notebook. Changes made by an agent, the CLI or another tab refresh these views automatically for ideas owned by your signed-in account, including completion, promotion and deletion. Ideas owned by other accounts do not trigger live updates in your views.
Promotion is the only notebook action that creates dispatchable work. The idea
becomes a PENDING task, created through the same path as timon task create.
It is neither deleted nor left open: it is marked promoted and keeps the id of
the task it produced. A second promotion is refused and names the existing task.
timon project-todo promote 42 --agent myproject.coder --type code
Choose the pipeline
| Pipeline | How integration works |
|---|---|
full | Code proceeds through automatic review and merge stages |
code-self | The coding agent integrates its own branch and supplies the merge SHA |
code-group | Coding tasks form a group integrated by a designated final merge task |
Git coding tasks use dedicated worktrees. This isolates tracked files, not an external database or a running service. A completed code task can still require downstream integration in a full pipeline.
Inspect a task with timon task get TASK_ID and its Git context with timon worktree info TASK_ID. Record a precise completion comment; for longer text use --comment-file.
timon task done TASK_ID --comment-file result.md --merged-sha FULL_MERGE_SHA
Only close work after it is actually complete. A code-self task requires the full 40-character merge SHA. Use timon task block TASK_ID --reason "…" when a real blocker remains.
Delete a task
Use the task’s delete action and confirm the removal. A Pending or Blocked task can be deleted when no other work still needs it. If deletion is refused, the board explains what to resolve first: stop its running mission, remove other tasks’ dependencies on it, or ask the project maintainer to review and dispose of its worktree. A verification chain also keeps its original task. Tasks recorded as pipeline run steps are retained for that run’s history.
A refused deletion leaves the task intact. If your session has expired, sign in again; if Timon is unreachable, check your connection and retry.