# Vibe Kanban review

> Vibe Kanban is a kanban board for planning work and running coding agents like Claude Code and Codex in isolated workspaces.

Devtoolwatch Board, the week of Oct 25–31, 2026. Canonical page: https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/vibe-kanban/

## TL;DR

Vibe Kanban is a kanban-based tool for planning issues and running coding agents in workspaces with their own branch, terminal, and dev server. Vibe Kanban is for developers who spend their time planning and reviewing agent work. Vibe Kanban supports 10+ agents, inline diff review, and PR creation. The project is sunsetting and will continue as community-maintained open source.

## Vibe Kanban at a glance

- **Category:** [Coding agents](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/categories/coding-agents/)
- **Maintained by:** Bloop AI (organization, [@BloopAI](https://github.com/BloopAI) on GitHub)
- **License:** Apache 2.0
- **Language:** Rust, TypeScript, JavaScript
- **Repository:** [github.com/BloopAI/vibe-kanban](https://github.com/BloopAI/vibe-kanban)
- **Website:** [www.vibekanban.com](https://www.vibekanban.com/)
- **npm package:** [vibe-kanban](https://www.npmjs.com/package/vibe-kanban) 0.1.44
- **Latest release:** [v0.1.44-20260424091429](https://github.com/BloopAI/vibe-kanban/releases/tag/v0.1.44-20260424091429) on GitHub, Apr 24, 2026
- **First published:** Jun 14, 2025

## What Vibe Kanban does

- Vibe Kanban lets you create, prioritize, and assign issues on a kanban board, privately or with a team.
- Vibe Kanban runs coding agents in workspaces, each with a branch, a terminal, and a dev server.
- Vibe Kanban shows diffs and lets you leave inline comments that go directly to the agent.
- Vibe Kanban includes a built-in browser with devtools, inspect mode, and device emulation for previewing your app.
- Vibe Kanban switches between agents including Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot, Amp, Cursor, OpenCode, Droid, CCR, and Qwen Code.
- Vibe Kanban opens pull requests with AI-generated descriptions and merges them after review on GitHub.
- Vibe Kanban automates creating git worktrees and running setup scripts so agents can run in parallel.

### How it works

Vibe Kanban runs from the terminal with npx, which wraps the vibe-kanban app and its MCP server. It starts a local backend and web UI. The backend binds to 127.0.0.1 by default. It uses git worktrees for agent workspaces and calls coding agents you have already authenticated. It can also run on a remote server and open projects in VSCode over Remote-SSH.

## How to install Vibe Kanban

**With npx**

```
npx vibe-kanban
```

### Requirements

- Node.js >=20.19.0 for the npm package.
- An authenticated, supported coding agent such as Claude Code or Codex.
- For development: Rust (latest stable), Node.js >=20, and pnpm >=8.

### First steps

1. Authenticate with your preferred supported coding agent before starting Vibe Kanban.
2. Run npx vibe-kanban in your terminal to start the app.
3. Create kanban issues to plan work, then create workspaces where coding agents execute them.
4. Review the diffs, leave inline comments for the agent, then open a pull request.

## Who Vibe Kanban is for

- Developers running several coding agents in parallel on separate tasks.
- Teams that want shared issue tracking tied to agent work and PR status.
- Developers who want to switch coding agents without changing their workflow.

### Limitations

- Vibe Kanban is sunsetting; bloop, the company behind it, is shutting down, and the project moves to community maintenance.
- Vibe Kanban project routes were sunset to an export-only page in v0.1.44.
- Vibe Kanban needs VK_ALLOWED_ORIGINS set behind a reverse proxy or custom domain, or API requests fail with 403.
- Vibe Kanban relies on external coding agents; it does not provide its own model.

## Usage data (the week of Oct 25–31, 2026)

- Board rank: #286 overall, #91 in Coding agents, momentum score 33
- Downloads that week: 4.7k (+60% vs 4-week average)
- New GitHub stars per week (last 12 weeks): Aug 9: 127; Aug 16: 87; Aug 23: 92; Aug 30: 87; Sep 6: 72; Sep 13: 87; Sep 20: 77; Sep 27: 90; Oct 4: 90; Oct 11: 91; Oct 18: 81; Oct 25: 117

## Vibe Kanban alternatives

| Rank | Tool | Stars | Downloads/wk |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | [Cindy](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/makecindy-cindy/) | 8.8k | – |
| #2 | [OpenMausBot](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/milind-soni-openmausbot/) | 9.6k | – |
| #3 | [Orca](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/stablyai-orca/) | 111.7k | – |
| #4 | [OpenBot](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/copilotkit-openbot/) | 9.1k | – |
| #5 | [Agent Reach](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/panniantong-agent-reach/) | 107.2k | – |
| #6 | [Skill Recorder](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/microsoft-skill-recorder/) | 5.6k | – |

## Vibe Kanban FAQ

### Is Vibe Kanban free and open source?

Yes. Vibe Kanban's source code is on GitHub (BloopAI/vibe-kanban) under the Apache 2.0 license, so you can use it for free. Its website also links to a pricing page (https://www.vibekanban.com/pricing) for any paid plans.

### How do I install Vibe Kanban?

Run `npx vibe-kanban`. It needs Node.js >=20.19.0. The install section above has the other options from the project's README.

### Is Vibe Kanban still maintained?

Yes. The BloopAI/vibe-kanban repository was last updated on Sep 19, 2026, and the latest release, v0.1.44-20260424091429 on GitHub, came out on Apr 24, 2026.

### How popular is Vibe Kanban?

Vibe Kanban has 28.5k GitHub stars as of Nov 1, 2026. It gained 117 new stars in the week of Oct 25–31, 2026, against a 12-week average of 92 a week. Its main package had about 4.7k downloads that week, +60% against its own 4-week average. That made it #91 among AI coding agents on the Devtoolwatch Board.

### Vibe Kanban vs OpenCode: how do they compare?

Vibe Kanban and OpenCode are both tracked by Devtoolwatch as AI coding agents. Vibe Kanban has 28.5k GitHub stars and OpenCode has 223.6k. OpenCode is an open source AI coding agent that helps you write and run code in a terminal, desktop app, or IDE extension. [OpenCode review](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/opencode/)

### What are the best alternatives to Vibe Kanban?

Other AI coding agents on the Devtoolwatch Board in the week of Oct 25–31, 2026, by momentum: Cindy (#1), OpenMausBot (#2), Orca (#3), OpenBot (#4), Agent Reach (#5). The alternatives table above has their numbers.

### What is Vibe Kanban?

Vibe Kanban is a kanban board for managing AI coding agents. You plan work as issues, run agents in workspaces with their own branch, terminal, and dev server, review diffs, and open pull requests.

### Is Vibe Kanban sunsetting?

Yes. Vibe Kanban is sunsetting because bloop, the company behind it, is shutting down. The homepage says the project will continue as open source and community maintained.

### Does Vibe Kanban work with VSCode?

Yes. Vibe Kanban has "Open in VSCode" buttons. On a remote server, you can configure a Remote SSH host and user so those buttons open projects in your local VSCode using the Remote-SSH extension.

### Which coding agents does Vibe Kanban support?

Vibe Kanban supports Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot, Amp, Cursor, OpenCode, Droid, CCR, and Qwen Code. You can switch between them.

### Can I self-host Vibe Kanban?

Yes. Vibe Kanban offers a self-hosting guide for running your own Vibe Kanban Cloud instance with Docker. Behind a reverse proxy, you must set VK_ALLOWED_ORIGINS.

## Sources

1. [BloopAI/vibe-kanban on GitHub](https://github.com/BloopAI/vibe-kanban)
2. [Vibe Kanban README](https://github.com/BloopAI/vibe-kanban/blob/main/README.md)
3. [vibe-kanban on npm](https://www.npmjs.com/package/vibe-kanban)
4. [Vibe Kanban website](https://www.vibekanban.com/)
5. [Release v0.1.44-20260424091429 (Apr 24, 2026)](https://github.com/BloopAI/vibe-kanban/releases/tag/v0.1.44-20260424091429)
6. [Release v0.1.43-20260417125614 (Apr 17, 2026)](https://github.com/BloopAI/vibe-kanban/releases/tag/v0.1.43-20260417125614)
7. [Release v0.1.42-20260410131124 (Apr 10, 2026)](https://github.com/BloopAI/vibe-kanban/releases/tag/v0.1.42-20260410131124)
8. [Hacker News: Show HN: Vibe Kanban – Kanban board to manage your AI coding agents](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44533004)
9. [Devtoolwatch Board, the week of Oct 25–31, 2026](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/)