Kanbanero: a lightweight, local-first kanban app for macOS
Kanbanero is a lightweight kanban app for macOS where each board is a plain JSON file in a folder you pick on your disk. **Problem** I wanted a lightweight kanban app witt no account or server needed; just a simple data format stored locally I could easily read and use with Git for backup / history. **Comparison** I've used Trello and Jira before. Both OK for teams, but for personal use most kanban apps have too many features and get in the way and they only work online. Kanbanero is for a single user. Offline, no account, and your data lives in plain JSON files. **What's in the app** - Minimal UI, light and dark themes - Smooth drag-and-drop of tasks - Customizable boards and columns - Local file storage, one JSON file per board - Git-friendly - Keyboard-driven **Pricing** A one-time $8.99 on the Mac App Store. No subscription, no IAP, no ads. https://apps.apple.com/app/kanbanero/id1645553955 Landing page with screenshots and a short preview video: https://kanbanero.app/ Requirements: macOS 12+, universal (Apple Silicon and Intel). Built with Flutter, shipped via the Mac App Store. Dev here, happy to answer any questions.
Collected discussion
If you call it that but don't have a habanero pepper easter egg around, I'd be disappointed. Cool app!
The app icon is a pepper haha
I've been using a sticky note on my monitor as a personal kanban because Trello requires an account and Jira requires a therapist afterward. this is exactly the gap.
Hahaha i'm glad if you find the app useful. I can empathize regarding Jira as we use it at my day job ..
Upvoting as a Simpsons fan
Woo Hoo!
sweet it is. and i like the looks (me: designer) but, it looks rather nerdy to gain interest from a wider audience. this is meant nicely... for me it's cool as it is
Thanks! Yes this is quite nerdy; made for myself how i want it. I've been using it for quite a while and I'm happy with it. But, i have considered from the start making a separate cloud based subscription version where it's easier to collaborate with multiple people and renaming this the "lite" version.
sweet! will try it out
Sweet!
Seems interesting, will check it out
Looks great gotta try
Is it possible to change that font?
Per now font is hard coded (Inconsolata), but I'm considering making a Settings page for various things and maybe being able to change the font wouldn't be a bad idea. Would you like that?
I'm adding a font selector now from the menu which will default to the system font. Thanks for your suggestion!
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Plain JSON per board is perfect for Git history. Any plans for markdown inside cards, or are you keeping the format intentionally minimal?
This is super-duper cool. I'm going to get Claude to output a JSON file of all the tasks that I have, and have this app directed at it, and then have it as a maximised display. It will be like a constantly updated board of the things I need to do on my Mac.
As someone who is exhausted by what feels like eleven lifetimes in Jira, I really appreciate how stripped back and simple it is. A single threaded purpose. I also find local-first to be really useful, makes porting boards around and backing them up feel like my data's actually mine. (fwiw, also digging the demo's soundtrack).
Plain JSON per board is a good choice. A lot of “local-first” apps still end up locking the user into an opaque database. For personal kanban, Git-friendly storage is actually useful. It means backup/history is not another feature the app has to own forever. One question: can boards be edited outside the app safely, or is the JSON mainly meant for backup/versioning?
Oh and if you want to sync your boards across devices you can just select your boards folder in one of your iCloud synced folder
Thanks for all your feedback! I'm playing around with a Settings view where you can change Font and Color Theme now. We will default to system font.
Playing around with animated shaders in the background now
There is a new version (2.4.0) on App Store now where you can select font, colors and animated shader backgrounds. You can also pin boards to the top. See a demo here https://kanbanero.app/
This seems kinda cool. Any additional information on it?!