EtherPK User Docs

Kanban Boards

Any concept in your graph has a Kanban board, whether it's a page or a journal entry. The board lays out the tasks that belong to the concept as cards in five lanes, one for each state a task can be in, and splits each lane by priority. There is nothing to set up, because the board reads your tasks where they are written. Moving a card rewrites the task's own line in its document, so the board, the document, the Tasks view and every device agree.

Boards are for a desktop or a wide window. On a phone the menus that open one are hidden, and a board that is already open says it needs a wider window.

Any concept has a board

A concept is any name in your graph: a page, a journal day, or a name that is linked but has no page yet. Its board shows every task that belongs to it, in whichever document the task is written. For example:

  • The board for a project page, Acme Website, shows the tasks on that page and the tasks in your journal written under a bullet that links [[Acme Website]].
  • The board for a person, [[Sidney Jones]], shows every task that mentions them, including what you are waiting on them for.
  • The board for a day shows the tasks in that day's journal entry.
  • The board for Acme also shows the tasks on [[Acme]] Website and on every other page named within Acme, so one board covers a client and all of its projects.

A task can belong to several concepts, and then it is a card on each of their boards.

Which tasks are on a board

A task belongs to a concept when:

  • its own line links the concept, [[Acme]]
  • a bullet or a heading above it links the concept, at any depth, so # Work on [[Acme]] puts every task in that section on Acme's board
  • it is on the concept's own page
  • it is on a page named within the concept, such as [[Acme]] Website.

The Tasks view uses the same rule when you filter it to a name (Tasks). Aliases count, and case does not matter. Moving a task under another heading moves it to that heading's boards without editing its text. A task in a protected document is never on a board (Protected Documents).

How a board reads a task

A card's lane is the task's state, which comes from the checkbox and the state tag on its line. Its section is the task's priority, from its #P1, #P2 or #P3 tag, and a task without one is under No priority. The board stores nothing of its own, so a card is always where its line puts it.

Lane What the line says
Open - [ ] with no state tag
Doing - [ ] #D
Waiting - [ ] #W
Done - [x] with no state tag
Cancelled - [x] #C

For example, these lines on any page:

# Work on [[Acme]]
- [ ] #P1 Send the quote
- [ ] #D Draft the homepage copy
- [ ] #P2 #W Chase [[Sidney Jones]] for the logo
- [x] Agree the site map

make four cards on Acme's board:

  • Send the quote in Open, under P1
  • Draft the homepage copy in Doing, under No priority
  • the logo task in Waiting, under P2, and on Sidney Jones's board as well
  • Agree the site map in Done.

Tasks lists every task tag, due dates included.

Open a board

  • Right-click a document's tab and choose Open Kanban board. The board is for that document's concept and opens beside it.
  • In the editor, type /kanban and press Enter. If the line you are on belongs to one concept, its board opens. If it belongs to more than one, a list shows them, nearest first: the links on this block, then those in a parent block, then this page, then the concepts in the page's name. Press Enter to open the first, or pick another.

The board opens as a tab titled Kanban: Acme. It has its own address, so a reload, a bookmark or the browser's Back returns to it. A concept has one board, and opening it again brings the same tab forward. When the concept is renamed, the board follows and is retitled in place, with its folded lanes and the task it was showing.

Right-click a board's tab and choose Open page to open the concept's own document.

Read a card

A card shows the task's text with its tags taken off, and under it the name of the document the task is written in. A task with a due date shows Overdue 2026-09-28, Due today or Due 2026-10-03, each in its own colour. A task nested under another task is a card of its own, and it says which task it sits under, for example in: Launch site.

In a section, cards are ordered by due date with undated cards last, then by document name, then by line.

Move a card

A move writes the task's new state or priority into its line and changes nothing else. A priority move writes #P1, #P2 or #P3, or takes the tag off for No priority. Tags are written in the order the # helper writes them, and no completion date is added.

There are three ways to move a card:

  • Drag it with the mouse to another section, in any lane. The section it will land in is outlined. Let go anywhere on a lane and the card lands in it. Below the last cards, it goes to No priority. Drag near the edge of the board or a lane to scroll it. Escape drops the card back where it was.
  • Use the keyboard. The arrow keys move between cards. Alt+Left and Alt+Right move the card one lane, and Alt+Up and Alt+Down one section.
  • Use its menu. Right-click the card, or press Shift+F10 or the Menu key, and choose a Move to or Priority row.

The card moves at once and stays there while the change is saved. If the task changed after the board showed it, for example because someone edited its text, nothing is written. The card goes back and a notice says why.

Ctrl+Z undoes the board's last move, and Ctrl+Shift+Z or Ctrl+Y redoes it, while the keyboard is on the board. An undo puts back the line exactly as it was, but only while the line still reads what the move wrote. If the task was edited since, the undo is refused with a notice, so your edit is never lost.

Lanes and long sections

Done and Cancelled start folded to a narrow strip that shows the lane's name and how many tasks it holds, because they only grow. Press the strip to expand the lane, or the collapse button at the top of an open lane to fold it. A card dropped on a folded lane changes state and keeps its priority. Which lanes are folded is remembered for each board on this device.

A section shows its first 50 cards, then a Show more button that adds the next 50.

The Task Detail

Click a card, or press Enter on it, to see its task in the Task Detail below the board. It is the task's document in an editor of its own, scrolled so the task's line is at the top, with the notes nested under the task in view below it. The keyboard stays on the board, so the arrow keys keep walking the cards. Each card you open replaces the last, and the card being shown has an accent edge.

To write in the Task Detail, click in it, or press Enter again on the same card to put the cursor at the end of the task's line. Escape leaves the editor and takes the keyboard back to the card. What you type in the Task Detail shows at once in the document's own tab, and the other way round. When you change the task's words, the card shows the new words a moment later and stays the one being shown.

  • Open in tab opens the document in a tab of its own, at the task's line.
  • Close hides the Task Detail.
  • The bar between the board and the Task Detail changes their heights. Drag it, or focus it and use the arrow keys, and Home and End take it to either end.

If the document is renamed, the Task Detail follows it to its new name. If it is deleted, the Task Detail closes, as the document's tab does. A link in the Task Detail opens in a new tab beside the board.

The Task Detail, the task it shows and its height are remembered for each board on this device. After a reload it opens again at the task. If the task can't be found, it opens at the line the task was on, or at the top of its document. If the document is gone, it stays closed.

When Lock now closes the tabs of protected documents, it closes a Task Detail showing one too (Protected Documents).

Hand a task to an agent

Right-click a card and choose Copy task reference to copy the task's text and an address for it. Paste that into a chat with an AI agent that is connected to this graph through the Headless Client, and it can read the task and what is nested under it, move it, and add a note under it when it is done. The address still finds the task after lines are added above it or its tags change. Opening the address in a browser opens the document at the task. On a local graph the address opens only in the browser that holds the graph, because each browser names a local graph its own way. You can also type /copy on any task line in the editor (Tasks, The Headless Client).