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kanbn/kan

Open-source project management app for boards and cards, positioned as a self-hostable alternative to Trello.

Open-source alternative to:Trello

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What is it?

Kan is a Kanban-style project management application where teams organise work into boards, lists and cards. It covers the core Trello workflow with workspace members, board visibility controls, labels and filters, card comments, an activity log and reusable board templates. Trello boards can be imported directly.

The app is built with Next.js, tRPC, Better Auth, Tailwind CSS and Drizzle ORM on PostgreSQL. It can be deployed on Railway or self-hosted with Docker Compose, which sets up the web app, a PostgreSQL database and automatic migrations. Optional settings cover email via SMTP, Redis-backed rate limiting, S3-compatible file storage, and login through Google, GitHub, Discord or a generic OIDC provider.

Kan also ships an MCP server, published as the @kan/mcp npm package, that lets MCP-compatible AI clients such as Claude Desktop or Cursor read and update boards on a Kan instance.

Key features

  • 01Board visibility controls for who can view and edit boards
  • 02Workspace member invitations for team collaboration
  • 03Import of existing Trello boards
  • 04Labels and filters for organising and finding cards
  • 05Comments and a detailed activity log on cards
  • 06Reusable custom board templates

Use cases

  • Teams that want a self-hosted Trello alternative for task tracking
  • Migrating existing Trello boards to an open-source tool
  • Letting AI assistants read and update project boards through MCP

Quick start

  1. 1

    Create a .env file with your environment variables

  2. 2

    Save the docker-compose.yml configuration from the README

  3. 3

    Start the containers in detached mode

    docker compose up -d

Things to know

  • Licensed under AGPL-3.0, a copyleft license that requires sharing modified source code when offered over a network.
  • Self-hosting requires setting up PostgreSQL and configuring environment variables such as BETTER_AUTH_SECRET and NEXT_PUBLIC_BASE_URL.

Topics

#kanban#project-management#trello-alternative#self-hosted#nextjs#typescript#postgresql#mcp#better-auth#drizzle-orm

FAQ

What is kan?
Open-source project management app for boards and cards, positioned as a self-hostable alternative to Trello. Kan is a Kanban-style project management application where teams organise work into boards, lists and cards. It covers the core Trello workflow with workspace members, board visibility controls, labels and filters, card comments, an activity log and reusable board templates. Trello boards can be imported directly.
Is kan free to use? What license does it have?
kan is open source under the AGPL-3.0 license. Check the license terms before using it in commercial products.
Is kan still maintained?
Actively maintained. The last commit to kan was on Oct 20, 2026.
What can I use kan for?
Teams that want a self-hosted Trello alternative for task tracking Migrating existing Trello boards to an open-source tool Letting AI assistants read and update project boards through MCP
How do I install kan?
Create a .env file with your environment variables Save the docker-compose.yml configuration from the README Start the containers in detached mode: docker compose up -d
Where can I get kan?
The source code and installation instructions are on GitHub: https://github.com/kanbn/kan

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