pcli/.windsurf/skills/kanban/SKILL.md

name, description

name	description
kanban	Manage Planka project boards using the pcli CLI. Use when the user wants to interact with Planka boards, cards, lists, tasks, labels, or comments.

pcli - Planka CLI

CLI for the Planka project management API. All commands return JSON by default with envelope {"data": ..., "error": null}. Use jq to extract fields.

Prerequisites

Ensure environment variables are set:

export PLANKA_URL="https://planka.example.com"
export PLANKA_API_KEY="your-api-key"

Ensure jq and pcli are installed and in the path.

Global Flags

All commands accept: --format json|table, --url <url>, --api-key <key>, --log-level debug|info|warn|error

Commands

Status Overview

pcli status

Returns summary of all boards, lists, and card counts (open/closed per list).

Projects

pcli project list
pcli project get <project-id>

Boards

pcli board list
pcli board get <board-id>                    # includes lists and cards
pcli board actions <board-id> [--limit N]

Cards

# List (one of --board or --list required, mutually exclusive)
pcli card list --board <board-id> [--limit N]
pcli card list --list <list-id> [--limit N]

# CRUD
pcli card get <card-id>
pcli card create --list <list-id> --name "Name" [--description "..."] [--type project|story] [--position N] [--due-date "ISO8601"] [--due-completed]
pcli card update <card-id> [--name "..."] [--description "..."] [--type ...] [--position N] [--due-date "..."] [--due-completed]
pcli card delete <card-id>
pcli card duplicate <card-id> --name "Copy" [--position N]
pcli card move <card-id> --list <target-list-id> [--position N]

# Members
pcli card assign <card-id> --user <user-id>
pcli card unassign <card-id> --user <user-id>

# Labels
pcli card add-label <card-id> --label <label-id>
pcli card remove-label <card-id> --label <label-id>

# Actions
pcli card actions <card-id> [--limit N]

Comments

pcli comment list --card <card-id> [--limit N]
pcli comment create --card <card-id> --text "..."
pcli comment update <comment-id> --text "..."
pcli comment delete <comment-id>

Task Lists

pcli task-list create --card <card-id> --name "Checklist" [--position N] [--show-on-front] [--hide-completed]
pcli task-list get <task-list-id>
pcli task-list update <task-list-id> [--name "..."] [--position N] [--show-on-front] [--hide-completed]
pcli task-list delete <task-list-id>

Tasks

pcli task create --task-list <task-list-id> --name "Item" [--position N] [--completed]
pcli task update <task-id> [--name "..."] [--position N] [--completed]
pcli task delete <task-id>

Lists

pcli list create --board <board-id> --name "List Name" --position 65536 [--type active|closed]
pcli list get <list-id>
pcli list update <list-id> [--name "..."] [--position N] [--type active|closed] [--color "..."] [--board <board-id>]
pcli list delete <list-id>

Labels

pcli label create --board <board-id> --name "Bug" --color "berry-red" [--position N]
pcli label update <label-id> [--name "..."] [--color "..."] [--position N]
pcli label delete <label-id>

API Response Structure

Board Get Response

Board details include lists directly in .data.lists[], not in an included section:

pcli board get <board-id> | jq '.data.lists[] | {id, name, position}'

Card List Labels

Card list returns labels as plain strings, not objects:

# Labels are strings like "agent", NOT objects like {name: "agent"}
pcli card list --board <board-id> | jq '.data[] | select(.labels[]? == "agent")'

Card Get Response

Card get includes taskLists and tasks arrays (when they exist):

pcli card get <card-id> | jq '.data.taskLists[0].id'
pcli card get <card-id> | jq '.data.tasks[] | {name, isCompleted}'

Finding Boards in a Project

Use board list --project to find boards by project name:

pcli board list --project "<project-name>" | jq '.data[] | {id, name}'

Error Handling

Project Configuration

• Always strip quotes from yq output: yq '.planka.project' project.yaml | tr -d '"'
• Exit with error if configured project cannot be found or created
• The project name in project.yaml is the authoritative source

Idempotent Operations

• Use 2>/dev/null || true for create operations that should not fail if resources already exist
• Check for empty results before attempting operations: if [ -z "$PROJECT_ID" ]; then

Extracting IDs from Output

All responses use {"data": ..., "error": null}. Extract IDs with jq:

# Single object
pcli card create --list <id> --name "X" | jq -r '.data.id'

# Array
pcli card list --board <id> | jq -r '.data[].id'

# With error checking
RESULT=$(pcli project list | jq -r --arg name "$PROJECT_NAME" '.data[] | select(.name == $name) | .id')
if [ -z "$RESULT" ]; then
  echo "Not found"
else
  echo "Found: $RESULT"
fi

Common Workflows

Bootstrap Project Infrastructure

# Read project configuration
PROJECT_NAME=$(yq '.planka.project' project.yaml | tr -d '"')
BOARD_NAME=$(yq '.planka.board' project.yaml | tr -d '"')

# Find or create project (exit with error if fails)
PROJECT_ID=$(pcli project list | jq -r --arg name "$PROJECT_NAME" '.data[] | select(.name == $name) | .id')
if [ -z "$PROJECT_ID" ]; then
  echo "Error: Project '$PROJECT_NAME' not found and creation failed"
  exit 1
fi

# Find or create board
BOARD_ID=$(pcli board list --project "$PROJECT_NAME" | jq -r --arg name "$BOARD_NAME" '.data[] | select(.name == $name) | .id')
if [ -z "$BOARD_ID" ]; then
  BOARD_ID=$(pcli board create --project $PROJECT_ID --name "$BOARD_NAME" | jq -r '.data.id')
fi

# Create required lists (skip if exists)
pcli list create --board $BOARD_ID --name "Backlog" --position 65536 2>/dev/null || true
pcli list create --board $BOARD_ID --name "To Do" --position 131072 2>/dev/null || true
pcli list create --board $BOARD_ID --name "Planning" --position 196608 2>/dev/null || true
pcli list create --board $BOARD_ID --name "In Progress" --position 262144 2>/dev/null || true
pcli list create --board $BOARD_ID --name "Review" --position 327680 2>/dev/null || true
pcli list create --board $BOARD_ID --name "Done" --position 393216 2>/dev/null || true

# Create agent label
pcli label create --board $BOARD_ID --name "agent" --color "berry-red" 2>/dev/null || true

Create a card with a checklist

CARD_ID=$(pcli card create --list <list-id> --name "Task" | jq -r '.data.id')
TL_ID=$(pcli task-list create --card $CARD_ID --name "Steps" | jq -r '.data.id')
pcli task create --task-list $TL_ID --name "Step 1"
pcli task create --task-list $TL_ID --name "Step 2"

Move all cards between lists

pcli card list --list <source-list-id> | jq -r '.data[].id' | while read id; do
  pcli card move $id --list <target-list-id>
done