Kanban Board

Back to Style Guide — Read the style guide first for emoji, color, and accessibility rules.

Syntax keyword: kanban Best for: Task status boards, workflow columns, work-in-progress visualization, sprint status When NOT to use: Task timelines/dependencies (use Gantt), process logic (use Flowchart)

⚠️ Accessibility: Kanban boards do not support accTitle/accDescr. Always place a descriptive italic Markdown paragraph directly above the code block.

Exemplar Diagram

Kanban board showing the current sprint's work items distributed across four workflow columns, with emoji indicating column status:

mermaid

kanban
Backlog
  task1[🔐 Upgrade auth library]
  task2[🛡️ Add rate limiting]
  task3[📚 Write API docs]
In Progress
  task4[📊 Build dashboard]
  task5[🐛 Fix login bug]
In Review
  task6[💰 Refactor payments]
Done
  task7[📊 Deploy monitoring]
  task8[⚙️ Update CI pipeline]

⚠️ Tip: Each task gets ONE domain emoji at the start — this is your primary visual signal for categorization. Column emoji indicates workflow state.

Tips

Name columns with status emoji for instant visual scanning
Add domain emoji to tasks for quick categorization
Keep to 3–5 columns
Limit to 3–4 items per column (representative, not exhaustive)
Items are simple text descriptions — keep concise
Good for sprint snapshots in documentation
Always pair with a Markdown text description above for screen readers

Template

Description of the workflow columns and what the board represents. Always show all 6 columns:

mermaid

kanban
Backlog
  task1[🔧 Task description]
  task2[📝 Task description]
In Progress
  task3[⚙️ Task description]
In Review
  task4[👀 Task description]
Done
  task5[🚀 Task description]
Blocked
  task6[⛔ Task description]
Won't Do
  task7[❌ Task description]

⚠️ Always include all 6 columns — Backlog, In Progress, In Review, Done, Blocked, Won't Do. Even if a column is empty, include a placeholder item like [No items yet] to make the structure explicit.

Complex Example

Sprint W07 board for the Payments Team showing a realistic distribution of work items across all six columns, including blocked items:

mermaid

kanban
Backlog
  b1[📊 Add pool monitoring to auth]
  b2[🔍 Evaluate PgBouncer]
  b3[📝 Update runbook for pool alerts]
In Progress
  ip1[📊 Build merchant dashboard MVP]
  ip2[📚 Write v2 API migration guide]
  ip3[🔐 Add OAuth2 PKCE flow]
In Review
  r1[🛡️ Request validation middleware]
Done
  d1[🛡️ Rate limiting on /v2/charges]
  d2[🐛 Fix pool exhaustion errors]
  d3[📊 Pool utilization alerts]
Blocked
  bl1[🔄 Auth service pool config]
Won't Do
  w1[❌ Mobile SDK in this sprint]

Tips for complex kanban diagrams:

Add a Blocked column to surface stalled work — this is the highest-signal column on any board
Keep items to 3–4 per column max even in complex boards — the diagram is a summary, not an exhaustive list
Use the same emoji per domain across columns for visual tracking (📊 = dashboards, 🛡️ = security, 🐛 = bugs)
Always show all 6 columns — use placeholder items like [No items] when a column is empty