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Issue Management

docs/issue-management.mdx

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Issues are the fundamental unit of work in Vibe Kanban. They represent a bug, feature, or piece of work to be done — and they become the prompt your coding agent receives when you create a workspace. This guide walks you through the full issue lifecycle.

1. Create your first issue

You can create an issue from the + button on any column header, or from the New Issue button in the filter bar.

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Use the Team and Personal tabs to switch between all project issues and only those assigned to you.

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Give your issue a clear, specific title that describes the outcome you want. The issue panel opens on the right where you can fill in the details.

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2. Write an effective description

The description is where you provide context for your coding agent. Use the rich text editor to format your instructions with bold, italic, lists, and inline code. You can also use markdown shortcuts for headings (#) and links ([text](url)).

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A good description makes the difference between an agent that delivers exactly what you need and one that goes off track.

ElementWeak exampleStrong example
Title"Fix bug""Fix login timeout on slow connections"
Description"It's broken""Users on 3G see a timeout after 5 s. Expected: graceful retry with exponential backoff."
<Tip> Your issue description becomes the prompt your coding agent receives. The more specific you are, the better the result. </Tip>

3. Set priority, assignee, and tags

Use priority to signal urgency, assign the issue to a team member, and add tags to categorise your work.

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PriorityWhen to use
UrgentProduction is down or users are blocked
HighImportant work that should be picked up next
MediumStandard work in the current sprint
LowNice-to-have improvements or future ideas
<Info> Tags are project-specific. You can manage them from the tag selector when editing an issue. </Info>

4. Manage issues on the kanban board

Drag and drop issues between columns to change their status, or within a column to reorder them.

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ColumnWhat it means
To doWork that hasn't started yet
In progressAn agent or person is actively working on this
In reviewWork is done and waiting for your review
DoneCompleted and verified

The Backlog and Cancelled columns are hidden by default — switch to the All tab to see them.

<Frame> </Frame> <Tip> To reorder issues within a column, make sure sorting is set to **Manual**. Other sort modes (Priority, Created, Updated) override manual ordering. </Tip>

5. Break work down with sub-issues

Large features are easier to manage when you break them into smaller, agent-sized tasks. Sub-issues let you create parent/child relationships between issues.

To add a sub-issue, open the parent issue and scroll to the Sub-Issues section. You have two options: click the + button to create a new sub-issue, or click the link button to connect an existing issue as a child.

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Key rules for sub-issues:

  • Each sub-issue has its own independent status — completing all children does not auto-complete the parent
  • Sub-issues show a Parent link so you can navigate back to the parent issue

6. Connect issues to workspaces

A workspace is where your coding agent does the actual work. Open an issue and scroll to the Workspaces section. You have two options: click the + button to create a new workspace, or click the link button to connect an existing one.

<Frame> </Frame> <Info> You can connect multiple workspaces to a single issue — useful for running agents in parallel on different parts of the same feature. </Info>

Troubleshooting

<AccordionGroup> <Accordion title="Issue doesn't appear on the board"> - Check your active filters — click **Clear All** to reset them - The issue might be in **Backlog** or **Cancelled** — switch to the **All** tab to see hidden statuses </Accordion> <Accordion title="Can't drag issues to reorder them"> Sort mode must be set to **Manual**. If sorting is set to Priority, Created, or another mode, drag-to-reorder is disabled. Change the sort option in the board header. </Accordion> <Accordion title="Description changes aren't saving"> Changes auto-save after a brief delay. Check your internet connection if changes aren't persisting, and try refreshing the page. </Accordion> </AccordionGroup>

Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}> <Card title="Filtering & Sorting" icon="filter" href="/cloud/filtering"> Find issues quickly with search, filters, and sorting </Card> <Card title="Kanban Board" icon="table-columns" href="/cloud/kanban-board"> Learn more about the board layout and collaboration </Card> <Card title="Workspaces" icon="terminal" href="/workspaces/index"> Understand how workspaces connect to issues </Card> </CardGroup>