FronyBoard
FronyBoard is an MCP-based project tracker that lets an agent register projects and manage their roadmaps, quarterly periods, and task workflow through validated tool calls.
Register and manage projects: create a project with a task-id prefix (
create_project), rename/re-describe/pause/archive it (update_project), and list all projects with summaries (list_projects).Plan the roadmap: write yearly overviews with goal/now/target/checklist (
set_overview), tick checklist items (set_check), and set quarterly milestones (upsert_milestone); read it all back withget_roadmap.Run periods: open any quarter (
open_period, or implicitly viacreate_task), close a quarter with a retrospective (close_period), and read past retrospectives (get_retrospective).Track tasks: create tasks with titles, one-line
contentnotes, tags, anddepends_onlinks (create_task); edit fields and branch (update_task); and move status through todo/in_progress/done/blocked/cancelled with proof-of-donecheckor cancellationreason(transition_task).Query and resume: get a full project snapshot with open tasks and recent completions (
get_status), list tasks by period/status/tags/recency (list_tasks), fetch a single task (get_task), and search text across all projects (search_tasks).Audit and validate: review recent mutations and callers (
recent_activity), and check stored data against the schema and rules (validate).Get guidance: read the full usage guide as Markdown (
help).
Click on "Deploy Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type
@followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@FronyBoard List tasks for project DLY that are blocked."
That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed.
Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.
FronyBoard
An MCP server that gives AI agents (Claude Code and friends) a first-class project tracker.
Where Jira is an issue tracker for humans behind a web UI, FronyBoard replaces each part with something an agent can use natively:
Jira | FronyBoard |
Database | One SQLite file in a dedicated data directory |
Records | JSON documents (roadmap, period) + Markdown |
API | MCP tools |
Workflow engine | Schema + rule validation, run as a gate before every write |
State transition | An MCP tool call ( |
The schema and operating rules were extracted from a real product's management system (31 tasks shipped through it), then generalized.
Install
Requires uv. One line registers FronyBoard in Claude Code;
uvx fetches the package from PyPI on first use and caches it:
claude mcp add FronyBoard -- uvx fronyboardAny MCP client that can launch a stdio command works the same way — the command is
uvx fronyboard. It is also listed in the
MCP Registry as io.github.Cafelatte1/fronyboard.
From a clone, point at the checkout instead (this needs git):
git clone https://github.com/Cafelatte1/fronyboard
claude mcp add FronyBoard -- uv run --directory <path-to-clone>\backend fronyboardThis is the local (stdio) mode: the client starts the server as a child process and
talks to it over a pipe. No HTTP, no network, no credentials — web.py and
fauth.py are never called. Data is written to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Frony\FronyBoard\data
(~/.Frony/FronyBoard/data where LOCALAPPDATA is unset); set AIRA_DATA_DIR to
relocate it. Logs (JSON Lines, one line per MCP tool call plus server events) go to
the sibling logs folder — FRONYBOARD_LOG_DIR overrides.
To share one FronyBoard between several machines, or to use it from the Claude and ChatGPT apps, run it as an HTTP server instead — see docs/self-hosting.md.
Related MCP server: Knowledge Base MCP Server
Project setup
Connecting the MCP server gives every session the tools and the general workflow
(delivered as server instructions). What it cannot know is which FronyBoard project
a codebase belongs to — declare that in the codebase itself by adding this section
to its CLAUDE.md (create the file if the project has none):
## FronyBoard
This project is tracked by FronyBoard (project key: DLY).
Manage tasks through the FronyBoard MCP tools, following the FronyBoard server instructions.Replace DLY with the project's key (register one first with create_project).
The section is also the opt-in signal: a codebase without it is treated as not
FronyBoard-managed.
Model
fronyboard.db
├── projects one row per project (key e.g. DLY): the roadmap record —
│ yearly overview (goal / now / target / checklist) + quarterly milestones
└── periods one row per opened period (e.g. 2026Q3): tasks ({KEY}-001, ...)
+ `result` (retrospective, written when the period closes)A project is two kinds of records — the roadmap, and one record per period. Both are
JSON documents; the schema and the rules that guard it are in
backend/src/fronyboard/validation.py.
Task ids are a project-global sequence (
DLY-042) — they keep counting across periods and are never reused. They are the only link between FronyBoard and a codebase: use them in branch names (feat/DLY-042/short-desc) and record the branch on the task.A task is a title (v0.33.0, AIR-086) plus status, tags,
depends_on, branch and two one-line notes of at most 300 characters each. Agents read titles and status; the 25-line body nobody read, and the month/week slots that only existed to schedule it, are gone. Time ismeta.completed_at.The two notes answer different questions at different moments (v0.38.0, AIR-090).
contentis written at create time and says why the task exists — the pressure behind it, or the scope deliberately left out. The approach chosen is not part of it (AIR-092): agents wrote it here and again in the commit, so it lives in the commit only.checkis required bytransition_task(status="done")and says what proves it done — the command and its output, or an observable a reader can go and see. One free note asked before the work can only restate the plan: in a 12-session benchmark every task an agent wrote paraphrased its own title, because the note was fixed at create time andupdate_taskwas never called. Reopening a task drops itscheck; nothing is proven any more.Reference chain:
period → roadmap milestone(the quarter). That is the only one, and the milestone is optional (v0.40.0, AIR-095): a period without one is valid, and its tasks are checked like any other's.Statuses — milestones:
planned | active | done; tasks:todo | in_progress | done | blocked | cancelled.cancelledis the soft delete — there is no hard delete. Cancelling requires a reason, keeps the record (and its id) forever, and hides the task from queries by default (list_taskstakesinclude_cancelled).blocked= may resume,cancelled= will not happen; transitioning a cancelled task restores it.Carry-over: a task that outlives its period is not moved — recreate it in the next period under a new id and note the mapping in the closing retrospective.
get_statusis the whole resume — the overview, each period's open tasks, andrecent_done: the ten most recently finished tasks with theircontent, theircheckand when they completed. What is already built is what a cold session needs most, and nobody makes a second call to find it (AIR-090). It is still a record of claims: the board says what an agent reported, the code is the evidence.depends_onon a task lists the earlier tasks it builds on (other projects allowed). It points backwards only — there is no forward index, because storing one direction and deriving the other read as inverted often enough to be worth dropping (v0.36.0, AIR-089). The field wasfollowsuntil v0.37.0; the boot migration renames it. It is a pointer, not a lock:list_tasksandget_statusflag the entries not yet done aswaiting_on, and nothing is ever blocked.Timestamps (
meta.created_at/updated_at/started_at/completed_at) are stamped by the server in naive UTC —started_aton the firstin_progresstransition,completed_atondone(and removed again if the task leavesdone). Agents never write them.The
resultfield closes a period — the rest of the file holds only current state, so the "why it turned out this way" lives there: judgment and reasons, not counts. Its presence is what marks a period closed.
Tools
Area | Tools |
Projects |
|
Roadmap |
|
Periods |
|
Planning |
|
Queries |
|
Guide |
|
update_task and transition_task derive the project from the task id prefix
(DLY-042 → DLY), so their key parameter is optional. Re-calling
close_period on a closed period rewrites its retrospective.
Typical flow:
create_project
→ create_task (opens the current quarter)
→ transition_task in_progress (with branch) → ... → transition_task done
→ close_period (retrospective)Planning is optional, not a prerequisite. create_task opens the current quarter by
itself (in FRONYBOARD_TZ, else the server's zone); open_period opens any other
quarter, with or without a milestone. set_overview and upsert_milestone add the
year's and the quarter's goals whenever there are some. A milestone added to an open
quarter starts active; closing the quarter marks it done.
Every mutation is validated before anything is written; invalid changes are rejected
with the full error list. close_period refuses while tasks are still todo or
in_progress. Writes are serialized per project, so concurrent clients cannot
collide on ids or lose updates.
Self-hosting
The same package also runs as an always-on HTTP server (fronyboard serve): MCP over
streamable HTTP for every machine on your network, a read-only web dashboard for
humans, API keys per device, and OAuth for the hosted Claude / ChatGPT apps.
Authentication is delegated to FronyAuth,
a separate service. None of it is needed for the stdio install above.
To see the dashboard on your own machine without any of that, run fronyboard serve --local
(loopback only, no login) and open http://127.0.0.1:8642.
docs/self-hosting.md covers the setup;
docs/operations.md is the day-2 runbook.
Development
uv run --directory backend pytest # backend
cd frontend; npm test # dashboardThe repo is a monorepo. backend/src/fronyboard/ — store.py (SQLite, data root),
validation.py (schema gate), service.py (operations), auth.py (bearer
middleware) + fauth.py (FronyAuth client), log.py, web.py (JSON API + static
serving), server.py (MCP tool surface + CLI). frontend/ — the dashboard (React +
Vite), built to static files that the backend serves; its build output
frontend/dist is committed so a server needs no Node toolchain.
The three docs under docs/ cover what the code cannot tell you — running this on your own machines:
docs/self-hosting.md — running FronyBoard as a shared server: clients, dashboard, hosted apps, deploy
docs/operations.md — home server runbook
Available Tools
20 toolsclose_periodA
Use it when a quarter's work is over and the user wants it closed with a retrospective.
Close a period (YYYYQn) and record its retrospective — call when its work is over.
Refuses while any task is still todo or in_progress. Stores `result_markdown` as the
period's `result` and marks its milestone, if it has one, done.
The retrospective is written in the user's language, stays under ~30 lines and holds
judgment and reasons only — summary vs goal, what landed and what did not, carried-over tasks
(old id -> new id), lessons.
Calling it again on a closed period rewrites the retrospective and changes nothing else.
Inputs: key (required), period (required), result_markdown (required).
create_projectA
Use it when the user wants a codebase tracked here (register a project, set up a board).
Register a new project — once per codebase, before any planning happens.
`key` is the task-id prefix (2-5 uppercase letters, e.g. DLY); `description` is one
line saying what the project is, in the user's language (shown on the dashboard cards);
`repo` is where its code lives (owner/name or a URL). Status starts as active.
A fresh project takes tasks at once: create_task opens the current quarter. The plan
(set_overview, upsert_milestone) is optional and written with the user.
Inputs: key (required), name, repo, description.
create_taskA
Use it when you start a piece of work or the user asks to add one (add a task, new to-do).
Create a task — one issue/branch-sized unit of work — with status todo.
The id is assigned from the project-global sequence and never reused. `period` is
YYYYQn: the current quarter (in the server's time zone) opens by itself if it is not
open yet, and the answer then carries `opened`; any other quarter must already be open
(open_period). Nothing else — no overview, no milestone — has to exist first.
`title` is a short English imperative ("Add multi-select status filter") — it is what
every reader sees, so it has to say the whole thing.
`content` is optional: one line, at most 300 characters, English. It answers **why this
task exists** — the pressure that made it necessary, or the scope you deliberately left
out. It is written now, before the work, so it cannot describe the approach or the
result: the approach you choose, and why, goes in the commit; what proves the work done
is `check`, which transition_task takes when you finish. Do not restate the title here:
a note that only rephrases it tells the next agent nothing. Line breaks are folded into
spaces; a longer text is rejected, not cut.
`tags` are free-form labels ("frontend", "bug", "infra"): up to 8 per task, 24
characters each, no commas. Reuse the wording already in use on the project
(list_tasks shows it) instead of coining a new spelling for the same thing.
`depends_on` lists the task ids this one builds on — the *earlier* work whose result it
needs, or the task that handed it this scope. Full ids, other projects allowed. It
points backwards only: there is no forward list, so a task never has to be updated
because a later one appeared. It is a pointer, not a lock — nothing is blocked, and
`list_tasks` / `get_status` merely flag the entries not yet done as `waiting_on`.
Inputs: key (required), title (required), period (required), tags, +2 more.
get_retrospectiveA
Use it when the user asks how a past quarter went (last quarter's retrospective).
Read a closed period's (YYYYQn) retrospective — the `result` markdown close_period
wrote. Errors while the period is still open; get_status says which ones are closed.
Inputs: key (required), period (required).
get_roadmapA
Use it when the user asks for the plan (roadmap, this year's goals, quarter goals).
Read a project's plan as written: yearly overviews (goal, now, target, checklist),
quarterly milestones, and the names of its periods.
Goals only, no counts — get_status for progress and the current period, list_tasks for
the tasks themselves. Timestamps (`meta`) are left out unless `include_meta` is set.
Inputs: key (required), include_meta.
get_statusA
Use it first when you start on a project, and when the user asks where it stands (progress, what's left, what's in progress).
The resume: everything an agent needs to pick a project up cold, in one call. The
latest year's overview (goal / now / target / checklist); per period its milestone goal
and status (a period without a milestone has no goal and reports active while open, done
once closed), task counts by status, whether it is closed, and `open_tasks` — every
todo / blocked / in_progress task with its title, tags, branch, one-line content and
`waiting_on`; and `recent_done` — the ten most recently finished tasks across every period, newest
first, each with its content, its `check` and when it completed. Closed periods are
included.
`recent_done` is what the project already has, in the words of whoever built it, and
`check` is what they said proves it. Both are claims: confirm against the code before
building on one. Older finished work and cancelled tasks are list_tasks; the plan as
written is get_roadmap.
Call it once at the start of a session; there is nothing to poll for afterwards.
Inputs: key (required).
get_taskA
Use it when you know a task id and need the whole record (task details).
Read one task in full by id (DLY-042) — the project comes from the prefix, so no key
is needed. Returns the record with its period. Use this instead of list_tasks whenever
you already know the id; search_tasks when you only know a word from it. The record also
carries `waiting_on` when it applies.
Inputs: task_id (required).
helpA
Use it for questions about FronyBoard itself — what it is for, which tool to call when, and how a session works with it — and read it once before your first other call in a conversation. Returns the whole guide as Markdown text.
To read or change what is recorded, call the working tools directly: get_status,
create_task, transition_task, list_tasks, search_tasks.
Inputs: no named parameters.
list_projectsA
Use it when the user asks which projects are tracked (project list, which boards exist).
List every project (key, name, description, repo, status, meta) — how to find out
which keys exist. Archived ones are left out unless `include_archived` is set.
Each entry carries a `summary`: its open periods, task counts by status and
`last_activity` (the newest task update). No milestones or task detail: get_roadmap
for the plan, get_status for per-period progress, list_tasks for the tasks.
Inputs: include_archived.
list_tasksA
Use it when the user asks for finished, cancelled or tagged work, or a past quarter's (done work, tasks by tag).
List one project's tasks, optionally narrowed by period, status, tags or recency.
get_status already lists the open ones; use this for done or cancelled tasks, a closed
period, or a tag cut. get_task when you know the id, search_tasks for text across
projects.
`period` is YYYYQn (all periods, closed ones included, when omitted), `status` is one of
todo | in_progress | done | blocked | cancelled. `tags` narrows to the tasks carrying
*all* of the given labels; pass one tag to match on it alone, and call again per tag
when you want the union. `updated_since` keeps tasks touched after a duration ("24h",
"7d") or ISO timestamp. A row carries `waiting_on` (the ids from its `depends_on` not yet
done) only when there are any. Cancelled tasks are excluded unless `include_cancelled`
is set or `status` is 'cancelled'.
Inputs: key (required), tags, period, status, +2 more.
open_periodA
Use it only to file work under a quarter other than the current one (open next quarter).
Open a quarter's period (YYYYQn, e.g. 2026Q3) other than the current one — create_task
opens the current quarter by itself, so this is only for filing work under another
quarter. No milestone is needed; if the quarter has a planned one, it flips to active.
Inputs: key (required), period (required).
recent_activityA
Use it when the user asks what changed recently or who did it.
What changed recently and who did it: the tool calls recorded in tools.jsonl,
newest first — `ts`, `tool`, `caller` (key:<name> / session:<user> / oauth:… / stdio / local),
`project`, `task` and `args` (argument names; prose fields appear as `<name>_len`);
`ok: false` marks a rejected call. This is the mutation history; task records
themselves keep only timestamps.
`since` is a duration ("24h" default, "7d", "90m") or an ISO timestamp; `key` narrows
to one project; `limit` caps the rows (default 50) while `count` reports the total.
Read-only calls are dropped unless `writes_only=False`.
Inputs: key, limit, since, writes_only.
search_tasksA
Use it when the user remembers a word from a task but not its id or project (find a task).
Find tasks by text across all projects, with the dashboard's rules: case-insensitive
substring over project key, task id, title and content (not branch or tags); a
matching project key returns all of its tasks. Closed periods are included; cancelled
tasks only with `include_cancelled` (or `status='cancelled'`).
Hits are compact, ordered by project, then in_progress -> blocked -> todo
-> done -> cancelled, then id; `match` says which field hit; a task's one-line `content`
is included when it has one. `key` narrows to one project, `limit` (default 20) caps the
hits while `count` still reports the total. Follow up with get_task for the full record.
Inputs: query (required), key, limit, status, +1 more.
set_checkA
Use it when one item of the year's checklist is done or undone (tick off a checklist item).
Tick or untick one item of a year's overview checklist: `index` is its 0-based
position in get_roadmap's `checklist`, `done` the new state. Returns the updated
overview. To add, remove or reword items use set_overview.
Inputs: key (required), year (required), index (required), done.
set_overviewA
Use it when the user sets or rewrites a year's plan (this year's goals, yearly plan).
Create or replace a year's overview: the one-line yearly `goal`, plus the three
blocks the dashboard shows for the current year — `now` (what is being worked on),
`target` (what that work is meant to reach) and `checklist` (the concrete steps to get
there, ticked off as they land). A year needs an overview before upsert_milestone will
add a quarter to it.
`year` is YYYY. All prose here is in the user's language. `now` and `target` are one
short line each. `checklist` items are strings (not done yet) or {text, done} maps,
in display order. Calling it again
replaces the whole overview — resend the checklist to keep it; use set_check to tick a
single item. Quarterly goals belong in upsert_milestone, not here.
Inputs: key (required), goal (required), year (required), now, +2 more.
transition_taskA
Use it when work starts, finishes, stalls or is dropped (start, finish, block or cancel a task).
Move a task to a new status: todo | in_progress | done | blocked | cancelled. The
only tool that changes status — title, content and tags are update_task.
`task_id` is the full id, e.g. DLY-042; the project is derived from that prefix, so
`key` may be omitted (if given it must match). Call when work starts (in_progress,
ideally with the branch name) and when it finishes (done); the server stamps
started_at and completed_at itself.
`done` requires `check`: one line, at most 300 characters, saying **what proves the work
done** — the command you ran and what it printed ("uv run pytest -q: 96 passed"), or the
observable a reader can go and see ("GET /healthz returns 200 on the deployed host").
You are the only one who can write it; by the next session the run is gone and all that
is left is your word. A restatement of the title proves nothing, so do not write one.
get_status shows it beside the finished task, and reopening a task drops it.
`cancelled` is the soft delete — there is no hard one: the record is kept but hidden
from queries by default, and `reason` is required. Use blocked for work that may
resume, cancelled for work that will not happen. Transitioning a cancelled task to
any other status restores it.
Inputs: status (required), task_id (required), key, check, +2 more.
update_projectA
Use it when the user renames, re-describes, pauses or archives a project.
Update a project's own fields — pass at least one of name, description, repo, status.
The key (and with it the task id prefix) never changes, and nothing here touches the
roadmap, periods or tasks. `name` and `description` follow create_project's language rule.
`status`: active | paused | archived. paused only changes the badge; archived hides the
project from list_projects and refuses every other mutation until it is set back to
active. Archived is as far as removal goes — there is no hard delete.
Inputs: key (required), name, repo, status, +1 more.
update_taskA
Use it when a task's title, note, branch, tags or links change (edit a task).
Update a task's fields — everything except status, which is transition_task.
`branch` records the working branch name; `content` replaces the one-line note
(same rule as create_task: one line, at most 300 characters). `check` corrects the
proof recorded at completion and is only accepted on a task that is already done.
`tags` replaces the whole label list — pass the tags the task should end up with,
not just the new ones. `depends_on` likewise replaces the whole predecessor list.
Omitted fields are left as they are. To remove an optional field pass an empty value:
`content=""`, `branch=""`, `tags=[]`, `depends_on=[]`, `check=""` (title cannot be removed).
`task_id` is the full id including the project prefix, e.g. DLY-042 — the project
is derived from that prefix, so `key` may be omitted (if given it must match).
Inputs: task_id (required), key, tags, check, +4 more.
upsert_milestoneA
Use it when the user sets or changes a quarter's goal (quarter goal, milestone).
Create or update a quarterly milestone — a year's goal for one quarter.
`year` is YYYY (its overview must exist), `quarter` is Q1-Q4, `goal` is one line in the
user's language (a new milestone needs one), `status` is planned | active | done
(opening the period flips planned to active, close_period sets done; a milestone added to
a quarter already open starts active).
Omitted fields keep their current value. A milestone is optional — tasks never need one.
Inputs: key (required), year (required), quarter (required), goal, +1 more.
validateA
Use it only after the store was edited outside these tools (check the data).
Check a project's stored data against the FronyBoard schema and rules, returning errors and warnings.
Rarely needed on its own — every mutation runs this same gate and refuses to write when it fails. Use it after the store was edited outside these tools.
Inputs: key (required).
Tool Schema Changelog
Recent tool additions, removals, and schema changes observed during successful MCP inspections.
Loading tool schema changelog…
TDQS
Scored across 20 tools
Tools have clearly distinct purposes and descriptions explicitly guide when to use each (e.g., 'use this instead of list_tasks'). The volume of task-retrieval tools (get_task, list_tasks, search_tasks, get_status) could cause hesitation without reading the detailed cross-references, but boundaries are well-drawn.
Mostly consistent verb_noun pattern (get_, create_, update_, list_, set_, open_/close_, upsert_, transition_). Minor deviations like 'help', 'validate', and 'recent_activity' are clear and acceptable as utility or read verbs.
20 tools is on the heavy side for a project/task management server (16–25 feels heavy per the rubric). While each tool serves a purpose, some could be consolidated (e.g., set_overview and set_check, open_period and close_period).
Strong lifecycle coverage: projects (create/update/list/archive), tasks (create/get/update/transition/list/search), roadmaps (overview/milestone/check), periods (open/close), retrospectives, validation, and activity. Minor gaps like no explicit get_project or list_periods, but workarounds via list_projects and get_status exist.
Maintenance
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