TaskForge

A multi-user task tracker built for humans and AI agents to collaborate on the same boards.

TaskForge is a full-stack task management application with three interfaces — REST API, MCP Server (for AI agents), and a Kanban SPA — all running in a single NestJS backend. It's designed so that any MCP-compatible agent (Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, etc.) can do everything a human can: create boards, move tasks, assign work, comment, search, and more.

Features

• Authentication — Email/password login, session tokens, invite-only signup, bot tokens for agents, admin/member roles

• Onboarding — First-run setup creates the admin account and instance title

• Kanban Board — Drag-and-drop columns with Backlog → To Do → In Progress → Review → Done

• List View — Table view for quick scanning across all lists

• Task Detail — Edit title, description, priority, assignee, due date, labels; dedicated route per task

• Sub-tasks — Nest tasks under a parent task

• Task Relations — Link tasks with blocks / related_to relationships

• Per-board Task Numbers — Each task gets a sequential board-scoped id (e.g. TF-12)

• Comments — Threaded discussion on any task, attributed to the authenticated user

• Labels — Color-coded tags per board, assignable to tasks

• Activity Log — Full audit trail per task and per board

• Real-time Updates — WebSocket events push changes to all connected clients instantly (auth-required)

• Full-text Search — Search across task titles and descriptions, or by task number

• MCP Protocol — AI agents connect via the Streamable HTTP transport to do everything humans can

• Priority System — Low / Medium / High / Urgent with visual indicators

• WIP Limits — Optional per-list work-in-progress limits

• Soft Delete — Tasks archive instead of hard-deleting

• Single Container — Everything (API + SPA + WebSocket) in one Docker image

Related MCP server: kanban-lite

Screenshots

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                   TaskForge Container               │
│                                                      │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │              NestJS Backend (:3000)            │   │
│  │                                               │   │
│  │  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌────────────┐  │   │
│  │  │ REST API │  │ MCP API  │  │ WebSocket  │  │   │
│  │  │ /api/*   │  │ /api/mcp │  │ /ws        │  │   │
│  │  └──────────┘  └──────────┘  └────────────┘  │   │
│  │                                               │   │
│  │  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐ │   │
│  │  │  AuthGuard (Bearer session tokens,        │ │   │
│  │  │  @Public exceptions, @Admin routes)        │ │   │
│  │  └──────────────────────────────────────────┘ │   │
│  │                                               │   │
│  │  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐ │   │
│  │  │         Prisma ORM → SQLite              │ │   │
│  │  └──────────────────────────────────────────┘ │   │
│  │                                               │   │
│  │  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐ │   │
│  │  │  React SPA (served as static assets)    │ │   │
│  │  └──────────────────────────────────────────┘ │   │
│  └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Data Model

User
  ├── Sessions (Bearer tokens; bot sessions flagged)
  ├── InviteTokens (created by admin, single-use)
  └── Memberships (per-board role: admin/member/viewer)

Settings (singleton — instance title, onboarded flag)

Board
  ├── identifier (3-letter prefix for task numbers, e.g. TF)
  ├── nextTaskNum (sequential counter)
  ├── Lists (ordered by position)
  │    ├── Tasks (ordered by position, board-scoped number)
  │    │    ├── Comments (attributed to a User)
  │    │    ├── Activity (audit log, attributed to a User)
  │    │    ├── Labels (many-to-many via TaskLabel)
  │    │    ├── Sub-tasks (self-relation via parentId)
  │    │    └── Relations (blocks / related_to via TaskRelation)
  │    └── WIP Limit (optional)
  ├── Labels (board-level)
  └── Members (board-level)

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 20

• pnpm >= 10 (install with corepack enable && corepack prepare pnpm@10.12.1 --activate)

Docker (fastest)

docker run -d --name taskforge -p 3000:3000 -v taskforge-data:/data emreyc/taskforge:latest

Open http://localhost:3000 and follow the onboarding prompt to create the admin account. The SQLite database is persisted in the taskforge-data volume at /data/taskforge.db.

Local Development

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/emreycolakoglu/taskforge.git
cd taskforge

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Generate Prisma client and apply migrations
cd apps/api
pnpm prisma:generate
pnpm prisma:migrate
cd ../..

# Start development servers (API on :3000, Web on :5173 with proxy)
pnpm dev

The API runs on http://localhost:3000 and the Vite dev server on http://localhost:5173 (proxied to the API). On first visit the SPA redirects to /onboarding to create the admin account.

Docker (Production, from source)

# Build and run (exposes :4321 by default via docker-compose)
docker compose up --build

# Or build manually
docker build -t taskforge .
docker run -p 3000:3000 -v taskforge-data:/data taskforge

Then open http://localhost:4321 (compose) or http://localhost:3000 (manual run) in your browser. The first visit triggers onboarding.

Configuration

All configuration is via environment variables:

.env file

PORT=3000
DATABASE_URL=file:./prisma/dev.db
CORS_ORIGIN=*

Authentication

All REST endpoints (except a few @Public ones) require a Authorization: Bearer <token> header. Sessions are UUID tokens stored in the DB with a 90-day expiry (365 days for bot tokens).

Auth Endpoints (/api/auth)

Settings Endpoints (/api/settings)

REST API

All endpoints are under /api and require a Bearer token (see Authentication). Request and response bodies are JSON.

Boards

Create a board:

{ "name": "My Project", "slug": "my-project", "identifier": "MYP", "description": "Optional" }

identifier is a 3-letter uppercase prefix used for per-board task numbers (e.g. MYP-1).

Lists

Create a list:

{ "boardId": "...", "name": "In Progress", "color": "#f59e0b", "wipLimit": 5 }

Tasks

Create a task:

{
  "listId": "...",
  "title": "Implement login page",
  "description": "Add email/password and OAuth login",
  "priority": "high",
  "assigneeId": "user-id",
  "dueDate": "2026-07-01T00:00:00Z",
  "parentId": "parent-task-id",
  "labelIds": ["label-id-1", "label-id-2"],
  "metadata": "any JSON string"
}

Move a task:

{ "listId": "new-list-id", "position": 0 }

Task Relations

Relations are scoped under a task. blocks is directed; related_to is undirected (canonicalized).

Create a relation:

{ "otherTaskId": "other-task-id", "type": "blocks", "direction": "source" }

direction: "source" means the path task blocks the other; "target" means the path task is blocked by the other. Defaults to "source". Ignored for related_to.

Comments

Add a comment:

{ "taskId": "...", "body": "Looks good to me!" }

Labels

Labels are nested under a board for creation/listing.

Create a label:

{ "name": "bug", "color": "#ef4444" }

Activity

MCP Server (AI Agent Interface)

TaskForge implements the MCP (Model Context Protocol) over the Streamable HTTP transport (2025-03-26 spec) at POST /api/mcp. Any MCP-compatible agent (Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, opencode, etc.) can connect and perform all the same operations a human can.

Authentication

The MCP endpoint is behind the global AuthGuard. Agents must send a Bearer session token. The token can be:

• A user session token (from POST /api/auth/login)

• A bot token created by an admin via POST /api/auth/bot-token (365-day expiry, recommended for agents)

# Admin creates a bot token
curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/auth/bot-token \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <admin-token>"
# → { "id": "...", "token": "bot-uuid", "expiresAt": "..." }

How Agents Connect

Claude Code / Cursor / Copilot — Add to your MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "taskforge": {
      "url": "http://localhost:3000/api/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer <bot-token>" }
    }
  }
}

The Streamable HTTP transport requires an initialize handshake that returns an Mcp-Session-Id header; subsequent requests must include that header. Most MCP clients handle this automatically.

Available MCP Tools

Boards

Lists

Tasks

Comments

Labels

Activity

Relations

Example: Agent Creates a Board and Tasks

// 1. Create a board
→ {"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"boards_create","arguments":{"name":"Sprint 24","slug":"sprint-24","identifier":"SPR"}},"id":1}
← {"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"result":{...}}

// 2. Create a task in the "To Do" list
→ {"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"tasks_create","arguments":{"listId":"...","title":"Design API schema","priority":"high","assigneeId":"alice-id"}},"id":2}
← {"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"result":{...}}

// 3. Move task to "In Progress"
→ {"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"tasks_move","arguments":{"id":"...","listId":"in-progress-list-id"}},"id":3}
← {"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":3,"result":{...}}

// 4. Search for tasks
→ {"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"tasks_search","arguments":{"query":"API"}},"id":4}
← {"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":4,"result":[{...}]}

WebSocket Events

The WebSocket server at /ws pushes real-time events to connected clients. Authentication is required — clients must emit an auth message with a session token within 5 seconds of connecting:

const ws = new WebSocket('ws://localhost:3000/ws');
ws.onopen = () => {
  ws.send(JSON.stringify({ event: 'auth', data: { token: '<session-token>', boardId: 'board-123' } }));
};
ws.onmessage = (event) => {
  const { event: name, data } = JSON.parse(event.data);
  console.log(name, data);
};

On success the server emits auth_success; on failure it emits auth_error and disconnects. Providing boardId joins the board's event room.

Event Types

Frontend (SPA)

The React SPA is served by the NestJS backend in production. In development, Vite proxies API and WebSocket requests to the backend.

Routes

Tech Stack

• React 19 + TypeScript (strict)

• React Router 7

• Vite 6 (dev server with proxy)

• Tailwind CSS 4 + shadcn/ui (Radix primitives)

• TanStack Query (server state)

• @hello-pangea/dnd (drag and drop)

• Socket.IO client (real-time events)

• Sonner (toasts), Lucide icons

The SPA follows a dark "midnight command deck" design system with a single Acid Lime accent. See design.md before any frontend change.

Docker

Building

# Using docker-compose (recommended — exposes :4321)
docker compose up --build

# Manual build
docker build -t taskforge .

The Dockerfile uses multi-stage builds:

1. base — Node 23 Alpine + pnpm

2. deps — Install all dependencies

3. builder — Generate Prisma client, build API and SPA

4. runner — Minimal production image with SQLite persistence at /data

Volumes

Data loss warning: The SQLite database lives at /data/taskforge.db inside the container. Without a persistent volume mounted at /data, every redeploy recreates the container and wipes the database. This is true for docker run, docker compose up, Coolify, and any container orchestrator.

Mount a volume at /data to persist the SQLite database:

volumes:
  - taskforge-data:/data

The Dockerfile declares VOLUME ["/data"] so anonymous Docker storage is created automatically on docker run without -v — but anonymous volumes are per-container and do not survive docker rm or image redeploys. For real persistence, use a named volume or a bind mount:

# Named volume (recommended)
docker run -d --name taskforge -p 3000:3000 -v taskforge-data:/data emreyc/taskforge:latest

# Bind mount (for backups / host access)
docker run -d --name taskforge -p 3000:3000 -v /opt/taskforge-data:/data emreyc/taskforge:latest

Health Check

The container includes a health check that pings GET /api/settings/initialized every 30 seconds.

Migrations on Startup

docker-entrypoint.sh runs prisma migrate deploy before starting the app, so schema changes ship with the image. To ship a schema change: run pnpm --filter @taskforge/api prisma:migrate -- --name <desc> locally, commit the new migration file, and push.

Development

Project Structure

taskforge/
├── apps/
│   ├── api/                       # NestJS backend (CommonJS)
│   │   ├── prisma/
│   │   │   ├── schema.prisma      # Database schema
│   │   │   └── migrations/        # Prisma migrations
│   │   ├── docker-entrypoint.sh   # Runs migrations then starts node
│   │   └── src/
│   │       ├── main.ts            # Entry (SPA serving + CORS + validation)
│   │       ├── app.module.ts       # Root module
│   │       ├── prisma/            # Prisma client service (@Global)
│   │       ├── auth/              # Users, sessions, invites, bot tokens, AuthGuard
│   │       ├── settings/          # Instance settings (singleton)
│   │       ├── boards/            # Boards module (REST)
│   │       ├── lists/             # Lists module (REST)
│   │       ├── tasks/             # Tasks module (REST)
│   │       ├── relations/         # Task relations (blocks / related_to)
│   │       ├── comments/          # Comments module (REST)
│   │       ├── labels/            # Labels module (REST)
│   │       ├── activity/          # Activity log module (REST)
│   │       ├── events/            # WebSocket gateway + event bus
│   │       └── mcp/               # MCP Streamable HTTP server + tool defs
│   └── web/                       # React SPA (ESM, strict)
│       └── src/
│           ├── app.tsx            # Routes
│           ├── contexts/          # AuthContext
│           ├── pages/             # Route components
│           ├── components/        # KanbanBoard, TaskCard, TaskDetail, dialogs, UI primitives
│           ├── hooks/             # api.ts, use-auth, use-socket, use-tasks, use-relations, ...
│           ├── lib/               # constants, utils
│           └── types/             # TypeScript interfaces
├── Dockerfile
├── docker-compose.yml
├── package.json                   # Root workspace config
├── pnpm-workspace.yaml
└── turbo.json                     # Turborepo pipeline

Commands

pnpm dev              # Start both API and web in dev mode
pnpm build            # Build both apps
pnpm lint             # Lint all apps (note: eslint not installed — see AGENTS.md)
pnpm clean            # Clean build artifacts

# Database
pnpm db:generate      # Generate Prisma client
pnpm db:migrate       # Run Prisma migrations (add -- --name <desc> to create one)

# Tests
pnpm --filter @taskforge/api test    # API (Jest)
pnpm --filter @taskforge/web test    # Web (Vitest)

# Docker
pnpm docker:build     # Build Docker image
pnpm docker:run       # Run Docker container

Adding a New Module

1. Create apps/api/src/<module>/ with controller, service, module, and DTO files

2. Register the module in apps/api/src/app.module.ts

3. Add MCP tool definitions in apps/api/src/mcp/tool-definitions.ts and handlers in mcp.service.ts

4. Add API client methods in apps/web/src/hooks/api.ts

5. Add WebSocket event handling in apps/web/src/hooks/use-socket.ts

Use Cases

Solo Developer

Run locally with SQLite. Use the SPA for daily work, the MCP server to let your AI coding agent create and manage tasks automatically via a bot token.

Small Team

Deploy on a single VPS with Docker. Admins create invite tokens; members sign up and use the SPA. CI/CD pipelines use the REST API (via bot tokens) to create release tasks. AI agents join standups and update boards.

Agent-First Workflow

Your AI agent manages the entire board. The agent creates tasks from PR descriptions, moves them through review stages, assigns reviewers, links blockers, and archives completed work — all via MCP. Humans check in via the SPA when needed.

Hybrid

Humans use the Kanban board. AI agents use MCP to:

• Create tasks from bug reports

• Move tasks through pipeline stages

• Assign work based on team capacity

• Search and report on task status

• Add comments with analysis results

• Link blocking relationships

FAQ

Q: Can I use a different database? A: Yes. Change the provider in prisma/schema.prisma from sqlite to postgresql or mysql, update DATABASE_URL, and run pnpm db:migrate. Prisma handles the rest.

Q: How do agents authenticate? A: An admin creates a bot token via POST /api/auth/bot-token (365-day expiry). The agent sends it as Authorization: Bearer <token> on every REST and MCP request, and in the auth WebSocket message. User session tokens (90-day expiry) also work.

Q: Can I deploy to Fly.io / Railway / Render? A: Yes. The Docker image is self-contained. Set DATABASE_URL to a persistent volume path. For SQLite, ensure the volume persists across restarts. For production, consider PostgreSQL.

Q: How do I add custom fields to tasks? A: Use the metadata field — it's a JSON string that accepts arbitrary data. Parse it in your frontend or agent logic.

Q: Can multiple agents connect simultaneously? A: Yes. The MCP endpoint is session-based and handles concurrent requests. WebSocket events broadcast to all connected clients.

Q: How are task numbers assigned? A: Each board has an identifier (3-letter prefix) and a nextTaskNum counter. Every new task gets the next number (e.g. TF-1, TF-2), displayed and searchable as TF-12.

License

MIT

Contributing

1. Fork the repository

2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing)

3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')

4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing)

5. Open a Pull Request