# Kanzo: a self-hosted kanban board that doubles as an MCP server for coding agents

Canonical: https://theagenticweekly.com/news/kanzo-kanban-board-mcp-server · Evidence: Reported · First seen: 2026-11-01 15:01 UTC · Source published: 2026-10-25 11:14 UTC · Brief published: 2026-11-01 15:03 UTC · Updated: 2026-11-01 15:03 UTC · Author: Agentic Weekly

> Kanzo is an AGPL-3.0 kanban board and MCP server in one program, created on GitHub on Oct 25, 2026, whose README calls it "a kanban board in your browser and an MCP server in one small program". The README lists a 4.1 MB binary with SQLite included and a 2 ms start, and the repo had 403 GitHub stars on Nov 1, 2026.

## What changed

- Kanzo runs a kanban board at http://localhost:4242 and an MCP server from the same program (kanzo mcp, or the running board at /mcp). The README says there is no account and no server: the whole board is one folder, ~/kanzo, holding kanzo.db and config.toml.
- Agents connect with one command each, such as claude mcp add for Claude Code or codex mcp add for Codex. Asked to take the next task, the README says the agent moves the card to doing and comments as it works, picking the project from the git remote of the repo it is in.
- kanzo sync keeps one board across a laptop, desktop or Raspberry Pi through a private git repo you own, and asks which side to keep if both changed. For agents on several machines at once, the README suggests one board listening on 0.0.0.0, and warns it has no logins.
- Installs are a shell or PowerShell script from GitHub releases, a Windows zip, or cargo install kanzo; the README says releases are signed by GitHub and checkable with gh attestation verify. The latest release when we checked was v0.2.1 (Oct 27, 2026).
- The author's figures, measured on an Apple M4: a 4.1 MB program with SQLite included, 4.5 MB of memory idle and 8 MB with 3,000 tasks, a 2 ms start, and about 900 tokens for the agents' tool list once per session. kanzo export prints the board as Markdown or JSON.

## In the source's words

> "Kanzo is a kanban board in your browser and an MCP server in one small program, so you and your coding agents work on the same tasks."
> (Kanzo README, https://github.com/emanuele-em/kanzo)

> "Sync is for switching machines: work on one, sync, then move to the other."
> (Kanzo README, on keeping one board across machines, https://github.com/emanuele-em/kanzo)

## Early verdict

Worth a look if you want a shared, local task board that coding agents can read and update over MCP without an account or hosted service; note the AGPL-3.0 license and the login-free network mode. (Basis: Based only on the project's README and releases page as read on Nov 1, 2026; we have not run it.)

## What we have not verified

- We did not install or run Kanzo; every size, memory, speed and token figure is the author's own measurement from the README.
- We did not test the MCP server with Claude Code, Codex or any other agent, or check how sync handles conflicts.
- We did not review the network mode's security; the README itself says it has no logins and should only be used on a trusted network.

## Timeline

- Source published: 2026-10-25 11:14 UTC
- First seen by our watcher: 2026-11-01 15:01 UTC (via GitHub new repos: topic mcp-server)
- Brief published: 2026-11-01 15:03 UTC

## Sources

- [Kanzo repository and README (GitHub)](https://github.com/emanuele-em/kanzo) (primary source) (fetched 2026-11-01)
- [Kanzo releases (GitHub)](https://github.com/emanuele-em/kanzo/releases) (fetched 2026-11-01)

## Related

- [Claude Code: verdict and setup guide](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/claude-code)
- [Codex CLI: verdict and setup guide](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/codex-cli)
- [All news briefs](https://theagenticweekly.com/news)
- [This week's releases](https://theagenticweekly.com/this-week)
- [New AI models this week](https://theagenticweekly.com/models/this-week)

## How to cite

Agentic Weekly, "Kanzo: a self-hosted kanban board that doubles as an MCP server for coding agents", published 2026-11-01 15:03 UTC, https://theagenticweekly.com/news/kanzo-kanban-board-mcp-server