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Kanban Board recipe (experimental)

The Kanban Board recipe (openintranet_kanban) is an experimental task-tracking module built around two contrib modules — Field States (a state-list field type) and Views Kanban (a kanban-board Views display). It adds a Task content type with the fields you would expect on a Trello card or a Jira issue, and a Kanban view that renders tasks as cards on columns by status with drag-and-drop reordering between columns.

It is marked experimental because the underlying views_kanban module is itself in early development and the experience is not as polished as the rest of the platform. For most teams a dedicated tool (Jira, Linear, Trello) is still the better answer — but for a small intranet team that wants their backlog inside the company portal, this recipe is an option.

What it is

Section titled “What it is”

The recipe ships:

  • A Task content type (task) with fields for status, priority, progress %, story points, assignors and a history log.
  • A Kanban view that renders tasks as a board with one column per status value, drag-and-drop sorting between columns.
  • A Kanban main-menu link.

That’s it — deliberately small, optimised for the simplest possible task-board use-case.

Components

Section titled “Components”

The Task content type

Section titled “The Task content type”
FieldTypeNotes
TitleTextTask summary.
BodyLong text + summaryThe full description. CKEditor with the AI assistant.
StatusList (states — Field States type) — TODO, IN PROGRESS, REVIEW, DONEDrives the kanban columns. Drag-and-drop on the board updates this field.
PriorityList (integer) — Low (1), Medium (2), High (3), Urgent (4)Used for sort and visual highlight.
ProgressList (string)Per-task progress percentage (0% / 25% / 50% / 75% / 100%).
Story pointsList (integer)Estimation values (1 / 2 / 3 / 5 / 8 / 13 — Fibonacci).
AssignorsEntity reference (User), multi-valueThe people responsible.
Task historyLong text, multi-valueA free-form changelog the owner appends to as the task evolves.

The Task type has Promote to front page disabled by default so tasks stay on the board, not in the news feed.

The Field States module

Section titled “The Field States module”

The Status field uses a special field type from the Field States module (list_states). This type is essentially a list_string with awareness of being used as a kanban column source — views_kanban reads its allowed values to decide how many columns to render.

The four default values — TODO, IN PROGRESS, REVIEW, DONE — can be edited / extended from Field UI. Reorder them to change the column order on the board.

The Kanban view

Section titled “The Kanban view”

views.view.kanban is a Views display backed by views_kanban. It pulls every published Task, groups them by their Status value, and renders each group as a column with the tasks as cards underneath:

┌─ TODO ────┐ ┌─ IN PROGRESS ─┐ ┌─ REVIEW ──┐ ┌─ DONE ────┐
│ Task A    │ │ Task C        │ │ Task E    │ │ Task G    │
│ Task B    │ │ Task D        │ │ Task F    │ │ Task H    │
└───────────┘ └───────────────┘ └───────────┘ └───────────┘

Cards can be dragged between columns — the drop fires an AJAX update that changes the task’s Status field. Cards can also be reordered within a column to set priority order.

Status, priority, progress

Section titled “Status, priority, progress”

Three list fields combine to give the team a richer view than just which column:

  • Status — where the task is (TODO / IN PROGRESS / REVIEW / DONE).
  • Priority — how important (Low / Medium / High / Urgent). Used to colour-code or sort cards.
  • Progress — how far along (0–100%). Useful when tasks linger in IN PROGRESS for days.

Assignors and task history

Section titled “Assignors and task history”
  • Assignors — A multi-value user reference for shared ownership (a task can be on more than one person’s list).
  • Task history — A multi-value long-text field where the owner appends short status updates as the task evolves (“Spoke to Alice — needs the Berlin spec by Friday”). This lives on the task rather than in comments because it is intended as an internal log, not a discussion.

Workflow

Section titled “Workflow”

The day-to-day flow:

  1. Create a task from /node/add/task. Fill in title, body, set initial status (usually TODO), priority and assignors.
  2. Open the kanban board from the Kanban main-menu link.
  3. Drag the card to IN PROGRESS when work starts.
  4. Append to history as the task evolves.
  5. Drag to REVIEW when ready for review, then to DONE.

Drag-and-drop changes the Status field through an AJAX call — no page reload, no edit form.

Experimental status

Section titled “Experimental status”

The recipe is labelled (experimental) in its name for two reasons:

  1. The Views Kanban module is still in alpha — the drag-and-drop has rough edges, mobile support is limited, and customisation options are minimal.
  2. The Field States module is a small contrib that has not been widely battle-tested.

For production task-tracking with multiple teams, integrations with email / Slack / Jira, time tracking, etc., a dedicated tool is the better answer. The recipe is here for teams who:

  • Have a very small backlog (< 50 active tasks).
  • Want everything inside the intranet (single-sign-on, single login, single inbox).
  • Are happy to live with the experimental polish for the convenience.

Integration with other features

Section titled “Integration with other features”
  • Search — Tasks are indexed by DB Index Content if added; a search for “Berlin migration” surfaces the related tasks.
  • Engagement scoring — Creating / completing tasks contributes to engagement signals.
  • Multilingual — The bundle opts into Content language settings; column labels translate.
  • AI assistant — Use the AI button in the body field to draft task descriptions or summarise long history logs.
  • ECA — no-code workflows — A model can fire on Task status changed to DONE to send a Messenger notification, archive the task, or trigger a follow-up workflow.
  • Access Control & Groups — Tasks can be restricted per group (e.g. each team only sees its own board).

Permissions

Section titled “Permissions”

Standard Drupal node permissions:

PermissionDefault role(s)
Create / edit / delete taskAuthenticated user
View published taskAuthenticated user
Drag task between columns (view = kanban)Authenticated user

Installing the recipe

Section titled “Installing the recipe”
Terminal window
cd web
drush recipe recipes/openintranet_kanban
drush cr

After applying:

  • /node/add/task is the task-creation form.
  • /kanban (the configured view path) is the board.
  • A Kanban main-menu link is added.

Modules behind it

Section titled “Modules behind it”
  • node, text, user, views, options — Drupal core
  • Field States — the list_states field type used for the Status column
  • Views Kanban — the kanban Views display plugin

Learn more

Section titled “Learn more”