O Ordna CLI · Web · Core MIT

A Kanban that lives inside your repo.

Ordna is a local-first, git-based task board you run from your terminal or your browser. No servers, no logins, no SaaS — just markdown files, plain commits, and an API your agents can drive.

$ npx @frehilm/ordna-cli ordna See what it does

~/MyProjects/TestCode · ordna

Ordna TUI — keyboard-driven Kanban in the terminal with sidebar of views, priorities and tags, three columns of tasks.

ordna board · 12 tasks · 3 columns

Ordna Web — same board in the browser with cards, tags, assignees, progress and contextual edit actions.

localhost:7421 · same .ordna/ files

Why Ordna

A small tool with strong opinions.

Every feature traces back to one idea: your tasks should live next to the code they describe — versioned, reviewable, and editable by anyone (or anything) that can edit a file.

Git-native, by design

Every task is a markdown file. Every move is a commit. Use the merge tools you already have to resolve conflicts, blame to find who changed what, and branches to plan what-ifs.

diff --git a/.ordna/doing/T-006.md b/.ordna/done/T-006.md
- status: doing
+ status: done
+ closed_at: 2026-04-28T14:02Z
renamed: .ordna/doing/T-006.md → .ordna/done/T-006.md

Local-first, no account required

Boards live in .ordna/ in your repo. There is no Ordna server. There is nothing to sign up for. It works on a plane, and it works in 2032.

.ordna/
├─ todo/     5 tasks
├─ doing/    3 tasks
├─ done/     4 tasks
├─ archived/ 0 tasks
└─ board.json columns & settings

Two interfaces, one source

A keyboard-driven TUI for the terminal and a polished web UI for the browser. Both read and write the exact same files.

Your data, your laws

Plain markdown + JSON, committed alongside your code. Migrate, grep, script, or quit any time — there is nothing to export.

Built for keyboard speed

Every action — move, assign, create, filter, archive — is one or two keystrokes. Touch your mouse only when you want to.

Tags, priorities & views

Filter by #frontend, by @assignee, by priority, or by saved views. Combine and refine without leaving the keyboard.

Branch-aware boards

Different work on different branches stays on different branches. Merging brings the work with it — no duplicate tickets.

Embeddable core

Drop @frehilm/ordna-core into any Node project. Use it for dashboards, CI checks, scripts, or your own UI.

Install

Up and running in one command.

Pick your interface — terminal, browser, or both. They share the same on-disk format, so you can mix and match per project.

$ shell — @frehilm/ordna-cli

# Install globally — one binary, no daemons
$ npm install -g @frehilm/ordna-cli

# Or run without installing
$ npx @frehilm/ordna-cli ordna

# Open the keyboard-driven board in your repo
$ ordna

# Common commands
$ ordna add "Refund flow — partial amounts"
$ ordna move T-007 doing
$ ordna list --status review
$ ordna assign T-007 @fredrik

# Install the web UI
$ npm install -g @frehilm/ordna-web

# Or run on demand inside any repo
$ npx @frehilm/ordna-web

# Starts a local server on http://localhost:7421
# Reads & writes the same .ordna/ files as the TUI

# Pin a port, open browser automatically
$ ordna-web --port 3030 --open

# Read-only mode for demos & CI dashboards
$ ordna-web --read-only

# Add the embeddable core to any Node project
$ npm install @frehilm/ordna-core

# Or with pnpm / bun / yarn
$ pnpm add @frehilm/ordna-core
$ bun  add @frehilm/ordna-core

# Then in your code
import { openBoard } from "@frehilm/ordna-core";

const board = await openBoard(process.cwd());
await board.move("T-006", "done");
await board.commit("chore: ordna sync");

Three packages on npm

All MIT-licensed, all written in TypeScript, all share @frehilm/ordna-core under the hood.

@frehilm/ordna-cli

TUI & commands · the daily driver

npm ↗

@frehilm/ordna-web

Browser UI · zero-config local server

npm ↗

@frehilm/ordna-core

Library · read & write boards programmatically

npm ↗

Library · @frehilm/ordna-core

Use Ordna as a building block.

Everything the CLI and Web UI do, they do through the same public API. Embed it in dashboards, CI jobs, agent loops, or your own custom client.

A boring, durable API.

Promise-based, fully typed, no global state, no required runtime dependency apart from git. Open a board, list it, mutate it, save it. That's the whole shape.

openBoard(cwd) Locates .ordna/, validates schema, returns a typed board handle.

board.tasks() & board.columns() Stream the current state, filter by status, label, assignee, or branch.

board.add / move / update / archive Mutations write atomically to disk — every change is a clean diff.

board.commit(message) Stage and commit pending board changes through the user's existing git config.

board.watch(handler) Subscribe to filesystem events — perfect for live dashboards and agent feedback loops.

examples/standup-report.ts

import { openBoard } from "@frehilm/ordna-core";

// Read the board next to your code
const board = await openBoard(process.cwd());

// What did we ship since yesterday?
const shipped = await board.tasks({
  status: "done",
  closedAfter: subDays(new Date(), 1),
});

for (const task of shipped) {
  console.log(`✓ ${task.id} ${task.title}`);
}

// Mutations are just function calls
await board.add({
  title: "Schedule retro",
  status: "todo",
  tags: ["chore"],
});

await board.commit("chore: prep retro card");

Agents that pull their own work.

Because every task is a file and every state change is a commit, an agent can plan, claim, and finish work end-to-end — and you review it as a normal pull request.

See the agent recipe

agent loop● ready

1board.tasks({ status: "todo", tag: "agent" }) → pick T-011

2board.move("T-011", "doing") // claim

3// run tools, edit code, run tests

4board.comment("T-011", "draft PR opened")

5board.move("T-011", "done") // hand back

6board.commit("feat(mobile): expo shell")

Git, the way you know it

Reviewable boards, not magic dashboards.

Every plan, move, and decision shows up in git log. Pair work, blame, bisect — all of it just works.

commit a4f1e2c · ⎇ feat/streaks · chore(ordna): T-006 → done @fredrik · 2m ago

before — .ordna/doing/T-006.md

1---

2id: T-006

3title: Streak calculation engine

4-status: doing

5assignee: @fredrik

6tags: [backend, logic]

7-progress: 2/5

8---

9Compute streaks per user across timezones,

10handling DST and freeze tokens.

after — .ordna/done/T-006.md

1---

2id: T-006

3title: Streak calculation engine

4+status: done

5assignee: @fredrik

6tags: [backend, logic]

7+progress: 5/5

8+closed_at: 2026-04-28T14:02Z

9---

10Compute streaks per user across timezones,

A Kanban that lives inside your repo.

A small tool with strong opinions.

Git-native, by design

Local-first, no account required

Two interfaces, one source

Your data, your laws

Built for keyboard speed

Tags, priorities & views

Branch-aware boards

Embeddable core

Up and running in one command.

Three packages on npm

Use Ordna as a building block.

A boring, durable API.

Agents that pull their own work.

Reviewable boards, not magic dashboards.

before — .ordna/doing/T-006.md

after — .ordna/done/T-006.md

Stop herding tabs. Commit your plan.