Files
openclaw/docs/plugins/workboard.md
2026-05-29 11:04:37 +01:00

4.5 KiB

summary, read_when, title
summary read_when title
Optional dashboard workboard for agent-owned cards and session handoff
You want a Kanban-style workboard in the Control UI
You are enabling or disabling the bundled Workboard plugin
You want to track planned agent work without an external project manager
Workboard plugin

The Workboard plugin adds an optional Kanban-style board to the Control UI. Use it to collect agent-sized work cards, assign them to agents, and jump from a card into the linked dashboard session.

Workboard is intentionally small. It tracks local operating work for an OpenClaw Gateway; it is not a replacement for GitHub Issues, Linear, Jira, or other team project management systems.

Default state

Workboard is a bundled plugin and is disabled by default unless you enable it in plugin config.

Enable it with:

openclaw plugins enable workboard
openclaw gateway restart

Then open the dashboard:

openclaw dashboard

The Workboard tab appears in the dashboard navigation. If the tab is visible but the plugin is disabled or blocked by plugins.allow / plugins.deny, the view shows a plugin-unavailable state instead of local card data.

What cards contain

Each card stores:

  • title and notes
  • status: backlog, todo, running, review, blocked, or done
  • priority: low, normal, high, or urgent
  • labels
  • optional agent id
  • optional linked session, run, task, or source URL

Cards are stored in the plugin's Gateway state. They are local to the Gateway state directory and move with the rest of that Gateway's OpenClaw state.

Session lifecycle sync

Cards can be linked to existing dashboard sessions or to the session created when you start work from a card. Linked cards show the session lifecycle inline: running, linked idle, done, failed, or missing.

Workboard follows the linked session while the card is still in an active work state:

  • active linked session -> running
  • completed linked session -> review
  • failed, killed, timed out, or aborted linked session -> blocked

Manual review states win. If you move a card to review, blocked, or done, Workboard stops auto-moving that card until you move it back to todo or running.

Dashboard workflow

  1. Open the Workboard tab in the Control UI.
  2. Create a card with a title, notes, priority, labels, optional agent, and optional linked session.
  3. Drag the card between columns or use the column controls.
  4. Start work from the card to create or reuse a dashboard session.
  5. Open the linked session from the card while the agent works.
  6. Let lifecycle sync move running work into review or blocked, then manually move the card to done when accepted.

Starting a card uses normal Gateway sessions. The Workboard plugin only stores card metadata and links; the conversation transcript, model selection, and run lifecycle stay owned by the regular session system.

Use Stop on a live linked card to abort the active session run. Workboard marks that card blocked so it remains visible for follow-up.

Permissions

The plugin registers Gateway RPC methods under the workboard.* namespace:

  • workboard.cards.list requires operator.read
  • create, update, move, and delete methods require operator.write

Browsers connected with read-only operator access can inspect the board but cannot mutate cards.

Configuration

Workboard has no plugin-specific config today. Enable or disable it with the standard plugin entry:

{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      workboard: {
        enabled: true,
        config: {},
      },
    },
  },
}

Disable it again with:

openclaw plugins disable workboard
openclaw gateway restart

Troubleshooting

The tab says Workboard is unavailable

Check plugin policy:

openclaw plugins inspect workboard --runtime --json

If plugins.allow is configured, add workboard to that allowlist. If plugins.deny contains workboard, remove it before enabling the plugin.

Cards do not save

Confirm the browser connection has operator.write access. Read-only operator sessions can list cards but cannot create, edit, move, or delete them.

Starting a card does not open the expected session

Workboard creates links to normal dashboard sessions. Check the card's agent id and linked session, then open the Sessions or Chat view to inspect the actual run state.