José Almeida a4e0fc0452 feat: attribute cross-task agent messages with a sender badge (#819)
* feat(orchestrator): carry sender_task metadata through user message paths

Add WithSenderTask builder to UserMessageMeta and a metadata-aware
QueueMessageWithMetadata variant on the message queue. The drain path
in event_handlers_agent merges queued metadata into the recorded user
message so attribution survives the queue → DB transition.

* feat(mcp): attribute message_task_kandev calls to the sending agent

The MCP server inside agentctl now injects sender_task_id and
sender_session_id from its own server context. The backend handler
validates the sender (rejecting missing IDs, self-messages, and unknown
tasks), looks up the sender title, wraps the prompt in a <kandev-system>
attribution block, and propagates structured metadata across all three
delivery paths (queue, created-session, record+prompt). The wrapped
content lets the receiving agent identify the peer both live and on ACP
session resume; the existing sysprompt strip pipeline hides the wrapper
from the UI.

* feat(web): render sender-task badge on cross-task agent messages

User messages whose metadata carries sender_task_id now render a
clickable purple badge above the bubble, linking to the source task.
The badge live-resolves the sender's title from the kanban store and
falls back to a greyed snapshot when the task isn't loaded
(cross-workspace, deleted, etc.). Adds a non-subscribing useTaskById
selector so badges don't fan out WS subscriptions per message.

* test(e2e): cover cross-task agent message attribution

Eight scenarios driven through the mock-agent's MCP script directive:
queue path, prompt path, self-message rejection, unknown-target error,
badge link target, live title re-resolution after rename, kandev-system
wrapper preservation in raw_content, and prompt bodies containing their
own kandev-system tags. Adds an updateTaskTitle helper to ApiClient.

* fix: address CodeRabbit + Greptile P1 findings on PR #819

- requeueMessage now forwards queuedMsg.Metadata via QueueMessageWithMetadata
  so sender attribution survives transient delivery failures and retries.
- CREATED-session branch in handleMessageTask records the user message AFTER
  StartCreatedSession succeeds, so a launch failure no longer leaves an
  orphaned attributed chat row.
- SenderTaskBadge: collapse identical displayTitle/fullTitle locals.
- E2E: extract waitForTargetIdle helper; replace the 1.5s raw sleep in the
  collision-check test with the same poll the rest of the suite uses.

* fix: address Claude review suggestions on PR #819

- wrapAgentMessage strips </kandev-system> from the embedded sender title
  before formatting. Without this, a title containing the closing tag
  would short-circuit the non-greedy strip regex and leak the attribution
  tail into the visible UI bubble. Metadata snapshot keeps the original
  title so the badge still displays it.
- Add a regression test covering the malicious-title case.
- Document the deliberate cross-workspace messaging policy on the sender
  lookup so future readers don't add a workspace-scope check (Q13 of the
  feature plan locked this as intentional).
2026-05-04 19:30:10 +01:00
2026-05-01 01:02:00 +01:00
2026-01-16 01:59:19 +00:00
2026-02-17 09:19:42 +00:00
2026-05-01 21:02:41 +01:00

Kandev

Manage and run tasks in parallel. Orchestrate agents. Review changes. Ship value.

Workflows | Roadmap | Contributing | Architecture | Discord

Kandev Demo

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What

Organize work across kanban and pipeline views with opinionated workflows and execute multiple tasks in parallel. Assign agents from any provider, and review their output in an integrated workspace - file editor, file tree, terminal, browser preview, and git changes in one place. Terminal agent TUIs are great for running agents, but reviewing and iterating on changes there doesn't scale.

Run it locally or self-host it on your own infrastructure and access it from anywhere via Tailscale or any VPN.

Open source, multi-provider, no telemetry, not tied to any cloud.

Vision

Humans stay in control. Define tasks, build agentic workflows with gates, review every change, decide what ships.

  • Review-first - Humans support production systems. We need to understand (yet) and trust the code that gets deployed.
  • Your workflow - Every team is different, and not every developer uses AI the same way. Define workflows once, share them across the team, and give everyone a consistent process for working with agents - regardless of experience level.
  • Remote agents - Running multiple agents on a large codebase can quickly saturate a local machine. The goal is a single control plane: offload execution to servers, orchestrate from anywhere, including your phone.

Features

  • Multi-agent support - Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Amp, Auggie, OpenCode, Cursor, Qwen, Factory Droid, iFlow, Kilocode, Pi, Kimi, AWS Kiro, Qoder, Trae
  • Parallel task execution – start and manage multiple tasks from different sources simultaneously, boosting productivity with AI agents
  • Integrated workspace - Built-in terminal, code editor with LSP, git changes panel, embedded vscode and chat in one IDE-like view
  • Kanban task management - Drag-and-drop boards, columns, and workflow automation
  • Agentic workflows - Multi-step pipelines that mix-and-match agents per step - for example, Claude Code Opus to design a plan, GitHub Copilot Sonnet to implement it, and Codex GPT 5.4 to review the changes. See docs/workflows.md
  • Sub-tasks - Agents can spawn sub-tasks that resume from the parent task's session. Useful for splitting a task that has grown too big, or producing several PRs from the same starting point.
  • CLI passthrough - Drop into raw agent CLI mode for direct terminal interaction with any supported agent, leverage the full power of their TUIs
  • Workspace isolation - Git worktrees prevent concurrent agents from conflicting
  • Multi-repository tasks - Span a single task across multiple repositories, with one worktree per repo, per-repo branches, per-repo PRs, and per-repo grouping in the Changes panel and review dialog
  • Flexible runtimes - Run agents as local processes, in isolated Docker containers or in remote executors like sprites.dev
  • Session management - Resume and review agent conversations
  • Stats - Track your productivity with stats on the completed tasks, agent turns, etc

Integrations

GitHub Jira Linear

Connect Kandev to the tools your team already uses — pull issues into the kanban, link tasks to PRs, and surface review activity inline.

Supported ACP Agents

Agent Launch
Claude Code npx -y @agentclientprotocol/claude-agent-acp
Codex npx -y @zed-industries/codex-acp
GitHub Copilot npx -y @github/copilot --acp
Gemini CLI npx -y @google/gemini-cli --acp
Amp npx -y amp-acp
Auggie npx -y @augmentcode/auggie --acp
OpenCode opencode acp
Cursor cursor-agent acp (requires Cursor Pro)
Qwen npx -y @qwen-code/qwen-code --acp
Factory Droid npx -y droid exec --output-format acp
iFlow (beta) npx -y @iflow-ai/iflow-cli --experimental-acp
Kilocode npx -y @kilocode/cli acp
Pi npx -y pi-acp
Kimi kimi acp (install Kimi CLI from Moonshot AI)
Kiro kiro-cli-chat acp (install Kiro CLI from AWS)
Qoder qodercli --acp (install Qoder CLI)
Trae traecli acp serve (install Trae IDE CLI)

All agents communicate via ACP (Agent Client Protocol). Some agents support ACP natively, while others use ACP adapter packages that bridge their native protocols. CLI Passthrough mode is also available for direct terminal interaction with any agent CLI. If your agent isn't supported yet, open an issue or submit a PR with the integration. See Adding a New Agent CLI for a step-by-step guide.

Bring your own TUI agents

There is support for running any agent as TUI inside a terminal. Just add the cli command in the agent profile settings and the task will start the agent inside a PTY terminal instead of using ACP.

Supported Executors

Executor Description
Local Process Runs the agent as a local process on the host machine
Docker Runs the agent in an isolated Docker container
Sprites Runs the agent in a remote cloud environment via sprites.dev

Each executor uses git worktrees for workspace isolation, preventing concurrent agents from conflicting.

Quick Start

npx kandev

This downloads pre-built backend + frontend bundles and starts them locally. The worktrees and sqlite db will be created in ~/.kandev by default. Should work on macOS, Linux, and Windows (WSL or native).

From Source

# Clone the repository
git clone git@github.com:kdlbs/kandev.git
cd kandev

# Start in production mode
make start

Prerequisites: Go 1.26+, Node.js 18+, pnpm, Docker (optional - needed for container runtimes)

High level architecture

graph LR
    UI[Web UI] --> Backend


        Backend["Backend (Orchestrator)"]


    Backend --> W1 & W2

    subgraph W1[Local Process]
        Agent1[Agent CLI] --- WT1[Worktree]
    end

    subgraph W2[Docker Container]
        Agent2[Agent CLI] --- WT2[Worktree]
    end

We also want to add support for these remote runtimes:

  • Remote SSH - run agents on remote servers over SSH, using docker or local processes with workspace isolation
  • K8s operator - run agents in a Kubernetes cluster, with auto-scaling and resource management.
Development

Project Structure

apps/
├── backend/    # Go backend (orchestrator, lifecycle, agentctl, WS gateway)
├── web/        # Next.js frontend (SSR, Zustand, real-time subscriptions)
├── cli/        # CLI tool (npx kandev launcher)
└── packages/   # Shared UI components & types

Prerequisites

  • Go 1.21+
  • Node.js 18+
  • pnpm
  • Docker (optional)

Running Dev Servers

# Start everything (backend + frontend with auto ports)
make dev

# Or run separately
make dev-backend    # Backend on :38429
make dev-web        # Frontend on :37429

Testing & Linting

make test           # Run all tests (backend + web)
make lint           # Run all linters
make typecheck      # TypeScript type checking
make fmt            # Format all code

Pre-commit Hooks

# Install pre-commit (https://pre-commit.com/#install)
pipx install pre-commit

# Install git hooks
pre-commit install

Comparison to Other Tools

There are a few similar tools in this space, and new ones appearing everyday. Here's what sets this one apart:

  • Server-first architecture - Not a desktop app. Runs as a server you can access from any device, including your phone. Start a task away from your computer and check in on it later.
  • Remote runtimes - Run agents on remote servers and Docker hosts, not just your local machine.
  • Multi-provider - Use Claude Code, Codex, Copilot, Gemini, Amp, Auggie, OpenCode, Cursor, Qwen, Droid, iFlow, Kilocode, Pi, Kimi, Kiro, Qoder, and Trae side by side. Not locked to one vendor.
  • CLI passthrough and chat - Interact with agents through structured chat messages or drop into raw CLI mode for full agent TUI capabilities.
  • Open source and self-hostable - No vendor lock-in, no telemetry, runs on your infrastructure.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a PR.

See the issue tracker for open tasks, or join our Discord to chat with maintainers and other contributors.

Acknowledgments

Built with these excellent open-source projects:

Monaco Editor · Tiptap · xterm.js · dockview · CodeMirror · dnd-kit · Mermaid · Recharts · TanStack Table · Zustand · Shadcn/UI · Radix UI · Tailwind CSS

License

AGPL-3.0

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