Obsidian Kanban Bases View Plugin

A custom Obsidian Bases view that displays data in a kanban board layout with drag-drop support for organizing items across configurable columns.

Features

• Configurable Grouping - Group items using standard Bases properties
• Drag-Drop Cards - Move cards between columns (visual feedback)
• Reorder Columns - Drag column headers to reorganize
• Persistent Layout - Column order saved in base view settings
• Virtual Scrolling - Smooth performance with 100+ items
• All Properties Displayed - Shows all visible properties on cards
• Robust Error Handling - Helpful error messages and debug logging

Installation

Developer Installation

For development, use mise tasks which auto-builds and installs:

mise run dev

This will:

1. Install dependencies (cached with bkt)
2. Configure Obsidian vault path (if first time)
3. Symlink plugin to vault
4. Watch for source changes
5. Auto-rebuild on every change

Then reload Obsidian (Win + P > Reload app) to see changes.

Usage

Instaling

For now, use BRATS to install the plugin:

1. Go to Settings → Community plugins → BRAT
2. Find and click Add beta plugin
3. Paste the plugin repo URL: https://github.com/zenobi-us/obsidian-bases-kanban-view
4. Click Add plugin

Enable the Plugin

1. Go to Settings → Community plugins → Installed plugins
2. Search for Kanban Bases View and enable it
3. Configuration occurs in the Base view

Open a Base in Kanban View

1. Open a Base file
2. Click the view selector dropdown (top-right)
3. Select "Kanban"

Configure Grouping

1. Click the Sort icon
2. Add a "Group by" property
3. Board updates automatically

Non uniform grouping values

If your notes have disparate values, consider using a formula property to standardize grouping.

formulas:
  normalisedStatus: |-
    if(
      note.status.containsAny("todo", "pending", "planned"),
      "Todo",

      if(
        note.status.containsAny("in-progress", "in-development", "active"),
        "In Progress",

        if(
          note.status.containsAny("in-review", "reviewing", "testing"),
          "In Review",

          if(
            note.status.containsAny("done", "closed", "cancelled"),
            "Done",
            "Backlog"
          )

        )

      )

    )

Then group by normalisedStatus for consistent columns.

Fallback group for unmatched items

formulas:
  normalisedIssueKind: |-
    if(
      file.path.contains("epic"),
      "epic",

      if(
        file.path.contains("story"),
        "story",

        if(
          file.path.contains("task"),
          "task",

          if(
            file.path.contains("decision"),
            "decision",

            if(
              file.path.contains("research"),
              "research",
              "unknown"
            )

          )

        )

      )

    )

Card display

Displaying values in the card is currently a controlled affair.

1. Open the Base options dropdown
2. Expand the Cards section
3. Pick the formula/property to display for each field.

Drag-Drop Cards

• Drag cards between columns to move them
• Visual feedback during drag (opacity + shadow)
• Drop zone highlights on hover
• Moving cards updates the options.GroupBy property value with a slugified version of the column name

Cards can be dragged between columns to change their grouping property.

Make sure you pick the correct field to update in the Columns section of Base options.

Known Limitations

Not Yet Implemented

• Swimlanes (2D grouping)
• Filter integration
• Create/edit items inline
• Keyboard navigation
• Custom card templates
• Using a note as the template for rendering cards

Contributing

For bug reports or feature requests:

1. Test with the current code
2. Note console errors
3. Document steps to reproduce
4. Describe expected vs actual behavior