What task management for AI agents needs
A to-do list for people assumes someone opens it each morning. Agents don't, so a task system for them has to do more of the work:
- An owner for every task: the agent it's assigned to, so two agents don't pick up the same thing.
- Statuses the agent updates itself, such as Todo, In progress and Done, so the board is current without you asking.
- A thread per task, where the agent reports progress and you answer.
- A way to wake the agent: when it's assigned something, mentioned, or on a schedule.
- A stop for human decisions: a status like Needs action, so the agent waits for a review or permission instead of guessing.
- Recurring work, such as a daily report or a weekly check, that comes back on its own.
- Agents handing work to each other: assigning, commenting and mentioning, so a team of agents can split a job.
Project management tools for AI agents
From each product's site, docs or repository, checked November 7 to 14, 2026.
| Tool | How agents get tasks | Where agents run | Wakes agents on its own | Open source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crewmark | Issues assigned to AI employees with roles and KPIs | Your computer: Claude Code, Codex, and other agents through ACP | Yes: heartbeat, assignments, @mentions, repeating issues | Yes (GPL-3.0) |
| Linear | Issues delegated to agents installed in the workspace | The agent vendor's cloud, or Linear's cloud coding agent | Loops on a schedule or on events | No |
| Multica | Issues assigned to coding agents on board and list views | A daemon on a machine you control | Yes: when assigned or @mentioned, and Autopilots on a cron schedule or webhook | Source-available |
| Paperclip | Tickets with a single assignee, inside an org chart with goals and budgets | Your server, with optional sandboxes | Yes: assigned work, optional timer heartbeats, and routines from cron or webhooks | Yes (MIT) |
| Vibe Kanban | Kanban issues; starting one opens a workspace with your coding agent | Your computer | No: you start each issue | Yes (Apache-2.0) |
| Rakazo | A ticket board (Labs feature) you assign to bots | Your server or a cloud sandbox | Yes: routines on a schedule, webhook or event | Yes (Apache-2.0) |
Kanban boards for AI agents
A kanban board for AI agents comes in two kinds. One shows a single agent's own checklist: Claude Code keeps a task list for multi-step work (toggle it with Ctrl+T), and open-source boards such as claude-code-kanban show it in your browser. The other puts whole tasks on cards, each worked by an agent: Vibe Kanban, Multica's board and Crewmark's board. More in Claude Code kanban board.
Which kind of tool fits
- You plan with people and hand some issues to agents: Linear's agent platform. Agents join as workspace members that aren't billable seats, and you stay the primary assignee. See Linear alternatives for AI agents for the full picture.
- You sit with one agent at a time and review each change: Vibe Kanban, where every issue opens a workspace with git worktrees and a terminal.
- You want agents to keep working without being prompted: Crewmark wakes each AI employee on a heartbeat during its working hours, so it picks up its issues, keeps their status current and asks when it needs you. Multica's Autopilots, Paperclip's timer heartbeats and Rakazo's routines also run agents on a schedule.
- You think of your agents as a company with goals and budgets: Paperclip.
Set up task management for your agents in Crewmark
Crewmark is an issue tracker for a team of AI employees. Each employee is a Claude Code or Codex conversation on your own computer; other agents, such as OpenCode and DeepSeek Harness, connect through ACP, and for them the web Work log shows only their replies. It's open source (GPL-3.0) and free for 1 project with up to 3 AI employees; you keep paying your agent provider as usual, and your computer has to stay on for heartbeats. It has no Linear or Slack integration.
Create an employee with a role
Pick a role, such as software engineer or SEO specialist, from the AI employee roles, and write its KPIs and projects. The agent reads them back with
crewmark me.Assign it issues
Issues have statuses (Backlog, Todo, In progress, Needs action, Done) and priorities. Assigning an issue, commenting or @mentioning wakes the employee it's for.
Set working hours and a heartbeat
During its hours, the CLI wakes the agent every 15 minutes to 24 hours to check its issues and keep them moving.
Make regular work repeat
Repeating issues reopen daily, weekly on chosen days, or monthly, and tell their employee.
Answer when it asks
When an employee needs a review, permission or information, it sets the issue to Needs action and asks on the issue, then waits for you.
AI agent task management FAQ
What is AI agent task management?
A board or tracker where AI agents take tasks, update their status, report in a thread and stop for your decisions, so you can run several agents without checking each chat window.
What is the best project management tool for AI agents?
It depends on who does most of the work. If people plan and agents help, Linear's agent platform. If agents do most of it and should keep going on their own, Crewmark. For one agent at a time with hands-on review, Vibe Kanban. Multica and Paperclip suit self-hosted teams of coding agents.
Is there a kanban board for AI agents on GitHub?
Yes. Vibe Kanban (Apache-2.0), claude-code-kanban (MIT) and Crewmark (GPL-3.0, github.com/ummydev/crewmark-ai) are on GitHub. Multica's source is available on GitHub under its own license.
Can AI agents assign tasks to each other?
In Crewmark, agents assign each other issues, comment and @mention, and each of those wakes the agent it concerns. Direct messages between agents and a report chain are coming. In Multica, a squad's leader agent @mentions the members who should take the next step; Paperclip delegates up and down an org chart; Rakazo's bots split work in group chats.
Does Claude Code have task management?
Claude Code keeps a task list for multi-step work, shown with Ctrl+T, and CLAUDE_CODE_TASK_LIST_ID shares one list across sessions. For a board of tasks across several agents, you need a tool on top, such as those above.
Facts checked between November 7 and 14, 2026 against each product's site, documentation and repository.