In essence, Redmine is built around issue lists. Every project has a tracker, every issue has a status, and every team has a workflow. However, what Redmine does not have is a visual board that surfaces where each issue currently sits in that workflow. There is no column layout, no drag-and-drop status update, and no WIP limit enforcement. Teams that want to run Kanban in Redmine either improvise with filters and saved queries, or they add a separate tool alongside Redmine.
The Redmineflux Agile Board Plugin adds a proper Kanban board directly inside Redmine. It maps your existing issue statuses to board columns, lets developers move cards between columns by dragging, enforces WIP limits per column, and supports swimlanes for organising work by assignee, version, or priority. Your issues stay in Redmine. Your team works from a board.
This guide explains what Kanban in Redmine looks like, how to configure the board, and how each capability maps to real development workflows.
The short answer: Redmine does not have a built-in Kanban board. The default issue list view shows issues in a flat table with filters. The Redmineflux Agile Board Plugin adds a full Kanban board to Redmine columns mapped to your workflow statuses, drag-and-drop card movement, WIP limits, swimlanes, and a Global Board across all projects. No separate tool is needed.
Redmine’s default interface is list-based by design. You can filter issues by status, tracker, assignee, and version but you cannot visualise them as cards moving across a workflow. As a result, Kanban-style visibility requires either building complex saved queries per status (which most teams abandon quickly) or adding a board view through a plugin.
The Redmineflux Agile Board Plugin adds a complete Kanban layer to your existing Redmine environment. It works with the issues, statuses, and projects already in your Redmine instance no data migration, no parallel system.
The board reads your existing Redmine issue statuses and maps them to columns. A typical development workflow maps as follows:
Specifically, you configure which statuses appear as columns and in which order. Statuses you do not want on the board such as archived or internal statuses can simply be left out. The board reflects your actual workflow, not a generic template.
Developers move issues between columns by dragging the card. When a developer drops a card into a new column, Redmine updates the issue status automatically. Developers need no separate status edit.
As a result, this closes the gap between the board view and the actual issue state. A developer who moves a card from “In Progress” to “In Review” updates the issue status in Redmine in the same action. The issue list, the board, and the reports all reflect the same current state.
In practice, WIP limits prevent columns from becoming bottlenecks silently. The Agile Board Plugin lets you set a maximum card count per column. When a column reaches its limit, the column header turns red. The team can see immediately that work is piling up before it becomes a blocker.
WIP limits are optional but recommended for teams running disciplined Kanban. A typical configuration limits “In Review” to the number of reviewers on the team so cards cannot accumulate in review faster than the team can process them.
Swimlanes divide the board into horizontal rows. Common swimlane configurations:
Swimlanes give project managers a structured view without requiring separate boards per team member or per priority tier.
For project managers overseeing multiple concurrent projects, the Global Agile Board shows a single Kanban view spanning all active projects. Issues from each project appear on the shared board, with project names as identifiers on each card.
As a result, there is no need to navigate between projects during a stand-up or review. One board shows the full picture across the portfolio.
Want to see the Kanban board live in a Redmine environment? Book a Free Demo 30 minutes covers board configuration, WIP limits, and the Global Board.
Setting up the Kanban board with the Agile Board Plugin takes three configuration steps. In fact, no development work is required you complete the entire setup through the Redmine interface.
Install the Redmineflux Agile Board Plugin on your Redmine instance. For teams on Managed Cloud, the plugin is pre-installed. For self-hosted teams, download the plugin, place it in the Redmine plugins directory, run the migration, and restart the Redmine server.
After installation, a new “Agile” menu item appears in the project navigation.
Open the Agile Board settings for a project. You will see your Redmine issue statuses listed. Assign each status to a board column position. Set the order left-to-right from Backlog to Done. Optionally set a WIP limit for each column.
For most teams, six to eight columns is sufficient. In practice, avoid mapping every minor status boards with more than eight columns lose visual clarity.
In the Agile Board display settings, choose the swimlane grouping. Common starting point: group by assignee. This immediately shows each developer’s current workload on the board without requiring a separate filter.
Once swimlanes are configured, the board is ready to use. Your team opens the project Agile Board view and sees the current state of all active issues organised by workflow and assignee.
The Agile Board Plugin supports both Kanban and Scrum workflows. Specifically, the distinction is in how you configure it.
Kanban configuration: Issues flow continuously through the board with no sprint container. WIP limits control the flow rate. Teams with continuous delivery cadences (support teams, operations teams, feature teams without fixed releases) typically use Kanban.
Scrum configuration: The plugin groups issues into sprint containers with a defined sprint length. The sprint backlog shows the planned work for the current sprint. Burndown tracking shows sprint completion rate over time. Teams with fixed-length delivery cycles (product development teams, teams with release schedules) typically use Scrum.
For teams that are uncertain which approach fits better, Kanban is the lower-friction starting point. There is no sprint setup to configure the board works immediately once columns are mapped.
The Agile Board Plugin does not create separate issue records. Instead, it displays your existing Redmine issues as cards. In other words, everything connected to an issue in Redmine time logs, attachments, related issues, comments, and version assignments remains accessible from the card.
When a developer logs time on an issue, the Redmineflux Timesheet Plugin records it against the issue. That time entry appears in timesheet reports immediately. The board and the timesheet data share the same underlying issue record.
Similarly, when a developer moves a card to “Done,” the issue status updates to Resolved. This triggers any Redmine notifications configured for status changes, updates the Custom Dashboard sprint completion widget, and reflects in issue query filters. The board action propagates across the whole system.
No. Redmine provides issue lists with status filters but no visual board. The Redmineflux Agile Board Plugin adds a full Kanban board columns mapped to your workflow statuses, drag-and-drop card movement, WIP limits, and swimlanes directly inside your existing Redmine instance.
Yes, with the Redmineflux Agile Board Plugin. WIP limits are set per column during board configuration. When a column reaches its limit, the column header turns red as a visual signal. WIP limits are optional they can be enabled for specific columns without applying to the whole board.
Yes. The Agile Board Plugin includes a Global Agile Board that shows issues from multiple projects in a single view. Project managers use this to monitor work across the full portfolio without navigating between projects. Standard project-level boards remain available for individual project views.
Yes. The Agile Board Plugin supports swimlanes grouped by assignee, version, priority, or custom field. Swimlanes are configured in the board display settings and can be enabled or disabled without changing the column setup.
Yes. Dragging a card to a new column updates the issue status in Redmine immediately. The change is reflected in the issue history, issue list views, reports, and any notifications configured for status changes. The board view and the issue records stay in sync automatically.
Redmine already holds your team’s work. A well-configured Kanban board makes that work visible where each issue is, who holds it, and where the bottlenecks are forming. Moreover, the Agile Board Plugin adds that visibility without moving your team to a separate tool.
