Backlog 📋

Backlog is a high-performance visual task and priority manager engineered for developers and AI agents. It features a native macOS / multiplatform desktop GUI (powered by Fyne), an interactive Burn-Up progress chart, a resident menu bar icon (System Tray) with live status metrics, multi-project support, task dependencies & blocking detection, hierarchical subtask branching, a fast CLI, and a native MCP (Model Context Protocol) server.

---

Features

📈 Interactive Burn-Up Progress Chart

• Chronological Timeline: Visualizes total scope (blue) and completed tasks (green) over time.
• Non-blocking Live Hover Indicator: Hovering over any milestone smoothly displays the exact date, total scope, completed count, and pending workload (📅 02 Sep: ● Total Scope: 12 · ● Completed: 8 · ⏳ Pending: 4).
• Direct Point Values: Key milestones display numeric values directly on the plot.
• Empty State Guidance: Clear visual cues when initializing a new project.

⛔ Dependencies, Blocking Detection & Cycles

• Task Prerequisites (depends_on): Declare task dependencies to enforce strict execution order. The desktop list groups dependent tasks under their first visible prerequisite, with indentation and vector branch indicators. Tasks with multiple prerequisites appear once, retaining all dependency references in their details. Filters keep matching tasks visible even when their prerequisites are hidden.
• Automatic Blocked State: Tasks remain marked as blocked (⛔ [blocked by #X]) until all prerequisite tasks are completed.
• Cycle Prevention: Circular dependencies (e.g. A → B → A) are detected and rejected.

🌳 Hierarchical Task Tree & Subtasks

• Branching Breakdown (parent_id): Decompose complex features and epics into manageable subtasks.
• Cascade Deletion: Removing a parent task automatically and cleanly cascades to all its descendants.

🖥️ Native Desktop GUI (Fyne)

• Master-Detail Layout:
  • Left Pane: Searchable, filterable task list with hierarchical tree indentation, priority badges, effort sizes, blocking alerts, and assignee pills.
  • Right Pane (Split View): Interactive Burn-Up chart on top, comprehensive Markdown detail inspector on the bottom.
• Markdown Renderer: Formatted headers, code blocks, lists, quotes, and links for descriptions and resolution notes.
• Priority Tier Filters:
  • T1 · Blocker (Red)
  • T2 · Important (Orange)
  • T3 · Visual debt (Teal)
  • T4 · Internal (Purple)
  • T5 · Future (Gray)
• Effort Size Chips: Filter by XL, L, M, S, XS.
• Keyboard Navigation: Use ↑ / ↓ arrow keys to quickly navigate between tasks.

🪟 Menu Bar / System Tray Resident App

• Always-Visible Metric: Displays the active project and pending ratio at all times ([Project] 4/12).
• Instant Project Switcher: Switch active projects directly from the menu bar.
• Quick Task Creation: Instant shortcut to launch the "New Task" dialog.

🤖 AI Agent & MCP Integration

• Model Context Protocol (MCP):
  • SSE endpoint on http://127.0.0.1:8485/sse and stdio transport via backlog mcp.
  • Provides tools for autonomous agents to inspect tasks, manage priorities, track dependencies, assign work, and log implementation resolutions.
  • Built-in workflow resource (backlog://workflow).

---

Installation & Build

Requirements

• Go 1.22+
• macOS 11.0+ (Universal binary: Apple Silicon arm64 + Intel amd64) or Linux/Windows

Build Commands

# Build universal macOS .app bundle
make bundle

# Build macOS .dmg installer
make dmg

# Build standalone CLI binary
make build

# Run all test suites
make test

The universal bundle will be available at bin/Backlog.app and the disk image installer at bin/Backlog.dmg.

---

CLI Usage

# Set default project for current session (optional)
export BACKLOG_PROJECT=my-project

# List open tasks (hierarchical tree display)
backlog list
backlog list --tier 1
backlog list --done=all
backlog list --blocked

# Add a root task
backlog add --title "Migrate authentication to OAuth2" --tier 1 --size L

# Add a dependent subtask
backlog add --title "Implement refresh token rotation" --parent 1 --depends 1 --size M --assignee manuel

# Assign or claim tasks
backlog assign 2 claude

# Mark task as completed with resolution notes
backlog done 2 -r "Implemented PKCE with automatic refresh rotation in commit abc1234"

# Project management
backlog projects
backlog project new backend --name "Backend Service"

# Settings & MCP instructions
backlog settings get
backlog settings set "Custom team rules, TDD requirements, and workflow guidelines"
backlog settings reset

Note: All task commands require a project. Set it via --project <slug> or the BACKLOG_PROJECT environment variable. The active project switcher (tray menu) is only available in the desktop GUI.

---

MCP Server Configuration

HTTP SSE Connection (Recommended when Backlog desktop is running)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "backlog": {
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:8485/sse"
    }
  }
}

Stdio Connection (Standalone execution)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "backlog": {
      "command": "backlog",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

---

License

MIT License — Altenwald