[Feature]: Plan for new maintainers?

[s-celles]

Goal or desired outcome of this feature

Hello,

I noticed that new maintainers are required for this project.
I ran an AI agent to have a "good" understanding of the situation (533 opened issues, 31 PR are a bit intimidating !)

Here are its results...

Plan for New Maintainers(?)

Last Updated: February 2026

This document provides a prioritized action plan for new maintainers of the Obsidian Kanban plugin, based on comprehensive analysis of all open issues and pull requests.

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Current State Overview

Metric	Count
Total Open Issues	532
Open PRs	31
Bug Reports	201
Feature Requests	280
Unlabeled Issues	19 (need triage)

Issues by Age

Year	Bug Count
2021	6
2022	61
2023	45
2024	60
2025	30
2026	1

Label Distribution

Label	Count	Description
enhancement	280	Feature requests
bug	201	Bug reports
ice box	10	Deprioritized features
difficult	8	Complex to implement
needs investigation	8	Requires debugging
planned	8	On the roadmap
core	7	Fundamental features
can't repro	5	Unable to reproduce
good first issue	3	Beginner-friendly
3rd party plugin	4	Related to other plugins

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Phase 1: Quick Wins (Week 1)

Start with low-risk, high-impact changes to build momentum and show the community the project is active.

1.1 Merge Small Bug Fix PRs

These PRs are 1-2 line changes with minimal risk:

PR	Description	Changes
#1179	Fix drag scroll speed (addresses #1110)	+1/-1
#1180	Fix CJK/emoji orientation in collapsed columns (#1098)	+2/-6
#1156	Mobile submit button single tap fix	+1/-1
#1139	Reduce drag & drop scroll speed	+1/-1

1.2 Merge Translation PRs

Translations are low-risk and welcome international users:

PR	Language	Changes
#1150	Korean	+5/-0
#1127	Russian	+54/-0
#1087	Spanish	+288/-2
#1129	Croatian	+247/-0

1.3 Documentation Updates

PR	Description	Changes
#1181	Improve landing page with navigation (#1134)	+54/-4
#1120	Update Frontmatter limitations docs	+1/-1
#1097	Update main plugin docs	+2/-0

1.4 Community Communication

• Respond to #1157 ("Is this project still maintained?") - 18 reactions
• Respond to #729 ("Is this plugin active?") - 3 reactions
• Close #909 ("Is this project dead?") with update
• Fix #1075 - Broken roadmap link in README

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Phase 2: Critical Bug Fixes (Weeks 2-3)

Address the most frustrating bugs affecting daily users.

2.1 Data Loss Issues (Highest Priority)

These issues have the most community reactions and cause user frustration:

Issue	Title	Reactions
#1032	Keep text when clicking away from card	19
#1100	Clicking cancels add operation and loses changes	6
#1123	Saving issue	6
#1091	Edit changes lost when dragging different card	4

Solution: PR #1151 by @codingseb addresses all four issues (+106/-13 lines). This should be carefully reviewed and tested, then merged.

2.2 Top Bugs by Community Impact

Issue	Title	Reactions
#702	Panning/scrolling on mobile activates links	8
#1016	Tag removed when creating note from task	7
#1079	Enter key doesn't add card	5
#647	Markdown syntax not parsed in cards	5
#984	"Mark as complete" toggle doesn't work	4
#1110	Scroll speed too fast	3
#902	Can't drag and drop cards	3
#808	Date code appearing	3
#801	Tag colours not working	3
#733	Canvas link triggers "Open in App"	3
#732	Can't switch back from markdown view	3
#550	Dataview cannot render in Kanban	3

2.3 Other Important Bug Fix PRs

PR	Description	Fixes Issue
#1169	Fix empty priority interpretation	Tasks plugin compat
#1147	Fix keyboard shortcuts after adding cards	#1132 related

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Phase 3: Feature Prioritization

3.1 Legendary Requests (100+ reactions)

These are the most-wanted features in the entire project history. They are labeled difficult for a reason but represent massive community value:

Issue	Feature	Reactions	Status
#4	Embed kanban board in a page	258	difficult
#237	Swim lanes	117	difficult, core
#345	Dynamic Kanban board (dataview style)	96	difficult

3.2 High-Demand Features (20+ reactions)

Issue	Feature	Reactions	Status
#85	Show cards from search/dataview query	33	planned, difficult
#503	Filter board by tags	25	planned
#193	Kanban in multiple rows	23	-
#309	Add date when item is completed	21	-
#108	Card color based on priority	20	planned

3.3 Popular Features (15-19 reactions)

Issue	Feature	Reactions
#1032	Keep text when clicking away	19
#467	Auto populate #todo from notes	19
#239	Add notes to items	19
#843	Bind Status property with lane name	18
#554	Support alternate checkboxes	17
#451	Auto-apply tags based on lane	17
#674	Display subtasks	16
#651	Colour cards based on tag	15 (unlabeled!)
#694	Embed Kanban in Canvas	15
#567	List sorting	15 (core)
#561	Table View	15 (core)

3.4 Core Functionality Requests

These are fundamental features that would significantly enhance the plugin:

Issue	Feature	Reactions
#567	List sorting	15
#561	Table View	15
#565	Official API	12
#562	List view	9
#563	Progress bar of linked page tasks	5
#566	Drag/drop multiple cards/lanes	2

3.5 Planned Features (Already on Roadmap)

Issue	Feature	Reactions
#85	Show cards from search/dataview query	33
#503	Filter board by tags	25
#108	Card color based on priority	20
#585	Preview highlight when following link	2
#481	Move cards via shortcuts/context menu	7
#479	Column max card cap	4
#184	Checkbox elements on cards	8

3.6 Good First Issues

Only 3 issues are currently labeled as beginner-friendly:

Issue	Title	Reactions
#500	Setting to use CTRL+Enter to complete card	1
#409	Setting for archive timestamp location	0
#384	Setting to disable native spellcheck	4

Recommendation: Add more good first issue labels to encourage new contributors.

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Phase 4: PR Review Queue

4.1 Feature PRs Requiring Careful Review

PR	Description	Changes	Risk
#1165	Dynamic task query lanes	+392/-6	High
#1142	Menu option to move card to next list	+18/-0	Low
#1133	Sort cards by fileMetadata	+59/-40	Medium
#1073	Kanban data under level-1 header	+203/-17	Medium
#1071	Toggle for 'Move to List' position	+small	Low

4.2 Large Feature PRs (Evaluate Carefully)

PR	Description	Changes	Notes
#1140	Full Calendar integration	+2189/-51	Major feature, needs discussion
#1138	Custom task icons	+280/-108	Significant UI changes

4.3 Stale PRs to Evaluate

These PRs are older and may need rebasing or closure:

PR	Age	Description
#518	2022	Documentation generation
#774	2023	MetadataTable changes (WIP)
#888	2024	Hide scrollbar fix
#911	2024	Task counter in card title

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Phase 5: Housekeeping (Ongoing)

5.1 Issue Triage

19 unlabeled issues need triage, including some popular ones:

Issue	Title	Reactions	Suggested Label
#1157	Is this project still maintained?	18	question
#651	Colour cards based on tag	15	enhancement
#629	Collapse/hide list	8	enhancement
#662	Switch between Kanban/Markdown view	6	enhancement
#383	Auto-add cards based on tag	3	enhancement

5.2 Ice Box Review

These 10 issues were deprioritized but some have significant community interest:

Issue	Title	Reactions
#94	Add description to card	14
#323	GitHub issues/repo integration	13
#216	Auto archive cards once complete	11
#544	Banners for Kanban	6
#303	Remove related note when deleting card	6

Consider re-evaluating #94 (14 reactions) and #216 (11 reactions).

5.3 Close Stale Issues

Consider closing issues that:

• Are from 2021-2022 with no activity and 0 reactions
• Cannot be reproduced (can't repro label)
• Are duplicates of more popular issues
• Are related to deprecated 3rd party plugins

5.4 Code Quality

Per MAINTAINERS.md, the codebase has technical debt. Consider:

• Set up CI/CD if not present
• Add/improve test coverage
• Document architecture for future contributors
• Identify and refactor complex code sections

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Active Contributors to Engage

These contributors have recent PRs and could become regular maintainers:

Contributor	Recent PRs	Notes
@BradGroux	#1179, #1180, #1181	3 quality PRs in Jan 2026
@codingseb	#1151	Addresses critical data loss bugs
@mrdonado	#1147	Keyboard shortcut fix
@HsiuCL	#1169	Priority fix
@see7e	#1165	Dynamic task query lanes (major feature)
@geetduggal	#1140	Full Calendar integration

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Summary Checklist

Immediate (This Week)

• Merge 1-line fix PRs (fix: Reduce drag scroll speed to prevent overshooting columns (#1110) #1179, fix: Correct CJK/emoji orientation in collapsed columns (#1098) #1180, Make mobile 'Submit' button work with a single tap #1156, Reduce Scaling Modifier for Drag & Drop Scroll Speed #1139)
• Merge translation PRs (feat: Add some Korean translation to KanbanView #1150, Update ru.ts #1127, Add spanish localization #1087, Create hr.ts #1129)
• Respond to maintenance questions (Is this project still maintained? #1157, Is this plugin active? #729, Is this project dead? #909)
• Fix broken roadmap link ([Bug]: README contains link to roadmap, but the link is broken #1075)
• Triage 19 unlabeled issues

Short-term (2-4 Weeks)

• Review and merge PR fix:Save card on lost focus if not empty #1151 (fixes data loss bugs)
• Merge Fix keyboard shortcuts broken after adding new cards #1147, fix: Ensure empty priority would be interpreted with correct value #1169 (important fixes)
• Add more good first issue labels
• Release patch version with bug fixes

Medium-term (1-2 Months)

• Evaluate feature PRs (Implement dynamic task query lanes feature with manual override and smart movement #1165, Adds menu option to move card to next list (#1141) #1142, Add posibility to sort cards by fileMetadata (not only inlineMeta) #1133)
• Address top bug reports ([Bug]: Panning/scrolling on mobile (Android) activates links #702, [Bug]: Tag removed and used in the note title when creating new note from task #1016, [Bug]: Some Markdown Syntax not parsed/hidden in Cards #647)
• Review ice box issues for reconsideration
• Clean up stale PRs

Long-term (Quarter)

• Roadmap discussion for legendary features (Feature Request: Embed kanban board in a page #4, Swim lanes #237, [Feature]: Dynamic Kanban board - dataview style #345)
• Close stale 2021-2022 issues
• Improve documentation and architecture docs
• Build contributor community

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Statistics Summary

Category	Count
Total open issues	532
Issues with 10+ reactions	~25
Issues with 20+ reactions	~10
Issues with 100+ reactions	3
PRs ready to merge (small fixes)	4
Translation PRs	4
Feature PRs pending review	8+
Stale PRs (>1 year)	4+

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Resources

• MAINTAINERS.md - Original maintainer notes
• GitHub Issues
• GitHub PRs
• Obsidian Discord - Contact @mgmeyers for questions

Describe the feature

LLM generated plan (Claude Opus 4.5).
Don't take this too seriously... just some ideas here... to be discussed

Can you think of any alternatives or work-arounds?

No response

Screenshots, mockups, or videos

No response

[talperets]

Thanks for putting this together. I’d be glad to help move things forward — especially with reviewing PRs and testing changes to help get fixes merged more quickly. If there’s a coordination thread or next steps for contributors, I’m happy to jump in.