kanbo-cli 0.3.0 → 0.5.0

package/dist/lib/{manifest-v2e9x_C8.mjs → manifest-t4LvFgzH.mjs}

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { a as BoardError } from "./migrations-path-ClaYRNwk.mjs";
-import { c as getBoardMigrationsPath, i as BOARD_PERSON_ROLE, l as createPostgresBoardStore, n as AGENT_WAITING_REFUSAL, o as BOARD_ROLE_SQL, r as BOARD_AGENT_ROLE, s as assertBoardSchema, t as AGENT_APPROVAL_COMMENT_REFUSAL } from "./roles.sql-BoOZSkBp.mjs";
-import { a as openBoardDatabase, c as boardQueryLogger, d as foldCase, i as markBoardFileOwnedByKanbo, l as createSqliteBoardStore, n as migrateBoardFile, o as readBoardFileContents, r as assertBoardSchema$1 } from "./migrate-DtBeW3Fs.mjs";
+import { c as getBoardMigrationsPath, i as BOARD_PERSON_ROLE, l as createPostgresBoardStore, n as AGENT_WAITING_REFUSAL, o as BOARD_ROLE_SQL, r as BOARD_AGENT_ROLE, s as assertBoardSchema, t as AGENT_APPROVAL_COMMENT_REFUSAL } from "./roles.sql-BDmmNUdx.mjs";
+import { a as openBoardDatabase, c as boardQueryLogger, d as foldCase, i as markBoardFileOwnedByKanbo, l as createSqliteBoardStore, n as migrateBoardFile, o as readBoardFileContents, r as assertBoardSchema$1 } from "./migrate-BUsaTJlj.mjs";
 import { Command, Option } from "commander";
 import { z } from "zod";
 import { homedir, hostname, userInfo } from "node:os";
@@ -52,22 +52,26 @@ const AGENT_SHELL_MARKERS = [
 	{
 		variable: "CLAUDECODE",
 		matches: (value) => value === "1",
-		label: "CLAUDECODE=1"
+		label: "CLAUDECODE=1",
+		tool: "claude"
 	},
 	{
 		variable: "GEMINI_CLI",
 		matches: (value) => value === "1",
-		label: "GEMINI_CLI=1"
+		label: "GEMINI_CLI=1",
+		tool: "gemini"
 	},
 	{
 		variable: "CURSOR_AGENT",
 		matches: (value) => value !== "",
-		label: "CURSOR_AGENT"
+		label: "CURSOR_AGENT",
+		tool: "cursor"
 	},
 	{
 		variable: "CODEX_THREAD_ID",
 		matches: (value) => value !== "",
-		label: "CODEX_THREAD_ID"
+		label: "CODEX_THREAD_ID",
+		tool: "codex"
 	}
 ];
 /**
@@ -85,6 +89,15 @@ function readAgentShellMarker(env = process.env) {
 	return AGENT_SHELL_MARKERS.find((candidate) => candidate.matches(env[candidate.variable]?.trim() ?? ""))?.label ?? null;
 }
 /**
+* The name of the agent tool this shell belongs to (`claude`, `gemini`,
+* `cursor`, `codex`), `agent` when only `KANBO_ACTOR_KIND=agent` says so, or
+* `null` for a person's shell. Same precedence as `readAgentShellMarker`.
+*/
+function readAgentTool(env = process.env) {
+	if (readAgentShellMarker(env) === null) return null;
+	return AGENT_SHELL_MARKERS.find((candidate) => candidate.matches(env[candidate.variable]?.trim() ?? ""))?.tool ?? "agent";
+}
+/**
 * Every exit code this tool promises, and what it means — the capabilities
 * manifest's `exitCodes` reads this rather than naming the codes again. `0` and
 * `1` are not declared above: they need no name of their own, success and "I
@@ -258,6 +271,7 @@ const HUMAN_ONLY_ACTIONS = [
 	"return",
 	"sprint close",
 	"columns rules",
+	"columns flow",
 	"columns add",
 	"columns rename",
 	"columns move",
@@ -271,6 +285,7 @@ const HUMAN_ONLY_MESSAGES = {
 	"return": describeReturnRefusal,
 	"sprint close": describeSprintCloseRefusal,
 	"columns rules": describeColumnRulesRefusal,
+	"columns flow": describeColumnRulesRefusal,
 	"columns add": describeColumnChangesRefusal,
 	"columns rename": describeColumnChangesRefusal,
 	"columns move": describeColumnChangesRefusal,
@@ -280,11 +295,15 @@ const HUMAN_ONLY_MESSAGES = {
 	"run clear-session": describeRunSessionRefRefusal,
 	"run attach-session --replace": describeRunSessionRefRefusal
 };
-/** The actor every board write from this tool is filed under. */
+/**
+* The actor every board write from this tool is filed under: `KANBO_ACTOR_ID`,
+* else the agent tool of an agent's shell (`claude`, `codex`, ...), else the
+* operating system's user.
+*/
 function createCliActor() {
 	return {
 		kind: "external",
-		id: process.env.KANBO_ACTOR_ID?.trim() || safeUsername(),
+		id: process.env.KANBO_ACTOR_ID?.trim() || readAgentTool() || safeUsername(),
 		name: hostname()
 	};
 }
@@ -322,6 +341,14 @@ function createPlacementActor() {
 		placesForPerson: true
 	};
 }
+/** Who the board page writes as: the person at this machine — `KANBO_ACTOR_ID` in a person's shell, else the OS user; never an agent tool, since the page is read and typed in by a person. */
+function createServeWriter() {
+	return {
+		kind: "external",
+		id: (isAgentShell() ? "" : process.env.KANBO_ACTOR_ID?.trim() ?? "") || safeUsername(),
+		name: hostname()
+	};
+}
 /**
 * The person who owns this shell, as the board files a person. Only for a
 * caller that has already asked `isAgentShell` — `requireHumanActor` for a
@@ -739,6 +766,14 @@ const HIDDEN_ACTIVITY_FIELDS = /* @__PURE__ */ new Set([
 	"order",
 	"waitingFor"
 ]);
+/**
+* The column a card was created in, recorded as a change from no column at the
+* card's own creation time. The feed's `created` item already stands for it,
+* and the field history keeps it.
+*/
+function isStartingColumn(change, issue) {
+	return change.field === "statusId" && change.fromValue === null && change.createdAt === issue.createdAt;
+}
 const ACTIVITY_FIELD_BY_RAW_FIELD = {
 	assigneeId: "assignee",
 	description: "description",
@@ -779,7 +814,7 @@ async function listActivity(store, issueId, resolver) {
 		workspaceById: resolver.workspaceById
 	};
 	const commentItems = await Promise.all((await store.comments.listByIssue(issueId)).map(async (comment) => await toCommentActivityItem(comment, resolver)));
-	const fieldChangeItems = (await Promise.all((await store.fieldChanges.listByIssue(issueId)).map(async (change) => await toFieldChangeActivityItem(change, lookup, resolver)))).filter((item) => item !== null);
+	const fieldChangeItems = (await Promise.all((await store.fieldChanges.listByIssue(issueId)).filter((change) => !isStartingColumn(change, issue)).map(async (change) => await toFieldChangeActivityItem(change, lookup, resolver)))).filter((item) => item !== null);
 	return [
 		{
 			id: `${issue.id}:created`,
@@ -1322,7 +1357,9 @@ const UNMET_ENTRY_RULE_REASONS = [
 	"ci_red",
 	"approval_pending",
 	"returned",
-	"not_approved"
+	"not_approved",
+	"not_allowed_from",
+	"column_full"
 ];
 const entryRulesSchema = z.array(z.enum(ENTRY_RULES));
 /**
@@ -1469,6 +1506,65 @@ function describeColumnRefusal(details) {
 	return [`board_column_rules_unmet: ${details.issueId ? `${details.issueId} cannot enter` : "A new card cannot be created in"} "${details.column}" yet:`, ...details.unmet.map((item) => `- ${item.rule}: ${item.detail}`)].join("\n");
 }
 //#endregion
+//#region src/domain/flow-rules.ts
+/** The two flow rules, as an unmet entry names them. */
+const FLOW_RULES = ["allowed_from", "wip_limit"];
+/** The column the standard flow guards, and the columns it lets cards in from, by slug. */
+const STANDARD_FLOW_TARGET = "done";
+const STANDARD_FLOW_SOURCES = ["in_review", "qa"];
+/** A column's flow rules, out of what the row stores. */
+function readFlowRules(column) {
+	return {
+		allowedFrom: column.allowedFrom === null ? null : JSON.parse(column.allowedFrom),
+		wipLimit: column.wipLimit
+	};
+}
+/** A list of column ids as the row stores it: `null` stays `null`, and an empty list stays an empty list. */
+function serializeAllowedFrom(allowedFrom) {
+	return allowedFrom === null ? null : JSON.stringify(allowedFrom);
+}
+/**
+* The flow rules a card entering `column` does not meet, where it may come from
+* first. Pure: what the board holds arrives in `facts`. A card being created
+* comes from no column, so a column that names where cards come from does not
+* take it.
+*/
+function evaluateFlowRules(card, column, rules, facts) {
+	const unmet = [];
+	if (rules.allowedFrom !== null && (card.statusId === null || !rules.allowedFrom.includes(card.statusId))) unmet.push({
+		rule: "allowed_from",
+		reason: "not_allowed_from",
+		detail: describeAllowedFrom(column.name, rules.allowedFrom, facts.columnNames)
+	});
+	if (rules.wipLimit !== null && facts.cardsInColumn >= rules.wipLimit) unmet.push({
+		rule: "wip_limit",
+		reason: "column_full",
+		detail: `${column.name} holds ${facts.cardsInColumn} of ${rules.wipLimit}`
+	});
+	return unmet;
+}
+function describeAllowedFrom(name, allowedFrom, columnNames) {
+	const names = allowedFrom.map((id) => columnNames.get(id)).filter((found) => found !== void 0);
+	return names.length === 0 ? `${name} accepts cards from no column; only a person may put a card here` : `${name} accepts cards from ${joinWords(names)} only`;
+}
+/** `A`, `A and B`, `A, B and C`. */
+function joinWords(words) {
+	return words.length <= 1 ? words.join("") : `${words.slice(0, -1).join(", ")} and ${words.at(-1)}`;
+}
+/**
+* The standard flow on these columns: Done, and the columns it takes cards from
+* — In Review, and QA when there is one — in board order. `null` when the board
+* has no Done, or neither of the two.
+*/
+function standardFlowOf(columns) {
+	const target = columns.find((column) => normalizeStatusName(column.name) === STANDARD_FLOW_TARGET);
+	const sources = columns.filter((column) => STANDARD_FLOW_SOURCES.includes(normalizeStatusName(column.name)));
+	return target && sources.length > 0 ? {
+		target,
+		sources
+	} : null;
+}
+//#endregion
 //#region src/ops/columns.ts
 /** The columns of one workspace, in board order. */
 async function listColumns(store, workspaceId) {
@@ -1538,6 +1634,7 @@ async function applyColumnTemplate(store, workspaceId, columns, options, scope)
 			workspaceId,
 			...column
 		}, order);
+		await writeStandardFlow(tx, await listColumns(tx, workspaceId));
 		return {
 			statuses: await listColumns(tx, workspaceId),
 			added: columns.map((column) => column.name)
@@ -1647,6 +1744,80 @@ async function setColumnEntryRules(store, workspaceId, nameOrId, entryRules, act
 		return await updateColumn(tx, (await requireColumn(tx, workspaceId, nameOrId)).id, { entryRules }, actor, { tx });
 	}, scope);
 }
+/** The largest WIP limit: what a Postgres `integer` column holds. */
+const MAX_WIP_LIMIT = 2147483647;
+/**
+* Set where a card may enter the column from and how many cards it holds:
+* `allowedFrom` the ids of other columns of its board (`null` for any, `[]` for
+* none), kept once each in board order; `wipLimit` a whole number from 1 to 2147483647, or `null`. A
+* person's to set, like the entry rules: an agent that could open a column
+* could walk any card into it.
+*/
+async function setColumnFlowRules(store, columnId, rules, actor, scope) {
+	assertPersonSetsEntryRules(actor, { statusId: columnId });
+	if (rules.wipLimit !== null && !(Number.isSafeInteger(rules.wipLimit) && rules.wipLimit >= 1 && rules.wipLimit <= MAX_WIP_LIMIT)) throw new BoardError("board_flow_rule_invalid", {
+		statusId: columnId,
+		wipLimit: rules.wipLimit
+	});
+	return await runBoardWrite(store, async ({ tx }) => {
+		const column = await tx.statuses.findById(columnId);
+		if (!column) throw new BoardError("issue_status_not_found", { statusId: columnId });
+		const allowedFrom = rules.allowedFrom === null ? null : allowedFromInBoardOrder(await listColumns(tx, column.workspaceId), column, rules.allowedFrom);
+		await tx.statuses.update(columnId, {
+			allowedFrom: serializeAllowedFrom(allowedFrom),
+			wipLimit: rules.wipLimit
+		});
+		return await tx.statuses.findById(columnId);
+	}, scope);
+}
+/** The ids asked for, once each and in board order — or the refusal naming those that are not another column of this board. */
+function allowedFromInBoardOrder(columns, column, requested) {
+	const others = columns.filter((other) => other.id !== column.id);
+	const invalid = requested.filter((id) => !others.some((other) => other.id === id));
+	if (invalid.length > 0) throw new BoardError("board_flow_rule_invalid", {
+		statusId: column.id,
+		allowedFrom: invalid
+	});
+	return others.filter((other) => requested.includes(other.id)).map((other) => other.id);
+}
+/**
+* Put the standard flow on a board: Done accepts cards from In Review only —
+* and from QA, when the board has it — so nothing reaches Done but through
+* review. Done's WIP limit and every other column stay as they are. A board
+* without Done, or with neither In Review nor QA, has nothing to apply it to.
+*/
+async function applyStandardFlow(store, workspaceId, actor, scope) {
+	assertPersonSetsEntryRules(actor, { workspaceId });
+	return await runBoardWrite(store, async ({ tx }) => {
+		const columns = await listColumns(tx, workspaceId);
+		if (!await writeStandardFlow(tx, columns)) {
+			const hasDone = columns.some((column) => normalizeStatusName(column.name) === STANDARD_FLOW_TARGET);
+			throw new BoardError("issue_status_not_found", {
+				workspaceId,
+				statusName: hasDone ? "In Review" : "Done"
+			});
+		}
+		return await listColumns(tx, workspaceId);
+	}, scope);
+}
+/** Done takes cards from the board's In Review and QA; `false`, with nothing written, when the board has no such columns. */
+async function writeStandardFlow(store, columns) {
+	const flow = standardFlowOf(columns);
+	if (!flow) return false;
+	await store.statuses.update(flow.target.id, { allowedFrom: serializeAllowedFrom(flow.sources.map((column) => column.id)) });
+	return true;
+}
+/**
+* Take a deleted column out of every list of where cards may come from. A list
+* it empties stays empty: a column that took cards only from it does not open
+* to every column.
+*/
+async function dropFromAllowedFrom(store, workspaceId, statusId) {
+	for (const other of await listColumns(store, workspaceId)) {
+		const { allowedFrom } = readFlowRules(other);
+		if (allowedFrom?.includes(statusId)) await store.statuses.update(other.id, { allowedFrom: serializeAllowedFrom(allowedFrom.filter((id) => id !== statusId)) });
+	}
+}
 /**
 * Take an empty column off the board, and number the columns left 0..n-1 in
 * the same write.
@@ -1673,6 +1844,7 @@ async function deleteColumn(store, statusId, scope, actor) {
 			hint: "Move its cards to another column first, or remove it with removeColumn and moveCardsTo."
 		});
 		await tx.statuses.delete(statusId);
+		await dropFromAllowedFrom(tx, column.workspaceId, statusId);
 		await renumberColumns(tx, column.workspaceId);
 	}, scope);
 }
@@ -1952,24 +2124,46 @@ function pullRequestFactKeys({ owner, repo, number }) {
 //#endregion
 //#region src/ops/entry-rules.ts
 /**
-* The column's entry rules the card does not meet (ruling 6-2). A column with
-* no rules answers at once, without reading anything; otherwise only the facts
-* the column's rules need are read.
+* The column's entry rules and flow rules the card does not meet, entry rules
+* first (ruling 6-2; board-workflow spec, Part 2). A column with no rules
+* answers at once, without reading anything; otherwise only the facts its
+* rules need are read. `entering` counts the cards this same write already let
+* into the column, so a bulk move is held to the WIP limit as a whole.
 */
-async function checkColumnEntry(store, card, column) {
+async function checkColumnEntry(store, card, column, entering) {
 	const rules = readEntryRules(column);
-	if (rules.length === 0) return [];
-	return evaluateEntryRules(card, rules, await readEntryRuleFacts(store, card.id, rules)).unmet;
+	const unmet = rules.length === 0 ? [] : evaluateEntryRules(card, rules, await readEntryRuleFacts(store, card.id, rules)).unmet;
+	const flow = readFlowRules(column);
+	if (flow.allowedFrom === null && flow.wipLimit === null) return unmet;
+	return [...unmet, ...evaluateFlowRules(card, column, flow, await readFlowRuleFacts(store, column, flow, entering))];
+}
+/** What the flow rules need: the board's column names when the column names where cards come from, and its card count when it has a limit. */
+async function readFlowRuleFacts(store, column, flow, entering) {
+	const columnNames = flow.allowedFrom === null ? /* @__PURE__ */ new Map() : new Map((await store.statuses.listByWorkspace(column.workspaceId)).map((other) => [other.id, other.name]));
+	if (flow.wipLimit === null) return {
+		columnNames,
+		cardsInColumn: 0
+	};
+	await store.statuses.lockById(column.id);
+	return {
+		columnNames,
+		cardsInColumn: (await store.issues.listPage({
+			workspaceId: column.workspaceId,
+			statusIds: [column.id],
+			limit: 1
+		})).total + entering
+	};
 }
 /**
-* Hold a card at the door of a column that asks for more than it has (ruling
-* 6-3). Anyone but a person — or a person's own terminal, `placesForPerson`
-* (ruling 6-6) — is refused with `board_column_rules_unmet`, which
-* names the column and every unmet rule; a person is let through, and the
-* unmet rules come back so the caller can warn them.
+* Hold a card at the door of a column that asks for more than it has — entry
+* rules (ruling 6-3), or flow rules: a column it may not come from, or a column
+* that is full. Anyone but a person — or a person's own terminal,
+* `placesForPerson` (ruling 6-6) — is refused with `board_column_rules_unmet`,
+* which names the column and everything unmet; a person is let through, and
+* the unmet list comes back so the caller can warn them.
 */
-async function enforceColumnEntry(store, card, column, actor) {
-	const unmet = await checkColumnEntry(store, card, column);
+async function enforceColumnEntry(store, card, column, actor, entering = 0) {
+	const unmet = await checkColumnEntry(store, card, column, entering);
 	if (unmet.length > 0 && actor.kind !== "user" && !actor.placesForPerson) throw new BoardError("board_column_rules_unmet", {
 		issueId: card.id,
 		column: column.name,
@@ -1982,14 +2176,17 @@ async function enforceColumnEntry(store, card, column, actor) {
 * The same door for several cards entering one column at once — a bulk status
 * change. All or nothing: the first card an agent may not move refuses the
 * whole change. A person gets back the cards that entered with rules unmet.
+* Each card counts against the column's WIP limit as the cards before it in the same change entered it.
 */
 async function enforceColumnEntryForCards(store, issueIds, statusId, actor) {
 	const column = await store.statuses.findById(statusId);
 	if (!column) throw new BoardError("issue_status_not_found", { statusId });
 	const entered = [];
+	let entering = 0;
 	for (const card of await store.issues.listByIds(issueIds)) {
 		if (card.statusId === column.id) continue;
-		const unmet = await enforceColumnEntry(store, card, column, actor);
+		const unmet = await enforceColumnEntry(store, card, column, actor, entering);
+		entering++;
 		if (unmet.length > 0) entered.push({
 			issueId: card.id,
 			unmet
@@ -2144,11 +2341,24 @@ const STOPPED_BY_YOU_STATUS_LINE = "stopped by you";
 * the board reads the same whether the agent was launched by an app or from
 * somewhere else entirely. The attempt number is simply how many runs the card
 * has had — a card whose runs were all launched elsewhere still counts them.
+*
+* A card has one run going at a time. A start on a card whose run is still going
+* is refused with `board_card_run_active`, naming that run — whichever path it
+* came by, an app's launch, `kanbo run start`, MCP, or a second app on a shared
+* Postgres board. The card's row is locked first, so two starts racing for it
+* are settled one after the other.
 */
 async function startRun(store, issueId, input, actor, scope) {
 	const externalSessionRef = readExternalSessionRef(input.externalSessionRef) ?? null;
 	return await runBoardWrite(store, async ({ tx }) => {
-		const card = await requireCard$1(tx, issueId);
+		const card = await tx.issues.lockById(issueId);
+		if (!card) throw new BoardError("issue_not_found", { issueId });
+		const [active] = await tx.runs.listRunning(issueId);
+		if (active) throw new BoardError("board_card_run_active", {
+			issueId,
+			runId: active.id,
+			agentName: active.agentName
+		});
 		const attempt = await tx.runs.countByIssue(issueId) + 1;
 		const executionMode = input.executionMode ?? card.executionMode;
 		const run = await tx.runs.create({
@@ -2414,7 +2624,8 @@ async function createCard(store, input, actor, scope) {
 		const column = statusId === null ? null : await tx.statuses.findById(statusId);
 		const unmet = column ? await enforceColumnEntry(tx, {
 			id: null,
-			description: input.description ?? null
+			description: input.description ?? null,
+			statusId: null
 		}, column, actor) : [];
 		const milestoneId = await requireMilestoneInWorkspace(tx, workspaceId, input.milestoneId ?? null);
 		const parentIssueId = await requireParentInWorkspace(tx, workspaceId, input.parentIssueId ?? null);
@@ -2422,8 +2633,9 @@ async function createCard(store, input, actor, scope) {
 		const now = currentUnixSeconds();
 		for (let attempt = 1;; attempt++) {
 			const identity = await nextIssueIdentity(input.workspace, tx);
+			let created;
 			try {
-				return withUnmetRules(await tx.issues.create({
+				created = await tx.issues.create({
 					id: identity.id,
 					workspaceId,
 					title: input.title?.trim() || identity.id,
@@ -2447,12 +2659,25 @@ async function createCard(store, input, actor, scope) {
 					order,
 					createdAt: now,
 					updatedAt: now
-				}), unmet);
+				});
 			} catch (error) {
 				const numberTaken = await tx.issues.findByNumber(workspaceId, identity.number);
 				const keyTaken = await tx.issues.findById(identity.id);
 				if (attempt >= NUMBERING_ATTEMPTS || !numberTaken && !keyTaken) throw error;
+				continue;
 			}
+			if (statusId !== null) await tx.fieldChanges.create({
+				id: randomUUID(),
+				issueId: created.id,
+				field: "statusId",
+				fromValue: null,
+				toValue: statusId,
+				actorKind: toStoredActorKind(actor),
+				actorId: actor.id ?? null,
+				sourceChatSessionId: actor.chatSessionId ?? null,
+				createdAt: now
+			});
+			return withUnmetRules(created, unmet);
 		}
 	}, scope);
 }
@@ -2508,7 +2733,8 @@ async function updateCard(store, issueId, input, actor, scope) {
 			const description = "description" in updates ? updates.description ?? null : card.description;
 			unmet = await enforceColumnEntry(tx, {
 				id: card.id,
-				description
+				description,
+				statusId: card.statusId
 			}, column, actor);
 		}
 		if ("assigneeKind" in input) updates.assigneeKind = input.assigneeKind ?? null;
@@ -2811,12 +3037,33 @@ async function requireParentInWorkspace(store, workspaceId, parentIssueId, issue
 		issueId,
 		parentIssueId
 	});
-	if (!await store.issues.findInWorkspace(workspaceId, parentIssueId)) throw new BoardError("issue_parent_not_found", {
+	const parent = await store.issues.findInWorkspace(workspaceId, parentIssueId);
+	if (!parent) throw new BoardError("issue_parent_not_found", {
 		workspaceId,
 		parentIssueId
 	});
+	if (issueId !== void 0 && await isUnder(store, parent, issueId)) throw new BoardError("issue_parent_cycle", {
+		issueId,
+		parentIssueId
+	});
 	return parentIssueId;
 }
+/**
+* Is the card somewhere under `ancestorId` — its parent, its parent's parent,
+* and so on up? A card put under one of its own sub-cards would make a loop no
+* reader of the board can walk to the top of. The cards already seen end the
+* walk, so a loop the data holds from before cannot hang it.
+*/
+async function isUnder(store, card, ancestorId) {
+	const seen = /* @__PURE__ */ new Set();
+	let id = card.parentIssueId;
+	while (id !== null && !seen.has(id)) {
+		if (id === ancestorId) return true;
+		seen.add(id);
+		id = (await store.issues.findById(id))?.parentIssueId ?? null;
+	}
+	return false;
+}
 /** Is the card's own number already taken by another card in the target workspace? */
 async function numberTakenByAnother(store, workspaceId, card) {
 	const holder = await store.issues.findByNumber(workspaceId, card.number);
@@ -2886,6 +3133,160 @@ async function reorderCards(store, workspaceId, orderedIds, scope) {
 	}, scope);
 }
 //#endregion
+//#region src/ops/ready.ts
+/** The column an agent takes its next card from. */
+const READY_COLUMN_SLUG = "to_do";
+/**
+* The cards an agent may pick up right now: spelled out, nobody working on them,
+* nobody's turn but the agent's.
+*
+* "Ready" is deliberately narrow. A card in Backlog is an idea, a card with a
+* run is taken, and a card waiting for a person belongs to that person until
+* they answer. What is left is the queue — in board order, so the card someone
+* dragged to the top is the one an agent asking for work gets.
+*/
+async function listReady(store, input) {
+	return (await queryReady(store, input)).cards;
+}
+/**
+* One page of the ready cards, how many are ready in all, and the columns read
+* on the way — the rule above, asked of the database in one statement rather
+* than of every card on the board.
+*/
+async function queryReady(store, input) {
+	const columns = await listColumns(store, input.workspaceId);
+	const column = columns.find((candidate) => normalizeStatusName(candidate.name) === READY_COLUMN_SLUG);
+	if (!column) return {
+		cards: [],
+		total: 0,
+		columns
+	};
+	return {
+		...await store.issues.listPage({
+			workspaceId: input.workspaceId,
+			statusIds: [column.id],
+			waitingForPerson: false,
+			hasActiveRun: false,
+			limit: input.limit,
+			offset: input.offset
+		}),
+		columns
+	};
+}
+//#endregion
+//#region src/ops/claim.ts
+/**
+* Take a card to work on, in one board write: pick it, start its run, and move
+* it into the board's first `started` column (In Progress on a standard
+* board), its entry and flow rules checked on the way in. Anything refused
+* leaves nothing written.
+*
+* Two claimers never get the same card. On SQLite the write holds the file
+* from its first read (`begin immediate`), so the second claimer reads the
+* board after the first one's commit. On Postgres the picked card's row is
+* locked (`select … for update`): a claimer that waited on the lock finds the
+* card taken, and moves on to the next ready one. The target's row is locked
+* first, always, in the order a move into it locks (column, then card), so a
+* claim and a move never wait on each other in a circle.
+*/
+async function claimCard(store, input, actor, scope) {
+	return await runBoardWrite(store, async ({ tx }) => {
+		const columns = await listColumns(tx, input.workspaceId);
+		const target = columns.find((column) => column.category === "started");
+		if (!target) throw new BoardError("issue_status_not_found", {
+			workspaceId: input.workspaceId,
+			category: "started"
+		});
+		await tx.statuses.lockById(target.id);
+		const toDo = columns.find((column) => normalizeStatusName(column.name) === "to_do") ?? null;
+		const card = input.issueId === void 0 ? await takeFirstReady(tx, input.workspaceId, toDo) : await takeNamed(tx, input.workspaceId, input.issueId, toDo);
+		const run = await startRun(tx, card.id, input.run, actor, { tx });
+		return {
+			card: await updateCard(tx, card.id, { statusId: target.id }, actor, { tx }),
+			run,
+			column: target
+		};
+	}, scope);
+}
+/**
+* The first ready card, locked. A card another claimer took while this one
+* waited for its lock is passed over, and the next read no longer lists it; the
+* cards passed over are counted so the loop ends with the list.
+*/
+async function takeFirstReady(store, workspaceId, toDo) {
+	const passed = /* @__PURE__ */ new Set();
+	for (;;) {
+		const { cards } = await queryReady(store, {
+			workspaceId,
+			limit: passed.size + 1
+		});
+		const candidate = cards.find((card) => !passed.has(card.id));
+		if (!candidate) throw new BoardError("board_nothing_ready", { workspaceId });
+		const locked = await store.issues.lockById(candidate.id);
+		if (locked && await notReadyReason(store, locked, toDo) === null) return locked;
+		passed.add(candidate.id);
+	}
+}
+/** The named card, locked, when it is on this board and ready — or why not. */
+async function takeNamed(store, workspaceId, issueId, toDo) {
+	const card = await store.issues.lockById(issueId);
+	if (!card || card.workspaceId !== workspaceId) throw new BoardError("issue_not_found", { issueId });
+	const reason = await notReadyReason(store, card, toDo);
+	if (reason) throw new BoardError("board_card_not_ready", {
+		issueId,
+		reason
+	});
+	return card;
+}
+/** `queryReady`'s rule for one card already read: nobody on it, nobody waited for, in To Do. */
+async function notReadyReason(store, card, toDo) {
+	if ((await store.runs.listRunning(card.id)).length > 0) return "run_active";
+	if (card.waitingFor === "human") return "waiting_for_person";
+	return toDo !== null && card.statusId === toDo.id ? null : "not_in_to_do";
+}
+//#endregion
+//#region src/ops/column-entries.ts
+/**
+* Every entry into a column on the named boards at or after `since`, in order
+* of `(at, changeId)` — the one signal an app dispatching work on column
+* changes needs. It sees every writer, an outside `kanbo` on the same database
+* included, because it reads the cards' own history.
+*
+* A page never ends inside a second: when `limit` cuts into one, the rest of
+* that second comes too, so a page may be longer than `limit`. A reader keeps
+* its cursor at the last `at` it read after a short page — a write in that
+* second may still commit — and drops the `changeId`s it has seen; after a page
+* of `limit` or more it moves on to the last `at` + 1, which a second holding
+* more entries than `limit` would otherwise never let it pass.
+*/
+async function listColumnEntries(store, input) {
+	const page = await store.fieldChanges.listByFieldSince("statusId", input);
+	return (input.limit !== void 0 && input.limit > 0 && page.length === input.limit ? await withWholeLastSecond(store, input, page) : page).flatMap(toColumnEntry);
+}
+/** The page with every change of its last second, not only those `limit` let in. */
+async function withWholeLastSecond(store, input, page) {
+	const last = page.at(-1).createdAt;
+	const lastSecond = await store.fieldChanges.listByFieldSince("statusId", {
+		workspaceIds: input.workspaceIds,
+		since: last,
+		until: last
+	});
+	return [...page.filter((change) => change.createdAt < last), ...lastSecond];
+}
+/** A status change as an entry; a change that took the card out of every column enters none. */
+function toColumnEntry(change) {
+	return change.toValue === null ? [] : [{
+		changeId: change.id,
+		issueId: change.issueId,
+		workspaceId: change.workspaceId,
+		fromStatusId: change.fromValue,
+		toStatusId: change.toValue,
+		actorKind: change.actorKind,
+		actorId: change.actorId,
+		at: change.createdAt
+	}];
+}
+//#endregion
 //#region src/ops/context-refs.ts
 const ContextRefsJsonSchema = z.string().transform((raw) => JSON.parse(raw)).pipe(z.array(z.string()));
 /** Add a context ref at the end of the card's list, recording the change in its history. */
@@ -3070,6 +3471,7 @@ function subtaskSplitSentence(parentReference) {
 }
 const SUBTASK_RULE = `${SUBTASK_WHEN_SENTENCE} ${subtaskSplitSentence("the parent card's id")}`;
 const PULL_REQUEST_RULE = "Opened a pull request? Link it to the card. Its state and CI checks then reach the card as comments on their own — nothing else tells the board a pull request exists.";
+const CLAIM_RULE = "Taking a card from To Do yourself? Claim it instead of starting a run and moving it: the claim does both in one step, and no other agent gets the same card. Finish the run when you stop.";
 const OWN_SESSION_RULE = "Started the work yourself, not launched by an app that tracks the run for you? Record the run when you start and finish it when you stop. kanbo fills in the Claude Code or Codex session you are in; never invent a session id.";
 /** Said by the `kanbo init` block and the MCP instructions, which name the comment command or tool beside it. */
 const COMMENT_RULE = "Findings, results, decisions and questions go on the card as comments.";
@@ -3093,6 +3495,7 @@ const BOARD_RULES = [
 	EXECUTION_MODE_RULE,
 	SUBTASK_RULE,
 	PULL_REQUEST_RULE,
+	CLAIM_RULE,
 	OWN_SESSION_RULE,
 	"Read the column descriptions above before moving a card, and do all of this through the board tools or commands you have — a statement in your reply changes nothing."
 ];
@@ -3108,12 +3511,14 @@ const BOARD_RULES = [
 async function buildPrimeText(store, workspaceId) {
 	const columns = await listColumns(store, workspaceId);
 	const ruled = columns.some((column) => readEntryRules(column).length > 0);
+	const flowing = columns.some((column) => hasFlowRules(column));
 	return [
 		...await describeReturnedCards(store, workspaceId, columns),
 		"Columns of this board, in board order:",
 		"",
-		...columns.length > 0 ? columns.map(describeColumnLine) : ["- (this board has no columns yet)"],
+		...columns.length > 0 ? columns.map((column) => describeColumnLine(column, columns)) : ["- (this board has no columns yet)"],
 		...ruled ? ["", ENTRY_RULES_NOTE] : [],
+		...flowing ? ["", FLOW_RULES_NOTE] : [],
 		"",
 		"How this board works:",
 		"",
@@ -3155,11 +3560,22 @@ async function describeReturnedCards(store, workspaceId, columns) {
 * without any reads exactly as it did before they existed.
 */
 const ENTRY_RULES_NOTE = "A column that lists requirements refuses a card that does not meet them yet, with the list of what is missing: do that work first, then move the card. A person may still move it.";
-function describeColumnLine(column) {
+/** Said under the columns only when one of them has flow rules. */
+const FLOW_RULES_NOTE = "A column that says which columns it accepts cards from, or how many cards it holds, refuses a move that breaks that and says why: move the card through a column it accepts, or wait until a card leaves. A person may still move it.";
+function hasFlowRules(column) {
+	const { allowedFrom, wipLimit } = readFlowRules(column);
+	return allowedFrom !== null || wipLimit !== null;
+}
+function describeColumnLine(column, columns) {
 	const slug = normalizeStatusName(column.name);
 	const rules = readEntryRules(column);
-	const requires = rules.length > 0 ? ` Requires: ${rules.map((rule) => `${rule} (${ENTRY_RULE_DESCRIPTIONS[rule]})`).join("; ")}.` : "";
-	return column.description ? `- ${column.name} (\`${slug}\`) — ${column.description}${requires}` : `- ${column.name} (\`${slug}\`)${requires ? ` —${requires}` : ""}`;
+	const said = `${rules.length > 0 ? ` Requires: ${rules.map((rule) => `${rule} (${ENTRY_RULE_DESCRIPTIONS[rule]})`).join("; ")}.` : ""}${describeFlow(column, columns)}`;
+	return column.description ? `- ${column.name} (\`${slug}\`) — ${column.description}${said}` : `- ${column.name} (\`${slug}\`)${said ? ` —${said}` : ""}`;
+}
+/** Where a column takes cards from and how many it holds, as the prime text says it; nothing for a column without flow rules. */
+function describeFlow(column, columns) {
+	const { allowedFrom, wipLimit } = readFlowRules(column);
+	return `${allowedFrom === null ? "" : allowedFrom.length === 0 ? " Accepts no card from another column: only a person puts a card here." : ` Accepts cards from ${joinWords(columns.filter((other) => allowedFrom.includes(other.id)).map((other) => `\`${normalizeStatusName(other.name)}\``))} only.`}${wipLimit === null ? "" : ` Holds at most ${wipLimit} ${wipLimit === 1 ? "card" : "cards"}.`}`;
 }
 //#endregion
 //#region src/domain/pull-request-ref.ts
@@ -3329,47 +3745,6 @@ async function queryCards(store, input) {
 	};
 }
 //#endregion
-//#region src/ops/ready.ts
-/** The column an agent takes its next card from. */
-const READY_COLUMN_SLUG = "to_do";
-/**
-* The cards an agent may pick up right now: spelled out, nobody working on them,
-* nobody's turn but the agent's.
-*
-* "Ready" is deliberately narrow. A card in Backlog is an idea, a card with a
-* run is taken, and a card waiting for a person belongs to that person until
-* they answer. What is left is the queue — in board order, so the card someone
-* dragged to the top is the one an agent asking for work gets.
-*/
-async function listReady(store, input) {
-	return (await queryReady(store, input)).cards;
-}
-/**
-* One page of the ready cards, how many are ready in all, and the columns read
-* on the way — the rule above, asked of the database in one statement rather
-* than of every card on the board.
-*/
-async function queryReady(store, input) {
-	const columns = await listColumns(store, input.workspaceId);
-	const column = columns.find((candidate) => normalizeStatusName(candidate.name) === READY_COLUMN_SLUG);
-	if (!column) return {
-		cards: [],
-		total: 0,
-		columns
-	};
-	return {
-		...await store.issues.listPage({
-			workspaceId: input.workspaceId,
-			statusIds: [column.id],
-			waitingForPerson: false,
-			hasActiveRun: false,
-			limit: input.limit,
-			offset: input.offset
-		}),
-		columns
-	};
-}
-//#endregion
 //#region src/ops/relations.ts
 /**
 * Every edge touching the card, in either direction, each with the card on its
@@ -3659,6 +4034,8 @@ function createBoardOps(store) {
 		updateColumn: async (statusId, patch, actor, scope) => await updateColumn(store, statusId, patch, actor, scope),
 		describeColumn: async (workspaceId, nameOrId, description, scope) => await describeColumn(store, workspaceId, nameOrId, description, scope),
 		setColumnEntryRules: async (workspaceId, nameOrId, entryRules, actor, scope) => await setColumnEntryRules(store, workspaceId, nameOrId, entryRules, actor, scope),
+		setColumnFlowRules: async (columnId, rules, actor, scope) => await setColumnFlowRules(store, columnId, rules, actor, scope),
+		applyStandardFlow: async (workspaceId, actor, scope) => await applyStandardFlow(store, workspaceId, actor, scope),
 		enforceColumnEntryForCards: async (issueIds, statusId, actor) => await enforceColumnEntryForCards(store, issueIds, statusId, actor),
 		deleteColumn: async (statusId, scope, actor) => await deleteColumn(store, statusId, scope, actor),
 		reorderColumns: async (workspaceId, orderedIds, scope, actor) => await reorderColumns(store, workspaceId, orderedIds, scope, actor),
@@ -3669,6 +4046,7 @@ function createBoardOps(store) {
 		moveColumn: async (workspaceId, nameOrId, position, actor, scope) => await moveColumn$1(store, workspaceId, nameOrId, position, actor, scope),
 		removeColumn: async (workspaceId, nameOrId, options, actor, scope) => await removeColumn$1(store, workspaceId, nameOrId, options, actor, scope),
 		startRun: async (issueId, input, actor, scope) => await startRun(store, issueId, input, actor, scope),
+		claimCard: async (input, actor, scope) => await claimCard(store, input, actor, scope),
 		attachRunExecution: async (runId, input, scope) => await attachRunExecution(store, runId, input, scope),
 		recordRunSessionRef: async (runId, ref, scope) => await recordRunSessionRef(store, runId, ref, scope),
 		clearRunSessionRef: async (runId, actor, options, scope) => await clearRunSessionRef(store, runId, actor, options, scope),
@@ -3681,66 +4059,11 @@ function createBoardOps(store) {
 		readBoardProjectionForIssue: async (issueId) => await readBoardProjectionForIssue(store, issueId),
 		listReady: async (input) => await listReady(store, input),
 		queryReady: async (input) => await queryReady(store, input),
+		listColumnEntries: async (input) => await listColumnEntries(store, input),
 		buildPrimeText: async (workspaceId) => await buildPrimeText(store, workspaceId)
 	};
 }
 //#endregion
-//#region src/domain/database-url.ts
-/**
-* A board's connection string, as it may be said out loud.
-*
-* Everything a person needs to recognise which board they are talking to is
-* the host and the database name. The password is the one part that must never
-* reach a terminal, a log, a `--json` result or a tool's answer — and it is not
-* the only part: a connection string carries options in its query, and a
-* `?password=…` there is as much a secret as the one in front of the host.
-*
-* It is a fact about the value rather than about the command line, which is why
-* it lives here: the MCP tools hand back messages they did not write either,
-* and they must not be made to carry the board tool's own runtime to say them
-* safely.
-*/
-/** What a connection string is called when there is nothing safe to print of it. */
-const MASKED_UNREADABLE_URL = "postgres://***";
-/** What is printed in place of a password, and of a query that may hide one. */
-const MASK = "***";
-/**
-* A connection string inside a longer line. Anything but whitespace and the
-* quotes a message may wrap it in belongs to the URL — a password is allowed
-* every character a URL is, so the match has to be greedy to be safe.
-*/
-const DATABASE_URL_PATTERN = /\bpostgres(?:ql)?:\/\/[^\s'"`]+/gi;
-/**
-* The connection string with everything secret taken out of it.
-*
-* A string this cannot take apart is not examined to find out why — it is
-* replaced entirely, because whatever is wrong with it, the secret is still
-* somewhere inside. A missing scheme counts as that: `user:secret@host/db`
-* parses, as a `user:` URL whose whole password is in the path, and printing it
-* back would say the secret out loud.
-*/
-function maskDatabaseUrl(url) {
-	try {
-		const parsed = new URL(url);
-		if (!parsed.host) return MASKED_UNREADABLE_URL;
-		if (parsed.password) parsed.password = MASK;
-		if (parsed.search) parsed.search = MASK;
-		return parsed.toString();
-	} catch {
-		return MASKED_UNREADABLE_URL;
-	}
-}
-/**
-* Every connection string inside a line of text, masked.
-*
-* A message this package did not write — a driver's, a migrator's — may carry
-* the whole connection string in the middle of a sentence, and it reaches the
-* same terminal, or the same agent, as everything else.
-*/
-function maskDatabaseUrls(text) {
-	return text.replace(DATABASE_URL_PATTERN, (url) => maskDatabaseUrl(url));
-}
-//#endregion
 //#region src/cli/setup/fs-retry.ts
 /**
 * A file operation tried again while something else holds the file.
@@ -4020,6 +4343,62 @@ function ignoreBoardFile(projectDir, absoluteDbPath) {
 	writeFileSync(path, kept ? `${kept}\n${missing.join("\n")}\n` : `${missing.join("\n")}\n`);
 }
 //#endregion
+//#region src/domain/database-url.ts
+/**
+* A board's connection string, as it may be said out loud.
+*
+* Everything a person needs to recognise which board they are talking to is
+* the host and the database name. The password is the one part that must never
+* reach a terminal, a log, a `--json` result or a tool's answer — and it is not
+* the only part: a connection string carries options in its query, and a
+* `?password=…` there is as much a secret as the one in front of the host.
+*
+* It is a fact about the value rather than about the command line, which is why
+* it lives here: the MCP tools hand back messages they did not write either,
+* and they must not be made to carry the board tool's own runtime to say them
+* safely.
+*/
+/** What a connection string is called when there is nothing safe to print of it. */
+const MASKED_UNREADABLE_URL = "postgres://***";
+/** What is printed in place of a password, and of a query that may hide one. */
+const MASK = "***";
+/**
+* A connection string inside a longer line. Anything but whitespace and the
+* quotes a message may wrap it in belongs to the URL — a password is allowed
+* every character a URL is, so the match has to be greedy to be safe.
+*/
+const DATABASE_URL_PATTERN = /\bpostgres(?:ql)?:\/\/[^\s'"`]+/gi;
+/**
+* The connection string with everything secret taken out of it.
+*
+* A string this cannot take apart is not examined to find out why — it is
+* replaced entirely, because whatever is wrong with it, the secret is still
+* somewhere inside. A missing scheme counts as that: `user:secret@host/db`
+* parses, as a `user:` URL whose whole password is in the path, and printing it
+* back would say the secret out loud.
+*/
+function maskDatabaseUrl(url) {
+	try {
+		const parsed = new URL(url);
+		if (!parsed.host) return MASKED_UNREADABLE_URL;
+		if (parsed.password) parsed.password = MASK;
+		if (parsed.search) parsed.search = MASK;
+		return parsed.toString();
+	} catch {
+		return MASKED_UNREADABLE_URL;
+	}
+}
+/**
+* Every connection string inside a line of text, masked.
+*
+* A message this package did not write — a driver's, a migrator's — may carry
+* the whole connection string in the middle of a sentence, and it reaches the
+* same terminal, or the same agent, as everything else.
+*/
+function maskDatabaseUrls(text) {
+	return text.replace(DATABASE_URL_PATTERN, (url) => maskDatabaseUrl(url));
+}
+//#endregion
 //#region src/cli/db-target.ts
 /**
 * Which board the command works on.
@@ -4268,6 +4647,111 @@ async function openWithPostgresJs(url) {
 	};
 }
 //#endregion
+//#region src/cli/project-registry.ts
+/**
+* Which project folders kanbo has opened a board in.
+*
+* Every project keeps its board in its own folder, so nothing else knows which
+* other projects exist. This list, in the user's home, is what lets one board
+* page offer them all. It holds a folder and a time — never a connection
+* string, never board data — and deleting it is safe: it fills again as the
+* projects are used.
+*/
+/** The file's name inside kanbo's per-user folder. */
+const REGISTRY_FILE_NAME = "projects.json";
+/** The file is private to the user, as a binding is. */
+const REGISTRY_FILE_MODE = 384;
+/** The folder holding it is private to the user too. */
+const REGISTRY_DIRECTORY_MODE = 448;
+/**
+* A project noted within this many seconds is not noted again, so an ordinary
+* command does not rewrite the file: a day is fresh enough for "recently used".
+*/
+const RECENTLY_NOTED_SECONDS = 86400;
+const RegisteredProjectSchema = z.object({
+	path: z.string().min(1),
+	lastSeenAt: z.number().int().nonnegative()
+});
+const RegistrySchema = z.object({
+	schemaVersion: z.literal(1),
+	projects: z.array(RegisteredProjectSchema)
+});
+/** `$KANBO_HOME/projects.json`, else `~/.kanbo/projects.json`. */
+function projectRegistryPath(env = process.env) {
+	const home = env.KANBO_HOME?.trim();
+	return join(home || join(homedir(), ".kanbo"), REGISTRY_FILE_NAME);
+}
+/** The projects, most recently seen first; `[]` when the file is missing or does not parse. */
+function readProjectRegistry(path = projectRegistryPath()) {
+	return readEntries(path).sort((a, b) => b.lastSeenAt - a.lastSeenAt);
+}
+/**
+* Note that `projectDir` was just used. Writes only when the folder is new or
+* was last noted more than a day ago, so ordinary commands do not rewrite the file.
+* Drops entries whose `.kanbo/binding.json` is gone.
+*/
+function rememberProject(projectDir, options = {}) {
+	const now = options.now ?? Math.floor(Date.now() / 1e3);
+	const path = options.path ?? projectRegistryPath();
+	const canonical = canonicalPath$1(projectDir);
+	const entries = readEntries(path);
+	const known = entries.find((entry) => entry.path === canonical);
+	if (known && now - known.lastSeenAt <= RECENTLY_NOTED_SECONDS) return;
+	const kept = entries.filter((entry) => entry.path !== canonical && existsSync(join(entry.path, BINDING_FILE_PATH)));
+	kept.push({
+		path: canonical,
+		lastSeenAt: now
+	});
+	writeEntries(path, kept);
+}
+/**
+* `rememberProject`, for the places that must not fail because of it: a home
+* directory that cannot be written is not a reason for `kanbo card list` to fail.
+* With `KANBO_DEBUG=1` the reason is printed on stderr.
+*/
+function rememberProjectQuietly(projectDir) {
+	const path = projectRegistryPath();
+	try {
+		rememberProject(projectDir, { path });
+	} catch (error) {
+		if (process.env.KANBO_DEBUG === "1") console.error(`kanbo: could not note this project in ${path}: ${error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)}`);
+	}
+}
+function canonicalPath$1(projectDir) {
+	const absolute = resolve(projectDir);
+	try {
+		return realpathSync(absolute);
+	} catch {
+		return absolute;
+	}
+}
+function readEntries(path) {
+	try {
+		const parsed = RegistrySchema.safeParse(JSON.parse(readFileSync(path, "utf8")));
+		return parsed.success ? parsed.data.projects : [];
+	} catch {
+		return [];
+	}
+}
+function writeEntries(path, projects) {
+	mkdirSync(dirname(path), {
+		recursive: true,
+		mode: REGISTRY_DIRECTORY_MODE
+	});
+	const temporaryPath = `${path}.${process.pid}.tmp`;
+	try {
+		writeFileSync(temporaryPath, `${JSON.stringify(RegistrySchema.parse({
+			schemaVersion: 1,
+			projects
+		}), null, 2)}\n`, { mode: REGISTRY_FILE_MODE });
+		chmodSync(temporaryPath, REGISTRY_FILE_MODE);
+		renameWithRetry(temporaryPath, path);
+	} catch (error) {
+		rmSync(temporaryPath, { force: true });
+		throw error;
+	}
+}
+//#endregion
 //#region src/cli/schema-guard.ts
 const SCHEMA_OUTDATED_MESSAGE = "The app's database is older than this kanbo. Let the app it belongs to update it first.";
 /** The same, for a board file this package created and migrates itself. */
@@ -4281,9 +4765,10 @@ const SCHEMA_NOT_INSTALLED_MESSAGE = "This Postgres database has no kanbo board
 * caller's own risk but never written to — a write shaped by this build's idea
 * of the schema is how a person's board gets a column full of nothing. A file
 * of this package's own is this package's to migrate, so the same refusal
-* points at `kanbo migrate` instead of at the app. Reads stay open either way,
-* because a person who cannot migrate right now should still be able to look at
-* their cards.
+* points at `kanbo migrate` instead of at the app. Reads are held to the lesser
+* bar of `assertReadableBoard`: a file only a stamp behind is still read, so a
+* person who cannot migrate right now can look at their cards, but one missing
+* a table or column this build reads is refused with the same sentence.
 */
 function assertWritableBoard(database, owner) {
 	try {
@@ -4294,6 +4779,26 @@ function assertWritableBoard(database, owner) {
 	}
 }
 /**
+* Refuse a read of a board file that lacks a table or a column this build
+* reads — a file a migration behind — with the sentence a write gets, instead
+* of letting the first statement fail on what is missing. A file whose only
+* difference is its schema stamp is still read: every statement this build
+* makes works on it, and a person who cannot migrate now can still look at
+* their cards.
+*/
+function assertReadableBoard(database, owner) {
+	try {
+		assertBoardSchema$1(database);
+	} catch (error) {
+		if (!(error instanceof BoardError && error.code === "board_schema_outdated")) throw error;
+		if (lacksWhatThisBuildReads(error.details)) throw new CliError(3, owner === "kanbo" ? FILE_SCHEMA_OUTDATED_MESSAGE : SCHEMA_OUTDATED_MESSAGE);
+	}
+}
+/** Whether `assertBoardSchema` found a table or a column missing, rather than only another stamp. */
+function lacksWhatThisBuildReads(details) {
+	return details !== void 0 && ("missingTables" in details || "missingAddedTables" in details || "missingColumns" in details);
+}
+/**
 * Refuse an external board this build cannot speak for — before reading it as
 * well as before writing to it.
 *
@@ -4513,15 +5018,17 @@ function withBoardOptions(command) {
 * as a client is talking to it. A failure on the way out closes the board first
 * — a caller that never received a session has nothing to close.
 */
-async function openBoardSession(options, mode) {
-	const cwd = process.cwd();
+async function openBoardSession(options, mode, cwd = process.cwd()) {
 	const target = resolveDbTarget({
 		explicitPath: options.db,
 		explicitUrl: options.databaseUrl,
 		asAgent: options.asAgent,
 		cwd
 	});
-	return target.kind === "postgres" ? await openExternalSession(target, options, cwd) : await openFileSession(target, options, mode, cwd);
+	const session = target.kind === "postgres" ? await openExternalSession(target, options, cwd) : await openFileSession(target, options, mode, cwd);
+	const found = findBinding(cwd);
+	if (found) rememberProjectQuietly(found.projectDir);
+	return session;
 }
 async function openFileSession(target, options, mode, cwd) {
 	const board = await openBoardDatabase(target.path);
@@ -4530,6 +5037,7 @@ async function openFileSession(target, options, mode, cwd) {
 			assertWritableBoard(board.database, target.owner);
 		};
 		if (mode === "write") assertWritableBoard(board.database, target.owner);
+		else assertReadableBoard(board.database, target.owner);
 		const workspace = resolveWorkspace(target.owner === "kanbo" ? { kind: "file" } : {
 			kind: "sqlite",
 			database: board.database
@@ -4553,8 +5061,9 @@ async function openFileSession(target, options, mode, cwd) {
 /**
 * The same, on a board that is a database of its own.
 *
-* The guard runs whatever the command came to do. A board file that this build
-* cannot write to is still a board worth reading; a connection string pointing
+* The guard runs whatever the command came to do. A board file whose only
+* difference from this build is its schema stamp is still a board worth
+* reading; a connection string pointing
 * at a database with no board in it is nothing to read at all, and every
 * command would otherwise fail one statement later with the driver's own words.
 */
@@ -4852,7 +5361,9 @@ function projectCardActiveRun(run) {
 		startedAt: run.startedAt
 	};
 }
-function projectColumn(column) {
+/** A column as the command line prints it; `board` is every column, to name the ones it accepts cards from. */
+function projectColumn(column, board) {
+	const { allowedFrom, wipLimit } = readFlowRules(column);
 	return {
 		id: column.id,
 		name: column.name,
@@ -4860,7 +5371,9 @@ function projectColumn(column) {
 		description: column.description,
 		category: column.category,
 		order: column.order,
-		entryRules: readEntryRules(column)
+		entryRules: readEntryRules(column),
+		allowedFrom: allowedFrom === null ? null : board.filter((other) => allowedFrom.includes(other.id)).map((other) => normalizeStatusName(other.name)),
+		wipLimit
 	};
 }
 function projectSprint(sprint) {
@@ -4932,7 +5445,9 @@ function describeColumns(columns) {
 	return columns.map((column) => [
 		`${padToWidth(sanitizeTerminalText(column.slug), slugWidth)}  ${sanitizeTerminalText(column.name)}`,
 		column.description ? ` — ${sanitizeTerminalText(column.description)}` : "",
-		column.entryRules.length > 0 ? ` [requires: ${column.entryRules.join(", ")}]` : ""
+		column.entryRules.length > 0 ? ` [requires: ${column.entryRules.join(", ")}]` : "",
+		column.allowedFrom === null ? "" : ` [from: ${column.allowedFrom.length > 0 ? column.allowedFrom.join(", ") : "no column"}]`,
+		column.wipLimit === null ? "" : ` [wip: ${column.wipLimit}]`
 	].join("")).join("\n");
 }
 /** A unix-seconds date as the UTC day it falls on, `—` for none. */
@@ -5254,6 +5769,52 @@ function registerCapabilitiesCommand(program) {
 	});
 }
 //#endregion
+//#region src/cli/commands/claim.ts
+/**
+* `kanbo claim [card]` — take a card to work on, in one step.
+*
+* The run starts and the card moves out of To Do into the board's first
+* work-in-progress column in one write, so two agents in two terminals never
+* take the same card. Filed as a placement: in a person's own terminal the
+* column's rules warn, in an agent's shell they refuse.
+*/
+function registerClaimCommand(program) {
+	withBoardOptions(program.command("claim").description("Take a card to work on: start your run and move it out of To Do, in one step").argument("[card]", "the card, as MAN-012, MAN-12 or 12 (default: the first ready card)").option("--agent <name>", "your name, e.g. claude (default: the name this shell writes as)").option("--session <ref>", "your session, to find it later: claude:<session id> or codex:<session id> (default: the one Claude Code or Codex names in the environment)")).action(async (reference, options) => {
+		await runBoardCommand(options, "write", async (session) => {
+			const actor = createPlacementActor();
+			const named = reference === void 0 ? void 0 : (await requireCard(session, reference)).id;
+			const claimed = await session.ops.claimCard({
+				workspaceId: session.workspace.id,
+				issueId: named,
+				run: {
+					agentName: options.agent ?? actor.id ?? "agent",
+					externalSessionRef: options.session ?? sessionRefFromEnvironment() ?? void 0,
+					launchedByKind: "external"
+				}
+			}, actor);
+			const [columns, projection, runs] = await Promise.all([
+				session.ops.listColumns(session.workspace.id),
+				session.ops.readBoardProjectionForIssue(claimed.card.id),
+				session.ops.listRuns(claimed.card.id)
+			]);
+			const card = projectCard(claimed.card, columns, projection);
+			for (const item of claimed.card.unmetRules ?? []) console.error(`kanbo: warning: ${card.id} entered "${claimed.column.name}" without ${item.rule}: ${item.detail}`);
+			const run = projectRun({
+				...claimed.run,
+				attempt: runs.find((each) => each.id === claimed.run.id)?.attempt ?? runs.length
+			});
+			return {
+				value: {
+					card,
+					run,
+					column: projectColumn(claimed.column, columns)
+				},
+				text: `Claimed ${card.id}: run ${run.id} started, card moved to ${claimed.column.name}\nWhen you are done: kanbo run finish ${run.id} --state finished`
+			};
+		});
+	});
+}
+//#endregion
 //#region src/mcp/transport.ts
 /** What `kanbo_card_get` may bring along with the card. */
 const KANBO_CARD_INCLUDES = [
@@ -5370,16 +5931,22 @@ function projectKanboSprint(sprint) {
 		doneCards: sprint.cards.done
 	};
 }
-/** A column of the board, from the row either transport holds. */
-function projectKanboColumn(column) {
+/** A column of the board, from the row either transport holds; `board` is every column, to name the ones it accepts cards from. */
+function projectKanboColumn(column, board) {
 	const stored = column.entryRules;
+	const allowedIds = typeof column.allowedFrom === "string" ? readFlowRules({
+		allowedFrom: column.allowedFrom,
+		wipLimit: null
+	}).allowedFrom : column.allowedFrom ?? null;
 	return {
 		id: column.id,
 		name: column.name,
 		slug: normalizeStatusName(column.name),
 		description: column.description,
 		order: column.order,
-		entryRules: typeof stored === "object" && stored !== null ? ENTRY_RULES.filter((rule) => stored.includes(rule)) : readEntryRules({ entryRules: stored ?? null })
+		entryRules: typeof stored === "object" && stored !== null ? ENTRY_RULES.filter((rule) => stored.includes(rule)) : readEntryRules({ entryRules: stored ?? null }),
+		allowedFrom: allowedIds === null ? null : board.filter((other) => allowedIds.includes(other.id)).map((other) => normalizeStatusName(other.name)),
+		wipLimit: column.wipLimit ?? null
 	};
 }
 /**
@@ -5406,9 +5973,14 @@ function pageOf(cards, input) {
 }
 /** A comment as a card read lists it, from the row either transport holds. */
 function projectKanboCardComment(comment) {
+	const decision = comment.authorKind === "system.approved" || comment.authorKind === "system.returned";
+	const author = decision ? "user" : normalizeCommentAuthorKind(comment.authorKind);
+	const named = author !== "system" || decision;
+	const outside = author === "system" && isOutsideWriter(comment) && comment.authorKind === "system";
 	return {
 		id: comment.id,
-		author: normalizeCommentAuthorKind(comment.authorKind),
+		author,
+		by: named || outside ? comment.authorId ?? author : "kanbo",
 		content: comment.content,
 		createdAt: comment.createdAt
 	};
@@ -5479,7 +6051,7 @@ function describeCardExtras(extras) {
 	})))].join("\n"));
 	if (extras.comments && extras.comments.length > 0) {
 		const heading = extras.commentCount === extras.comments.length ? "Comments:" : `Comments (last ${extras.comments.length} of ${extras.commentCount}):`;
-		sections.push([heading, ...extras.comments.map((comment) => `${formatMoment(comment.createdAt)}  ${comment.author}: ${sanitizeTerminalText(comment.content)}`)].join("\n"));
+		sections.push([heading, ...extras.comments.map((comment) => `${formatMoment(comment.createdAt)}  ${sanitizeTerminalText(comment.by)}${comment.author === "user" ? " (person)" : ""}: ${sanitizeTerminalText(comment.content)}`)].join("\n"));
 	}
 	if (extras.runs && extras.runs.length > 0) sections.push(["Runs:", ...extras.runs.map((run) => `#${run.attempt}  ${run.state}  ${sanitizeTerminalText(run.agentName)}  ${formatMoment(run.startedAt)}  ${run.id}`)].join("\n"));
 	if (extras.history && extras.history.length > 0) sections.push(["History:", ...extras.history.map((change) => `${formatMoment(change.createdAt)}  ${change.actor}  ${change.field}: ${sanitizeTerminalText(change.from ?? "—")} → ${sanitizeTerminalText(change.to ?? "—")}`)].join("\n"));
@@ -5577,10 +6149,11 @@ function registerCardCommands(program) {
 			}, createPlacementActor()));
 		});
 	});
-	withBoardOptions(card.command("update").description("Change a card's title, description, priority or labels").argument("<card>", "the card, as MAN-012, MAN-12 or 12").option("--title <title>", "what the card is called").option("--description <text>", "what the card is about").option("--priority <priority>", `one of ${PRIORITIES$1.join(", ")}`, parsePriority).option("--labels <labels>", "comma-separated labels, replacing the ones the card has", parseLabels).option("--execution-mode <mode>", "where the work happens: worktree (its own checkout) or main", parseExecutionMode)).action(async (reference, options) => {
+	withBoardOptions(card.command("update").description("Change a card's title, description, priority, labels or parent").argument("<card>", "the card, as MAN-012, MAN-12 or 12").option("--title <title>", "what the card is called").option("--description <text>", "what the card is about").option("--priority <priority>", `one of ${PRIORITIES$1.join(", ")}`, parsePriority).option("--labels <labels>", "comma-separated labels, replacing the ones the card has", parseLabels).option("--execution-mode <mode>", "where the work happens: worktree (its own checkout) or main", parseExecutionMode).option("--parent <card>", "the card to put it under; none puts it on the top level")).action(async (reference, options) => {
 		await runBoardCommand(options, "write", async (session) => {
 			const input = readUpdateInput(options);
 			const existing = await requireCard(session, reference);
+			if (options.parent !== void 0) input.parentIssueId = options.parent === "none" ? null : (await requireCard(session, options.parent)).id;
 			return await presentCard(session, await session.ops.updateCard(existing.id, input, createPlacementActor()));
 		});
 	});
@@ -5721,9 +6294,10 @@ async function presentCard(session, card) {
 	};
 }
 /**
-* The fields `card update` was asked to change. A command that names none of
-* them is refused rather than obeyed: an empty update still bumps the board
-* version, and every reader would be told the board changed when it did not.
+* The fields `card update` was asked to change — all but the parent, a card
+* of the board, looked up there once the card itself is. A command that names
+* none of them is refused rather than obeyed: an empty update still bumps the
+* board version, and every reader would be told the board changed when it did not.
 */
 function readUpdateInput(options) {
 	const input = {};
@@ -5732,7 +6306,7 @@ function readUpdateInput(options) {
 	if (options.priority !== void 0) input.priority = options.priority;
 	if (options.labels !== void 0) input.labels = options.labels;
 	if (options.executionMode !== void 0) input.executionMode = options.executionMode;
-	if (Object.keys(input).length === 0) throw new CliError(1, "Nothing to update. Pass --title, --description, --priority, --labels or --execution-mode.");
+	if (Object.keys(input).length === 0 && options.parent === void 0) throw new CliError(1, "Nothing to update. Pass --title, --description, --priority, --labels, --execution-mode or --parent.");
 	return input;
 }
 function parsePriority(value) {
@@ -5802,10 +6376,11 @@ const COLUMN_CATEGORIES = [
 ];
 /** The whole board's columns after a change, and the sentence that says what changed. */
 async function changed(session, message, extra = {}) {
-	const views = (await session.ops.listColumns(session.workspace.id)).map(projectColumn);
+	const board = await session.ops.listColumns(session.workspace.id);
+	const views = board.map((column) => projectColumn(column, board));
 	return {
 		value: {
-			...extra,
+			...Object.fromEntries(Object.entries(extra).map(([key, value]) => [key, typeof value === "number" || Array.isArray(value) ? value : projectColumn(value, board)])),
 			columns: views
 		},
 		text: `${message}\n\n${describeColumns(views)}`
@@ -5834,14 +6409,14 @@ async function addColumn(session, request, actor) {
 		category: request.category ?? spec.category,
 		position: anchor ? request.after !== void 0 ? { after: anchor.id } : { before: anchor.id } : void 0
 	}, actor);
-	return await changed(session, `Added ${created.name} (slug ${normalizeStatusName(created.name)}).`, { added: projectColumn(created) });
+	return await changed(session, `Added ${created.name} (slug ${normalizeStatusName(created.name)}).`, { added: created });
 }
 /** Said after a rename: agents' instructions name no column but To Do, and `kanbo prime` gives them the rest. */
 const RENAME_NOTE = "Agents read column names from kanbo prime; rename is picked up there.";
 async function renameColumn(session, column, newName, actor) {
 	const before = await requireNamedColumn(session, column);
 	const renamed = await session.ops.renameColumn(session.workspace.id, before.id, newName, actor);
-	return await changed(session, before.name === renamed.name ? `${renamed.name} already has that name.` : `Renamed ${before.name} to ${renamed.name} (slug ${normalizeStatusName(renamed.name)}).\n${RENAME_NOTE}`, { renamed: projectColumn(renamed) });
+	return await changed(session, before.name === renamed.name ? `${renamed.name} already has that name.` : `Renamed ${before.name} to ${renamed.name} (slug ${normalizeStatusName(renamed.name)}).\n${RENAME_NOTE}`, { renamed });
 }
 /** `--first`, `--last`, `--before <column>` or `--after <column>` — exactly one. */
 function readColumnPosition(options) {
@@ -5873,7 +6448,7 @@ async function removeColumn(session, column, moveCardsTo, actor) {
 	const result = await session.ops.removeColumn(session.workspace.id, removing.id, { moveCardsTo }, actor);
 	for (const card of result.unmetRules ?? []) for (const item of card.unmet) console.error(`kanbo: warning: ${card.issueId} entered "${result.movedTo?.name ?? "—"}" without ${item.rule}: ${item.detail}`);
 	return await changed(session, result.movedTo ? `Removed ${result.removed.name} and moved ${describeCount$1(result.movedCards)} to ${result.movedTo.name}.` : `Removed ${result.removed.name}.`, {
-		removed: projectColumn(result.removed),
+		removed: result.removed,
 		movedCards: result.movedCards
 	});
 }
@@ -5917,6 +6492,14 @@ const BOARD_ERROR_TEXTS = {
 		text: "Only a person can approve a card.",
 		next: AS_A_PERSON
 	}),
+	board_card_not_ready: (details) => ({
+		text: details.reason === "run_active" ? `${named(details.issueId)} is taken: it has a run going.` : details.reason === "waiting_for_person" ? `${named(details.issueId)} is waiting for a person.` : `${named(details.issueId)} is not in To Do, so it is not there to take.`,
+		next: "kanbo ready"
+	}),
+	board_card_run_active: (details) => ({
+		text: `${named(details.issueId)} already has a run going: ${named(details.agentName)}'s, run ${named(details.runId)}.`,
+		next: `kanbo run finish ${named(details.runId)} --state stopped`
+	}),
 	board_column_name_taken: (details) => ({
 		text: `Another column, ${named(details.takenBy)}, already has that name (same slug). Pick another name.`,
 		next: "kanbo columns list"
@@ -5947,6 +6530,14 @@ const BOARD_ERROR_TEXTS = {
 	}),
 	board_entry_rule_invalid: (details) => ({ text: `Unknown column rule: ${list(details.rules)}. Use any of ${list(details.allowed)}.` }),
 	board_execution_mode_locked: (details) => ({ text: `${named(details.issueId)} has been started, so where it is worked (${named(details.executionMode)}) can't change now.` }),
+	board_flow_rule_invalid: (details) => details.wipLimit !== void 0 ? { text: `A column holds at least 1 card; ${named(details.wipLimit)} is not a limit. Use none for no limit.` } : {
+		text: `A column accepts cards only from other columns of its own board, and ${list(details.allowedFrom)} is not one.`,
+		next: "kanbo columns list"
+	},
+	board_nothing_ready: () => ({
+		text: "No card in To Do is ready to take: each one is taken or waits for a person, or there is none.",
+		next: "kanbo ready"
+	}),
 	board_pull_request_invalid: (details) => ({ text: `"${named(details.value)}" is not a GitHub pull request. Give its link or owner/repo#number.` }),
 	board_pull_request_not_found: (details) => ({
 		text: `${named(details.issueId)} has no pull request link "${named(details.linkId)}".`,
@@ -6002,6 +6593,7 @@ const BOARD_ERROR_TEXTS = {
 		text: `No card "${named(details.issueId)}" here.`,
 		next: "kanbo card list"
 	}),
+	issue_parent_cycle: () => ({ text: "A card can't be put under one of its own sub-cards." }),
 	issue_parent_not_found: (details) => ({
 		text: `No card "${named(details.parentIssueId)}" here to put this one under.`,
 		next: "kanbo card list"
@@ -6011,7 +6603,7 @@ const BOARD_ERROR_TEXTS = {
 	issue_relation_self_reference: () => ({ text: "A card can't be linked to itself." }),
 	issue_status_name_empty: () => ({ text: "Give the column a name." }),
 	issue_status_not_found: (details) => ({
-		text: `No column "${named(details.statusName ?? details.statusId)}" on this board.`,
+		text: details.category !== void 0 ? `This board has no ${named(details.category)} column for a claimed card to go to.` : `No column "${named(details.statusName ?? details.statusId)}" on this board.`,
 		next: "kanbo columns list"
 	}),
 	issue_status_reference_conflict: () => ({ text: "Name the column once: by its id or by its name, not both." }),
@@ -6215,7 +6807,7 @@ async function runColumnsMenu(ui) {
 		if (showList) say$1(ui, [
 			"",
 			"Columns of this board:",
-			describeColumns(columns.map(projectColumn))
+			describeColumns(columns.map((column) => projectColumn(column, columns)))
 		].join("\n"));
 		let choice;
 		try {
@@ -6443,7 +7035,8 @@ function registerColumnsCommands(program) {
 	const columns = program.command("columns").description("See and change the board's columns (alone: a menu)");
 	withBoardOptions(columns.command("list").description("List the columns in order, with the short name to move cards by")).action(async (options) => {
 		await runBoardCommand(options, "read", async (session) => {
-			const views = (await session.ops.listColumns(session.workspace.id)).map(projectColumn);
+			const board = await session.ops.listColumns(session.workspace.id);
+			const views = board.map((column) => projectColumn(column, board));
 			return {
 				value: views,
 				text: describeColumns(views)
@@ -6452,7 +7045,7 @@ function registerColumnsCommands(program) {
 	});
 	withBoardOptions(columns.command("describe").description("Say in one line when a card belongs in a column").argument("<column>", "the column, by slug, name or id").requiredOption("--text <text>", "what the column means")).action(async (column, options) => {
 		await runBoardCommand(options, "write", async (session) => {
-			const view = projectColumn(await session.ops.describeColumn(session.workspace.id, column, options.text));
+			const view = projectColumn(await session.ops.describeColumn(session.workspace.id, column, options.text), await session.ops.listColumns(session.workspace.id));
 			return {
 				value: view,
 				text: describeColumns([view])
@@ -6463,10 +7056,31 @@ function registerColumnsCommands(program) {
 		const actor = requireHumanActor("columns rules", typedWords(command));
 		const rules = readRequestedRules(options);
 		await runBoardCommand(options, "write", async (session) => {
-			const view = projectColumn(await session.ops.setColumnEntryRules(session.workspace.id, column, rules, actor));
+			const view = projectColumn(await session.ops.setColumnEntryRules(session.workspace.id, column, rules, actor), await session.ops.listColumns(session.workspace.id));
+			return {
+				value: view,
+				text: describeColumns([view])
+			};
+		});
+	});
+	withBoardOptions(columns.command("flow").description("Set which columns a card may come from, and how many cards a column holds").argument("<column>", "the column, by slug, name or id").option("--from <columns>", "comma-separated columns a card may enter it from, or any").option("--wip <count>", "the most cards it holds, or none")).action(async (column, options, command) => {
+		const actor = requireHumanActor("columns flow", typedWords(command));
+		if (options.from === void 0 && options.wip === void 0) throw new CliError(1, "Pass --from <columns|any>, --wip <count|none>, or both.");
+		const wipLimit = options.wip === void 0 ? void 0 : readWipLimit(options.wip);
+		await runBoardCommand(options, "write", async (session) => {
+			const workspaceId = session.workspace.id;
+			const board = await session.ops.listColumns(workspaceId);
+			const target = await session.ops.requireColumn(workspaceId, column);
+			const current = readFlowRules(target);
+			await session.ops.setColumnFlowRules(target.id, {
+				allowedFrom: options.from === void 0 ? current.allowedFrom : readAllowedFrom(board, workspaceId, options.from),
+				wipLimit: wipLimit === void 0 ? current.wipLimit : wipLimit
+			}, actor);
+			const after = await session.ops.listColumns(workspaceId);
+			const views = after.map((each) => projectColumn(each, after));
 			return {
-				value: view,
-				text: describeColumns([view])
+				value: views.find((view) => view.id === target.id),
+				text: describeColumns(views)
 			};
 		});
 	});
@@ -6511,7 +7125,7 @@ function registerColumnsCommands(program) {
 				mode: "add-missing",
 				actor
 			});
-			const views = statuses.map(projectColumn);
+			const views = statuses.map((column) => projectColumn(column, statuses));
 			return {
 				value: {
 					added,
@@ -6535,7 +7149,8 @@ function registerColumnsCommands(program) {
 			return;
 		}
 		await runBoardCommand({}, "read", async (session) => {
-			const views = (await session.ops.listColumns(session.workspace.id)).map(projectColumn);
+			const board = await session.ops.listColumns(session.workspace.id);
+			const views = board.map((column) => projectColumn(column, board));
 			return {
 				value: views,
 				text: describeColumns(views)
@@ -6565,6 +7180,26 @@ function readRequestedRules(options) {
 	if (options.require === void 0) throw new CliError(1, `Pass --require ${ENTRY_RULES.join(",")} (any of them) or --clear.`);
 	return options.require.split(",").map((rule) => rule.trim()).filter(Boolean);
 }
+/** `--from`: `any` for every column, else the columns named, by slug, name or id. */
+function readAllowedFrom(board, workspaceId, value) {
+	if (value.trim().toLowerCase() === "any") return null;
+	const names = value.split(",").map((name) => name.trim()).filter(Boolean);
+	if (names.length === 0) throw new CliError(1, "Name the columns a card may come from (--from in_review,qa), or --from any.");
+	return names.map((name) => {
+		const found = matchColumn(board, workspaceId, name);
+		if (!found) throw new BoardError("issue_status_not_found", {
+			workspaceId,
+			statusName: name
+		});
+		return found.id;
+	});
+}
+/** `--wip`: `none` for no limit, else a whole number of cards, 1 or more. */
+function readWipLimit(value) {
+	if (value.trim().toLowerCase() === "none") return null;
+	if (!/^\d+$/.test(value.trim()) || Number(value) < 1) throw new CliError(1, "--wip takes a whole number of cards, 1 or more, or none.");
+	return Number(value);
+}
 //#endregion
 //#region src/package-version.ts
 dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
@@ -6574,7 +7209,7 @@ dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
 * `package.version`. A build carries it as a literal; running from source
 * (tests, `tsx`) reads the package's own `package.json` instead.
 */
-const KANBO_PACKAGE_VERSION = "0.3.0";
+const KANBO_PACKAGE_VERSION = "0.5.0";
 //#endregion
 //#region src/cli/setup/paths.ts
 /**
@@ -6923,7 +7558,7 @@ const INSTRUCTION_END_PATTERN = /<!-- KANBO_END\s*-->/g;
 const POINTER_KINDS = /* @__PURE__ */ new Set(["short", "global"]);
 /** The commands an agent uses, spelled once for the guide and the `kanbo prime` cheat sheet. */
 const COMMAND = {
-	ready: "kanbo ready",
+	claim: "kanbo claim",
 	move: "kanbo card move <id> <column>",
 	statusLine: "kanbo card status-line <id> --text \"...\"",
 	subtask: "kanbo card create --description \"...\" --parent <id>",
@@ -6942,7 +7577,7 @@ const AGENT_GUIDE_TEXT = [
 	"Work on this project is tracked on a kanbo board. Before starting a task run `kanbo prime` — it prints the board's columns and what each one means.",
 	"",
 	...[
-		`- Take a card from \`${COMMAND.ready}\`.`,
+		`- Take a card with \`${COMMAND.claim}\`: it starts your run and moves the card into work in one step, and no other agent gets the same card.`,
 		`- ${MOVE_CARD_RULE} (\`${COMMAND.move}\`)`,
 		`- ${STATUS_LINE_RULE} (\`${COMMAND.statusLine}\`)`,
 		`- ${SUBTASK_RULE} (\`${COMMAND.subtask}\`)`,
@@ -6970,13 +7605,15 @@ const COMMAND_SHEET = [
 	"- `kanbo card status-line TST-5 --text \"Running the tests\"` — what is happening on the card right now",
 	"- `kanbo card comment TST-5 --content \"Added slugify with a test\"` — a finding, result, decision or question",
 	"- `kanbo card create --description \"...\" --parent TST-5` — a subtask",
+	"- `kanbo card update TST-7 --parent TST-5` — move a card at the wrong level under another (`--parent none`: the top level)",
 	"- `kanbo card wait-approval TST-5 --text \"Ready for review: ...\"` — ask a person, then end your turn",
-	"- `kanbo run start TST-5 --agent claude` — record a run you started yourself; it prints the finish command",
+	"- `kanbo claim` — take the first ready card: starts your run and moves it into work in one step (`kanbo claim TST-5` for that card); it prints the finish command",
+	"- `kanbo run start TST-5 --agent claude` — record a run on a card you did not claim; it prints the finish command",
 	"- `kanbo run finish <run id> --state finished` — end it: finished, failed or stopped",
 	`- \`${COMMAND.capabilities}\` — everything else, rarely needed`
 ].join("\n");
 /** How to take work and who approves it — said by both blocks after their first sentence. */
-const POINTER_TAIL = `Take work with \`${COMMAND.ready}\`. ${PERSON_ONLY_RULE}`;
+const POINTER_TAIL = `Take work with \`${COMMAND.claim}\`. ${PERSON_ONLY_RULE}`;
 /** The body of the project block: what `kanbo instructions short` prints. */
 const PROJECT_BODY = [
 	"## Kanbo board",
@@ -6996,7 +7633,7 @@ const GLOBAL_BODY = [
 * The block, markers included, with this body's version and hash on the start
 * marker — and, when given, the kind of text it is (`k=orchestrator`).
 */
-function wrapInstructionBlock(body, version = 2, kind) {
+function wrapInstructionBlock(body, version = 3, kind) {
 	return `<!-- KANBO_START v${version}${kind ? ` k=${kind}` : ""} h=${hashBody(body)} -->\n${body}\n${INSTRUCTION_END}`;
 }
 /** The block `kanbo init --instructions …` writes into a project's own file. */
@@ -7025,7 +7662,7 @@ function inspectBlock(text, current) {
 		kind
 	});
 	if (fields.trim() === "") return inspection(LEGACY_BLOCK_BODIES.includes(body) ? "legacy" : "edited");
-	if (version !== void 0 && Number(version) > 2) return inspection("newer");
+	if (version !== void 0 && Number(version) > 3) return inspection("newer");
 	if (kind !== null && !POINTER_KINDS.has(kind)) return inspection("chosen");
 	if (version === void 0 || hash === void 0 || hashBody(body) !== hash) return inspection("edited");
 	return inspection(normalized.slice(found.start, found.end) === current ? "current" : "outdated");
@@ -8055,7 +8692,7 @@ function startUpdateCheck(deps = {}) {
 		setTimeout: globalThis.setTimeout,
 		clearTimeout: globalThis.clearTimeout
 	};
-	const current = deps.currentVersion ?? "0.3.0";
+	const current = deps.currentVersion ?? "0.5.0";
 	const controller = new AbortController();
 	let found = null;
 	const timeout = timers.setTimeout(() => controller.abort(), UPDATE_CHECK_TIMEOUT_MS);
@@ -9292,6 +9929,7 @@ async function applyInitPlan(plan) {
 	}
 	if (plan.target.kind === "postgres" && plan.migrate) columns = await migrateSharedBoard(plan.target.url, plan.workspace.id, plan.columns);
 	const bindingPath = writeBinding(plan.projectDir, plan.binding);
+	rememberProjectQuietly(plan.projectDir);
 	const files = plan.fileChanges.map(({ kind, change }) => ({
 		kind,
 		...applyFileChange(change)
@@ -10039,7 +10677,7 @@ async function planAgents(projectDir, agents, options) {
 }
 /** The board this project is bound to, and the workspace on it. */
 async function resolveBoard(projectDir, options) {
-	if (options.file !== void 0 || namesNoBoard(projectDir, options)) return await resolveOwnFile(projectDir, options);
+	if (options.file !== void 0 || namesNoBoard$1(projectDir, options)) return await resolveOwnFile(projectDir, options);
 	const target = resolveInitTarget(projectDir, options);
 	if (target.kind === "postgres") return {
 		target,
@@ -10058,7 +10696,7 @@ async function resolveBoard(projectDir, options) {
 * does — a person on a machine with nothing else installed gets a board, not a
 * refusal that names a flag.
 */
-function namesNoBoard(projectDir, options) {
+function namesNoBoard$1(projectDir, options) {
 	return !options.db?.trim() && !options.databaseUrl?.trim() && !process.env.KANBO_DB_PATH?.trim() && !process.env.KANBO_DATABASE_URL?.trim() && findBinding(projectDir) === null;
 }
 /** The workspace a host database — or the board file this project is already bound to — says this project is. */
@@ -10486,11 +11124,12 @@ const KANBO_MCP_INSTRUCTIONS = [
 	"kanbo is a kanban board shared by people and agents; these tools read and change its cards.",
 	"",
 	`- At the start of a session call ${tool("kanbo_prime")} — it returns this board's columns and what each one means.`,
-	`- Take work from ${tool("kanbo_ready")}.`,
+	`- Take work from ${tool("kanbo_ready")}, and claim the card with ${tool("kanbo_card_claim")} before you start: it starts your run and moves the card into work in one step, so no other agent takes it.`,
 	`- ${MOVE_CARD_RULE} (${tool("kanbo_card_move")})`,
 	`- ${STATUS_LINE_RULE} (${tool("kanbo_status_line")})`,
 	`- ${COMMENT_RULE} (${tool("kanbo_card_comment")})`,
 	`- ${SUBTASK_RULE} (${tool("kanbo_card_create")} with \`parent\`)`,
+	`- A card at the wrong level is moved with ${tool("kanbo_card_update")} and \`parent\` (\`"none"\` for the top level).`,
 	`- ${WAIT_FOR_PERSON_RULE} (${tool("kanbo_wait_approval")})`,
 	`- ${PERSON_ONLY_RULE}`,
 	`- Every tool, rule and canonical string: the resource \`${KANBO_CAPABILITIES_MARKDOWN_RESOURCE_URI}\`.`
@@ -10576,7 +11215,7 @@ const ORCHESTRATOR_GUIDE = [
 	"## Start of every session",
 	"1. Run `kanbo prime` (tool: `kanbo_prime`) and read the column descriptions. On this board the description is the contract, not the name.",
 	"2. Run `kanbo ready` (`kanbo_ready`). If nothing is ready, say so and stop.",
-	"3. Take the first card. Run `kanbo run start <card> --agent orchestrator` (`kanbo_run_start`) and move it to the column this board uses for work in progress — `kanbo prime` lists the columns and what each is for — (`kanbo_card_move`) before doing anything else.",
+	"3. Take the first card with `kanbo claim --agent orchestrator` (`kanbo_card_claim`): it starts your run and moves the card out of To Do into the board's first work-in-progress column in one step, so no other agent takes it, and it prints the run id you finish later. If another agent got there first, run `kanbo ready` again.",
 	"",
 	"## While working",
 	"- Write a status line (`kanbo card status-line <card> --text \"…\"`, `kanbo_status_line`) at every step and before and after anything that takes more than a minute. One sentence, present tense.",
@@ -10603,7 +11242,7 @@ const ORCHESTRATOR_GUIDE = [
 	"- Returned: the reason is the newest comment. The card is back in an earlier column; start a new run and address the reason first.",
 	"",
 	"## Never",
-	"- Never run `kanbo approve`, `kanbo return`, `kanbo sprint close`, `kanbo run clear-session`, or anything that changes the columns: `kanbo columns add`, `kanbo columns rename`, `kanbo columns move`, `kanbo columns remove`, `kanbo columns template`, `kanbo columns add-standard`, `kanbo columns rules`. They are for a person and will fail in your shell anyway.",
+	"- Never run `kanbo approve`, `kanbo return`, `kanbo sprint close`, `kanbo run clear-session`, or anything that changes the columns: `kanbo columns add`, `kanbo columns rename`, `kanbo columns move`, `kanbo columns remove`, `kanbo columns template`, `kanbo columns add-standard`, `kanbo columns rules`, `kanbo columns flow`. They are for a person and will fail in your shell anyway.",
 	"- Never delete or edit the board's database directly."
 ].join("\n");
 //#endregion
@@ -10648,7 +11287,7 @@ function registerInstructionsCommand(program, dependencies = {}) {
 		const found = parseKind(kind);
 		const body = await readInstructionText(found);
 		const pointer = found === "short" || found === "global";
-		const text = options.markers ? wrapInstructionBlock(body, 2, pointer ? void 0 : found) : body;
+		const text = options.markers ? wrapInstructionBlock(body, 3, pointer ? void 0 : found) : body;
 		const hints = process.stderr.isTTY === true;
 		if (hints) process.stderr.write(`${HEADER}\n\n`);
 		console.log(text);
@@ -10870,61 +11509,6 @@ const cardCommentTool = defineKanboTool({
 	},
 	run: async (transport, input) => await transport.cardComment(input)
 });
-//#endregion
-//#region src/mcp/tools/card-create.ts
-/** What an agent is told about subtasks, word for word in the tool and in its `parent` field. */
-const SUBTASK_SENTENCE = "To create a subtask (sub-card) under another card, pass `parent` = that card's id (its key, e.g. `MAN-012`).";
-/** A new card, or a sub-card of the one being worked on. */
-const cardCreateTool = defineKanboTool({
-	name: "kanbo_card_create",
-	title: "Create a card",
-	description: `Put a new card on this board. ${SUBTASK_SENTENCE} ${SUBTASK_WHEN_SENTENCE} ${subtaskSplitSentence("pass `parent`")}`,
-	inputSchema: {
-		title: z.string().optional().describe("What the card is called. Leave it out and the card is titled with its own key; the description then says what the task is."),
-		description: z.string().optional().describe("What the card is about, spelled out for whoever picks it up."),
-		column: z.string().min(1).optional().describe("The column to open it in, by slug or name. The board's first column when absent."),
-		parent: cardArgument.optional().describe(SUBTASK_SENTENCE),
-		executionMode: executionModeArgument.optional()
-	},
-	example: {
-		description: "Add slugify(text) with a test",
-		parent: "TST-1"
-	},
-	run: async (transport, input) => await transport.cardCreate(input)
-});
-//#endregion
-//#region src/mcp/tools/card-get.ts
-/** One card in full, with what an agent reads next to it. */
-const cardGetTool = defineKanboTool({
-	name: "kanbo_card_get",
-	title: "Read a card",
-	description: `Read one card in full — description, column, status line, whose turn it is, parent (\`parentIssueId\`) — with its last 10 comments and its subtasks (\`subCards\`), in one call. Its runs, field history and pull requests too: include: ["comments","subCards","runs","history","prs"].`,
-	inputSchema: {
-		card: cardArgument,
-		include: z.array(z.enum(KANBO_CARD_INCLUDES)).optional().describe("What to read with the card; [\"comments\",\"subCards\"] when absent, [] for the card alone."),
-		commentLimit: z.number().int().positive().optional().describe(`How many of the latest comments to include; 10 when absent.`)
-	},
-	example: { card: "TST-5" },
-	run: async (transport, input) => await transport.cardGet(input)
-});
-//#endregion
-//#region src/mcp/tools/card-link-pr.ts
-/** A pull request the card's work went into, named on the card so its facts reach it. */
-const cardLinkPrTool = defineKanboTool({
-	name: "kanbo_card_link_pr",
-	title: "Link a pull request to a card",
-	description: "Opened a pull request for this card? Link it here. Its state and CI results then reach the card as comments, without you writing them. Linking the same pull request again changes nothing.",
-	inputSchema: {
-		card: cardArgument,
-		url: z.string().min(1).describe("The pull request, as https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/pull/<number> or <owner>/<repo>#<number>.")
-	},
-	needs: { url: "the pull request" },
-	example: {
-		card: "TST-5",
-		url: "https://github.com/owner/repo/pull/12"
-	},
-	run: async (transport, input) => await transport.cardLinkPullRequest(input)
-});
 /** The `detail` and `fields` arguments the list tools share. */
 const cardListViewArguments = {
 	detail: z.enum(["compact", "full"]).optional().describe("compact (default): id, title, column slug, status line, waiting, parent, run, updatedAt; returned, and the last comment of a waiting or returned card. full: every field, description included."),
@@ -10963,6 +11547,20 @@ function compactKanboCard(card) {
 		...card.lastComment ? { lastComment: card.lastComment } : {}
 	};
 }
+/** The `detail` argument of the tools that write a card: a list's own word, for the one card a write answers with. */
+const writtenCardDetailArgument = z.enum(["compact", "full"]).optional().describe("compact (default): the card as kanbo_card_list prints it. full: every field, description included.");
+/** What each tool that writes a card says about its answer, in its description. */
+const WRITTEN_CARD_ANSWER_SENTENCE = "Answers the card compact, as kanbo_card_list prints it; detail: \"full\" for every field.";
+/**
+* The card a write hands back, as the tool answers with it: compact and on one
+* line, as a list prints it. An agent writes its card at every step — a status
+* line, a move, an update — and reads each answer again on every later turn,
+* so a whole card, description included, would cost it again and again.
+* `detail: "full"` answers every field, as `kanbo_card_get` prints the card alone.
+*/
+function formatWrittenKanboCard(card, detail) {
+	return detail === "full" ? JSON.stringify(card, null, 2) : JSON.stringify(compactKanboCard(card));
+}
 function viewCard(card, view) {
 	if (view.fields) return Object.fromEntries([["id", card.id], ...view.fields.map((field) => [field, card[field]])]);
 	return view.detail === "full" ? card : compactKanboCard(card);
@@ -10986,6 +11584,62 @@ function formatKanboCardPage(page, view, returned) {
 	const opening = `{${returned && returned.cards.length > 0 ? `"returned":[\n${returned.cards.map((card) => JSON.stringify(viewCard(card, view))).join(",\n")}\n],${returned.total > returned.cards.length ? `"returnedTotal":${returned.total},` : ""}` : ""}${JSON.stringify(head).slice(1, -1)}`;
 	return cards.length === 0 ? `${opening},"cards":[]}` : `${opening},"cards":[\n${cards.join(",\n")}\n]}`;
 }
+//#endregion
+//#region src/mcp/tools/card-create.ts
+/** What an agent is told about subtasks, word for word in the tool and in its `parent` field. */
+const SUBTASK_SENTENCE = "To create a subtask (sub-card) under another card, pass `parent` = that card's id (its key, e.g. `MAN-012`).";
+/** A new card, or a sub-card of the one being worked on. */
+const cardCreateTool = defineKanboTool({
+	name: "kanbo_card_create",
+	title: "Create a card",
+	description: `Put a new card on this board. ${SUBTASK_SENTENCE} ${SUBTASK_WHEN_SENTENCE} ${subtaskSplitSentence("pass `parent`")} Answers the card compact, as kanbo_card_list prints it; detail: "full" for every field.`,
+	inputSchema: {
+		title: z.string().optional().describe("What the card is called. Leave it out and the card is titled with its own key; the description then says what the task is."),
+		description: z.string().optional().describe("What the card is about, spelled out for whoever picks it up."),
+		column: z.string().min(1).optional().describe("The column to open it in, by slug or name. The board's first column when absent."),
+		parent: cardArgument.optional().describe(SUBTASK_SENTENCE),
+		executionMode: executionModeArgument.optional(),
+		detail: writtenCardDetailArgument
+	},
+	example: {
+		description: "Add slugify(text) with a test",
+		parent: "TST-1"
+	},
+	run: async (transport, { detail, ...input }) => formatWrittenKanboCard(await transport.cardCreate(input), detail)
+});
+//#endregion
+//#region src/mcp/tools/card-get.ts
+/** One card in full, with what an agent reads next to it. */
+const cardGetTool = defineKanboTool({
+	name: "kanbo_card_get",
+	title: "Read a card",
+	description: `Read one card in full — description, column, status line, whose turn it is, parent (\`parentIssueId\`) — with its last 10 comments and its subtasks (\`subCards\`), in one call. Its runs, field history and pull requests too: include: ["comments","subCards","runs","history","prs"].`,
+	inputSchema: {
+		card: cardArgument,
+		include: z.array(z.enum(KANBO_CARD_INCLUDES)).optional().describe("What to read with the card; [\"comments\",\"subCards\"] when absent, [] for the card alone."),
+		commentLimit: z.number().int().positive().optional().describe(`How many of the latest comments to include; 10 when absent.`)
+	},
+	example: { card: "TST-5" },
+	run: async (transport, input) => await transport.cardGet(input)
+});
+//#endregion
+//#region src/mcp/tools/card-link-pr.ts
+/** A pull request the card's work went into, named on the card so its facts reach it. */
+const cardLinkPrTool = defineKanboTool({
+	name: "kanbo_card_link_pr",
+	title: "Link a pull request to a card",
+	description: "Opened a pull request for this card? Link it here. Its state and CI results then reach the card as comments, without you writing them. Linking the same pull request again changes nothing.",
+	inputSchema: {
+		card: cardArgument,
+		url: z.string().min(1).describe("The pull request, as https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/pull/<number> or <owner>/<repo>#<number>.")
+	},
+	needs: { url: "the pull request" },
+	example: {
+		card: "TST-5",
+		url: "https://github.com/owner/repo/pull/12"
+	},
+	run: async (transport, input) => await transport.cardLinkPullRequest(input)
+});
 /** The cards on the board a question picks, one page of them. */
 const cardListTool = defineKanboTool({
 	name: "kanbo_card_list",
@@ -11040,10 +11694,11 @@ function readMoment(value) {
 const cardMoveTool = defineKanboTool({
 	name: "kanbo_card_move",
 	title: "Move a card",
-	description: "Move a card to another column the moment its real state changes. Read kanbo_columns first: a card in the wrong column is a lie, and a column with entryRules refuses a card that does not meet them yet, listing what is missing.",
+	description: `Move a card to another column the moment its real state changes. Read kanbo_columns first: a card in the wrong column is a lie, and a column refuses a card that does not meet its entryRules yet, that comes from a column it does not accept (allowedFrom), or that would overfill it (wipLimit), listing what is missing. ${WRITTEN_CARD_ANSWER_SENTENCE}`,
 	inputSchema: {
 		card: cardArgument,
-		column: z.string().min(1).describe("The column to move it to, by its slug or name: in_progress, \"In Progress\". Also accepted as `to`.")
+		column: z.string().min(1).describe("The column to move it to, by its slug or name: in_progress, \"In Progress\". Also accepted as `to`."),
+		detail: writtenCardDetailArgument
 	},
 	aliases: { column: ["to"] },
 	needs: { column: "the column slug, e.g. in_progress" },
@@ -11051,7 +11706,7 @@ const cardMoveTool = defineKanboTool({
 		card: "TST-5",
 		column: "in_progress"
 	},
-	run: async (transport, input) => await transport.cardMove(input)
+	run: async (transport, { detail, ...input }) => formatWrittenKanboCard(await transport.cardMove(input), detail)
 });
 //#endregion
 //#region src/mcp/tools/card-pull-requests.ts
@@ -11066,11 +11721,11 @@ const cardPullRequestsTool = defineKanboTool({
 });
 //#endregion
 //#region src/mcp/tools/card-update.ts
-/** What a card says: its title, what it is about, how urgent it is, how it is labelled. */
+/** What a card says — its title, what it is about, how urgent it is, how it is labelled — and which card it sits under. */
 const cardUpdateTool = defineKanboTool({
 	name: "kanbo_card_update",
 	title: "Update a card",
-	description: "Change what a card says: its title, its description, its priority, its labels or where its work happens.",
+	description: `Change what a card says: its title, its description, its priority, its labels or where its work happens. A card at the wrong level moves with \`parent\`: another card's id, or "none" for the top level. ${WRITTEN_CARD_ANSWER_SENTENCE}`,
 	inputSchema: {
 		card: cardArgument,
 		title: z.string().min(1).optional().describe("What the card is called."),
@@ -11083,18 +11738,26 @@ const cardUpdateTool = defineKanboTool({
 			"urgent"
 		]).optional(),
 		labels: z.array(z.string()).optional().describe("The labels the card carries, replacing the ones it has."),
-		executionMode: executionModeArgument.optional()
+		executionMode: executionModeArgument.optional(),
+		parent: cardArgument.optional().describe("The card to put this one under, by its id or key, e.g. MAN-012; \"none\" makes it a top-level card."),
+		detail: writtenCardDetailArgument
 	},
 	example: {
 		card: "TST-5",
 		title: "Add slugify"
 	},
-	run: async (transport, { card, ...patch }) => {
-		if (Object.keys(patch).length === 0) throw new Error("Nothing to update. Pass title, description, priority, labels or executionMode.");
-		return await transport.cardUpdate({
+	prepare: (input) => {
+		const { parent, ...rest } = input;
+		return parent === null ? rest : input;
+	},
+	run: async (transport, { card, detail, parent, ...patch }) => {
+		if (Object.keys(patch).length === 0 && parent === void 0) throw new Error("Nothing to update. Pass title, description, priority, labels, executionMode or parent.");
+		const placement = parent === void 0 ? {} : { parent: parent === "none" ? null : parent };
+		return formatWrittenKanboCard(await transport.cardUpdate({
 			card,
-			...patch
-		});
+			...patch,
+			...placement
+		}), detail);
 	}
 });
 //#endregion
@@ -11103,7 +11766,7 @@ const cardUpdateTool = defineKanboTool({
 const columnsTool = defineKanboTool({
 	name: "kanbo_columns",
 	title: "Columns of the board",
-	description: "List this board's columns in board order, each with the slug kanbo_card_move takes, what the column means here, and the entryRules a card must meet before you move it in.",
+	description: "List this board's columns in board order, each with the slug kanbo_card_move takes, what the column means here, the entryRules a card must meet before you move it in, the columns it accepts cards from (allowedFrom, slugs; null for any) and the most cards it holds (wipLimit).",
 	inputSchema: {},
 	run: async (transport) => await transport.columns()
 });
@@ -11117,6 +11780,38 @@ const primeTool = defineKanboTool({
 	inputSchema: {},
 	run: async (transport) => (await transport.prime()).text
 });
+//#endregion
+//#region src/mcp/tools/card-claim.ts
+/**
+* Taking a card to work on, in one step: the run starts and the card moves out
+* of To Do into the board's first work-in-progress column in the same write,
+* so two agents never get the same card. Published to every host, including
+* one that records the runs of the agents it launches: a claim is how an agent
+* in any terminal takes work.
+*/
+const cardClaimTool = defineKanboTool({
+	name: "kanbo_card_claim",
+	title: "Claim a card",
+	description: "Take a card to work on, in one step: it starts your run and moves the card from To Do into the board's first work-in-progress column. Without `card`, takes the first ready card. Two agents never get the same card: the one that loses is told board_nothing_ready or board_card_not_ready. Answers the card compact, the run id, the column, and the kanbo_run_finish call that ends the run.",
+	inputSchema: {
+		card: cardArgument.optional(),
+		agent: z.string().min(1).optional().describe("What to call whoever works the card; who this server writes as when absent.")
+	},
+	aliases: {
+		card: [...CARD_ALIASES, "issue"],
+		agent: ["agentName"]
+	},
+	example: { card: "TST-5" },
+	run: async (transport, input) => {
+		const claimed = await transport.cardClaim(input);
+		return {
+			card: compactKanboCard(claimed.card),
+			run: claimed.run.id,
+			column: claimed.column.slug,
+			finishWith: `kanbo_run_finish {"run":"${claimed.run.id}","state":"finished"}`
+		};
+	}
+});
 /** The cards an agent may pick up right now. */
 const readyTool = defineKanboTool({
 	name: "kanbo_ready",
@@ -11205,13 +11900,14 @@ const runStartTool = defineKanboTool({
 /**
 * Every tool the board has, in the order it declares them.
 *
-* The list is the board's, not a server's: the same sixteen are registered
+* The list is the board's, not a server's: the same seventeen are registered
 * whether they run against a server or against the board directly, and the
 * only thing a host decides is which of them it publishes.
 */
 const KANBO_TOOLS = [
 	primeTool,
 	readyTool,
+	cardClaimTool,
 	columnsTool,
 	defineKanboTool({
 		name: "kanbo_sprints",
@@ -11231,10 +11927,11 @@ const KANBO_TOOLS = [
 	defineKanboTool({
 		name: "kanbo_status_line",
 		title: "Set the status line",
-		description: "Say what the card is doing right now: `card` and `text` (one sentence). Write one at every step, including before and after anything long-running.",
+		description: "Say what the card is doing right now: `card` and `text` (one sentence). Write one at every step, including before and after anything long-running. " + WRITTEN_CARD_ANSWER_SENTENCE,
 		inputSchema: {
 			card: cardArgument,
-			text: z.string().min(1).describe("One sentence, present tense, about what is happening on the card right now. Also accepted as `content`.")
+			text: z.string().min(1).describe("One sentence, present tense, about what is happening on the card right now. Also accepted as `content`."),
+			detail: writtenCardDetailArgument
 		},
 		aliases: { text: ["content"] },
 		needs: { text: "the status line, one sentence" },
@@ -11242,22 +11939,23 @@ const KANBO_TOOLS = [
 			card: "TST-5",
 			text: "Running the tests"
 		},
-		run: async (transport, input) => await transport.statusLine(input)
+		run: async (transport, { detail, ...input }) => formatWrittenKanboCard(await transport.statusLine(input), detail)
 	}),
 	defineKanboTool({
 		name: "kanbo_wait_approval",
 		title: "Hand the card to a person",
-		description: "Mark the card as waiting for a person and end your turn: `card`, and `text` for the status line the person reads. A person approves or returns it; you will be told the answer.",
+		description: `Mark the card as waiting for a person and end your turn: \`card\`, and \`text\` for the status line the person reads. A person approves or returns it; you will be told the answer. ${WRITTEN_CARD_ANSWER_SENTENCE}`,
 		inputSchema: {
 			card: cardArgument,
-			text: z.string().min(1).optional().describe("The status line to leave, saying what the person is being asked to look at. Also accepted as `content`.")
+			text: z.string().min(1).optional().describe("The status line to leave, saying what the person is being asked to look at. Also accepted as `content`."),
+			detail: writtenCardDetailArgument
 		},
 		aliases: { text: ["content"] },
 		example: {
 			card: "TST-5",
 			text: "Ready for review: slugify added with a test"
 		},
-		run: async (transport, input) => await transport.waitApproval(input)
+		run: async (transport, { detail, ...input }) => formatWrittenKanboCard(await transport.waitApproval(input), detail)
 	}),
 	runStartTool,
 	runFinishTool
@@ -11341,7 +12039,8 @@ async function createDbTransport(input) {
 	const workspaceId = workspace.id;
 	const actor = input.actor;
 	async function readColumns() {
-		return (await ops.listColumns(workspaceId)).map(projectKanboColumn);
+		const rows = await ops.listColumns(workspaceId);
+		return rows.map((row) => projectKanboColumn(row, rows));
 	}
 	/** One card with what the run registry says about it, in the shape a tool prints. */
 	async function project(card, columns) {
@@ -11391,7 +12090,7 @@ async function createDbTransport(input) {
 	* the waiting and returned ones last said at most two more.
 	*/
 	async function projectPage(page, { attend = true } = {}) {
-		const columns = page.columns.map(projectKanboColumn);
+		const columns = page.columns.map((column) => projectKanboColumn(column, page.columns));
 		const runs = await ops.readBoardProjectionForIssues(page.cards.map((card) => card.id));
 		const attention = attend ? await ops.readCardAttention(page.cards, runs.map((run) => run.activeRun !== null)) : [];
 		return page.cards.map((card, index) => projectKanboCard({
@@ -11458,10 +12157,14 @@ async function createDbTransport(input) {
 				executionMode
 			}, actor));
 		},
-		cardUpdate: async ({ card, ...patch }) => {
+		cardUpdate: async ({ card, parent, ...patch }) => {
 			await session.assertWritable();
 			const existing = await resolveCard(card);
-			return await project(await ops.updateCard(existing.id, patch, actor));
+			const placement = parent === void 0 ? {} : { parentIssueId: parent === null ? null : (await resolveCard(parent)).id };
+			return await project(await ops.updateCard(existing.id, {
+				...patch,
+				...placement
+			}, actor));
 		},
 		cardMove: async ({ card, column }) => {
 			await session.assertWritable();
@@ -11519,6 +12222,25 @@ async function createDbTransport(input) {
 				state,
 				errorText
 			}, actor));
+		},
+		cardClaim: async ({ card, agent }) => {
+			await session.assertWritable();
+			const named = card === void 0 ? void 0 : (await resolveCard(card)).id;
+			const claimed = await ops.claimCard({
+				workspaceId,
+				issueId: named,
+				run: {
+					agentName: agent ?? actor.id ?? "agent",
+					externalSessionRef: sessionRefFromEnvironment() ?? void 0,
+					launchedByKind: "external"
+				}
+			}, actor);
+			const columns = await readColumns();
+			return {
+				card: await project(claimed.card, columns),
+				run: projectKanboRun(claimed.run),
+				column: columns.find((column) => column.id === claimed.column.id)
+			};
 		}
 	};
 }
@@ -11560,7 +12282,8 @@ const TRANSPORT_METHODS = {
 	statusLine: true,
 	waitApproval: true,
 	runStart: true,
-	runFinish: true
+	runFinish: true,
+	cardClaim: true
 };
 async function openMcpBoard(input) {
 	try {
@@ -11615,13 +12338,40 @@ function withUpdateNote(board, peek) {
 }
 //#endregion
 //#region src/cli/commands/mcp.ts
+/**
+* The actor of a `kanbo mcp` session, which is always an agent's: `KANBO_ACTOR_ID`,
+* else the agent tool, else `agent` until the client says its name (see
+* `nameActorAfterClient`).
+*/
+function createMcpActor() {
+	const tool = readAgentTool();
+	const namedByShell = Boolean(process.env.KANBO_ACTOR_ID?.trim() || tool && tool !== "agent");
+	const actor = createCliActor();
+	if (!namedByShell) actor.id = "agent";
+	return {
+		actor,
+		namedByShell
+	};
+}
+/**
+* Files the session's writes under the client's own name (`Test Client` ->
+* `test-client`) once it has initialized. `actor` is the object the board
+* holds, so later writes see the new id.
+*/
+function nameActorAfterClient(server, actor) {
+	server.server.oninitialized = () => {
+		const id = (server.server.getClientVersion()?.name)?.trim().toLowerCase().replace(/\s+/g, "-").slice(0, 40);
+		if (id) actor.id = id;
+	};
+}
 function registerMcpCommand(program) {
 	program.command("mcp").description("Run the board's MCP server for an agent (it starts this itself)").option("--db <path>", "the board file to open").option("--database-url <url>", "a shared Postgres board to use instead of a board file").option("--workspace <nameOrId>", "the project, when this folder is not bound to one").action(async (options) => {
+		const { actor, namedByShell } = createMcpActor();
 		const board = await openMcpBoard({
 			dbPath: options.db,
 			databaseUrl: options.databaseUrl,
 			workspaceId: options.workspace,
-			actor: createCliActor()
+			actor
 		});
 		let closing;
 		const close = () => closing ??= board.close().catch((error) => {
@@ -11630,6 +12380,7 @@ function registerMcpCommand(program) {
 		const check = isUpdateCheckDisabled() ? null : startUpdateCheck();
 		const server = createKanboMcpServer(check ? withUpdateNote(board, check.peek) : board, { includeRunTools: true });
 		server.server.onclose = () => void close();
+		if (!namedByShell) nameActorAfterClient(server, actor);
 		try {
 			await server.connect(new StdioServerTransport());
 		} catch (error) {
@@ -12138,7 +12889,7 @@ function sendBoardPage(response, pathname, assets) {
 * answering for a person — approving a card, sending it back or closing a
 * sprint — as anyone but one is 403, dropping a pull request link somebody else made is the same 403
 * for the same reason, and acting on a run that has already ended is 409,
-* because the answer would have been yes a moment earlier. An agent putting a
+* because the answer would have been yes a moment earlier. Starting a run on a card that has one going, and claiming a card nobody can take right now, are 409 for the same reason. An agent putting a
 * card in a column whose entry rules it does not meet yet is 409 for the same
 * reason turned around: the answer will be yes once the card meets them, and
 * `details.unmet` says what is missing. Deleting a column that still holds
@@ -12156,6 +12907,14 @@ const BOARD_ERROR_RESPONSES = {
 		message: "Only a person can approve a card",
 		code: "issue_approval_requires_user"
 	},
+	board_card_not_ready: {
+		status: 409,
+		message: "That card is not there to take: it is not in To Do, waits for a person, or has a run going"
+	},
+	board_card_run_active: {
+		status: 409,
+		message: "The card already has a run going"
+	},
 	board_column_name_taken: {
 		status: 400,
 		message: "Another column already has that name"
@@ -12195,6 +12954,14 @@ const BOARD_ERROR_RESPONSES = {
 		status: 400,
 		message: "Execution mode cannot change once the card has been launched"
 	},
+	board_flow_rule_invalid: {
+		status: 400,
+		message: "A column accepts cards from other columns of its own board, and holds at least one card"
+	},
+	board_nothing_ready: {
+		status: 409,
+		message: "No card in To Do is ready to take"
+	},
 	board_pull_request_invalid: {
 		status: 400,
 		message: "Not a GitHub pull request: give its URL or owner/repo#number"
@@ -12274,6 +13041,10 @@ const BOARD_ERROR_RESPONSES = {
 		status: 404,
 		message: "Issue not found"
 	},
+	issue_parent_cycle: {
+		status: 400,
+		message: "Issue cannot be put under one of its own sub-issues"
+	},
 	issue_parent_not_found: {
 		status: 404,
 		message: "Parent issue not found"
@@ -12606,6 +13377,14 @@ const startRunBody = z.object({
 	]).optional(),
 	externalSessionRef: z.string().nullable().optional()
 });
+const claimBody = z.object({
+	workspaceId: id,
+	issueId: id.optional(),
+	agentName: id.optional(),
+	branch: z.string().nullable().optional(),
+	executionMode: executionMode.optional(),
+	externalSessionRef: z.string().nullable().optional()
+});
 const finishRunBody = z.object({
 	state: z.enum([
 		"finished",
@@ -12652,13 +13431,24 @@ async function toWrittenCardView(ops, card) {
 function toStatusView(status) {
 	return {
 		...status,
-		entryRules: readEntryRules(status)
+		entryRules: readEntryRules(status),
+		allowedFrom: readFlowRules(status).allowedFrom
 	};
 }
-function toCommentView(comment) {
+function toCommentView(comment, personWriterId = null) {
+	if (comment.authorKind === "system.approved" || comment.authorKind === "system.returned") return {
+		...comment,
+		author: {
+			kind: "user",
+			id: comment.authorId ?? "__self__",
+			displayName: "You",
+			avatarUrl: null,
+			label: null
+		}
+	};
 	return {
 		...comment,
-		author: resolveActor(commentAuthorReference(comment))
+		author: resolveActor(commentAuthorReference(comment), personWriterId)
 	};
 }
 /**
@@ -12666,23 +13456,34 @@ function toCommentView(comment) {
 *
 * For the kinds that need nobody else's tables: an outside writer is shown
 * under the name it gave, the board writing for itself is `kanbo`, and a person
-* is `You`. An agent and a provider target are rows of whatever app launched
+* is `You`. So is an outside writer that is the person who started this
+* server (`personWriterId`): their own writes carry the name their shell files
+* them under. An agent and a provider target are rows of whatever app launched
 * them, which this server cannot read, so they are shown by the id the board
 * holds for them.
 */
-function resolveActor(actor) {
+function resolveActor(actor, personWriterId) {
 	if (actor.kind === "system") {
 		const provenance = {
 			authorId: actor.id,
 			sourceChatSessionId: actor.sourceChatSessionId
 		};
-		if (isOutsideWriter(provenance)) return {
-			kind: "system",
-			id: provenance.authorId,
-			displayName: provenance.authorId,
-			avatarUrl: null,
-			label: "External"
-		};
+		if (isOutsideWriter(provenance)) {
+			if (personWriterId !== null && provenance.authorId === personWriterId) return {
+				kind: "user",
+				id: provenance.authorId,
+				displayName: "You",
+				avatarUrl: null,
+				label: null
+			};
+			return {
+				kind: "system",
+				id: provenance.authorId,
+				displayName: provenance.authorId,
+				avatarUrl: null,
+				label: "External"
+			};
+		}
 		return {
 			kind: "system",
 			id: null,
@@ -12718,13 +13519,13 @@ function resolveActor(actor) {
 * serves, named by its identity; actors as `resolveActor` reads them; and an
 * agent assignee by its id.
 */
-function createActivityResolver(workspace) {
+function createActivityResolver(workspace, personWriterId = null) {
 	return {
 		workspaceById: /* @__PURE__ */ new Map([[workspace.id, {
 			id: workspace.id,
 			name: workspace.name
 		}]]),
-		resolveActor: async (actor) => resolveActor(actor),
+		resolveActor: async (actor) => resolveActor(actor, personWriterId),
 		resolveAgentName: async (agentId) => agentId
 	};
 }
@@ -12745,10 +13546,15 @@ function createActivityResolver(workspace) {
 const OK = { ok: true };
 /** How many cards a search answers with when the caller names no limit. */
 const DEFAULT_SEARCH_LIMIT = 20;
-function createIssueRoutes(session) {
+/**
+* `personWriterId` is the id the person who started the server is filed under;
+* their writes read as `You`, everyone else's by name.
+*/
+function createIssueRoutes(session, options = {}) {
+	const personWriterId = options.personWriterId ?? null;
 	const { ops, store, workspace } = session;
 	const workspaceId = workspace.id;
-	const activityResolver = createActivityResolver(workspace);
+	const activityResolver = createActivityResolver(workspace, personWriterId);
 	/** The served workspace, when that is the one the caller named — or named none. */
 	function requireWorkspace(named) {
 		if (named !== void 0 && named !== workspaceId) throw new BoardError("issue_workspace_not_found", { workspaceId: named });
@@ -13033,6 +13839,15 @@ function createIssueRoutes(session) {
 				return updated;
 			}
 		}),
+		route({
+			method: "GET",
+			path: "/issues/workspace",
+			handle: async () => ({
+				id: workspace.id,
+				identifier: workspace.identifier,
+				name: workspace.name
+			})
+		}),
 		route({
 			method: "GET",
 			path: "/issues/:id",
@@ -13052,6 +13867,31 @@ function createIssueRoutes(session) {
 				}, actors.placement));
 			}
 		}),
+		route({
+			method: "POST",
+			path: "/issues/claim",
+			body: claimBody,
+			write: true,
+			handle: async ({ body, actors }) => {
+				const named = requireWorkspace(body.workspaceId);
+				if (body.issueId !== void 0) await requireCard(body.issueId);
+				const claimed = await ops.claimCard({
+					workspaceId: named,
+					issueId: body.issueId,
+					run: {
+						agentName: body.agentName ?? actors.writer.id ?? "agent",
+						branch: body.branch,
+						executionMode: body.executionMode,
+						externalSessionRef: body.externalSessionRef
+					}
+				}, actors.placement);
+				return {
+					card: await toWrittenCardView(ops, claimed.card),
+					run: await toRunView(claimed.run),
+					column: toStatusView(claimed.column)
+				};
+			}
+		}),
 		route({
 			method: "PATCH",
 			path: "/issues/bulk",
@@ -13186,7 +14026,7 @@ function createIssueRoutes(session) {
 			path: "/issues/:id/comments",
 			handle: async ({ params }) => {
 				await requireCard(params.id);
-				return (await ops.listComments(params.id)).map(toCommentView);
+				return (await ops.listComments(params.id)).map((comment) => toCommentView(comment, personWriterId));
 			}
 		}),
 		route({
@@ -13199,7 +14039,7 @@ function createIssueRoutes(session) {
 				return toCommentView(await ops.addComment({
 					issueId: params.id,
 					content: body.content
-				}, actors.writer));
+				}, actors.person), personWriterId);
 			}
 		}),
 		route({
@@ -13328,7 +14168,7 @@ function assertServeBinding(host, token) {
 }
 async function startKanboServer(options) {
 	assertServeBinding(options.host, options.token);
-	const routes = createIssueRoutes(options.session);
+	const routes = createIssueRoutes(options.session, { personWriterId: options.actors.writer.id });
 	const listenHost = stripBrackets(options.host);
 	let boundPort = 0;
 	const handle = createRequestHandler(routes, options, () => boundPort);
@@ -13374,6 +14214,11 @@ const SAFE_METHODS = /* @__PURE__ */ new Set([
 	"HEAD",
 	"OPTIONS"
 ]);
+/** What the board page tells the server about itself. */
+const PRESENCE_BODY = z.object({
+	tabId: z.string().min(1).max(64).regex(/^[A-Za-z0-9-]+$/),
+	state: z.enum(["open", "closed"])
+});
 function createRequestHandler(routes, options, boundPort) {
 	const token = options.token || null;
 	const corsOrigins = new Set(options.corsOrigins ?? []);
@@ -13434,17 +14279,41 @@ function createRequestHandler(routes, options, boundPort) {
 				throw new ServeError(401, "unauthorized", "A valid bearer token is required");
 			}
 			if (!SAFE_METHODS.has(request.method ?? "GET") && !isJsonContentType(request.headers["content-type"])) throw new ServeError(415, "unsupported_media_type", "Send the request as content-type: application/json");
-			const matched = matchRoute(routes, request.method ?? "GET", url.pathname);
-			if (!matched) throw new ServeError(404, "not_found", "Not Found");
+			if (url.pathname === "/page/presence" && request.method === "POST") {
+				if (!options.presence) {
+					response.writeHead(204).end();
+					return;
+				}
+				const parsed = PRESENCE_BODY.safeParse(await readJsonBody(request));
+				if (!parsed.success) throw validationError("body", parsed.error);
+				if (parsed.data.state === "open") options.presence.seen(parsed.data.tabId);
+				else options.presence.closed(parsed.data.tabId);
+				sendJson(response, 200, { ok: true });
+				return;
+			}
+			const projectPath = readProjectPath(url.pathname);
+			if (url.pathname === "/projects" && request.method === "GET" && options.projects) {
+				sendJson(response, 200, options.projects.list());
+				return;
+			}
+			const matched = projectPath ? null : matchRoute(routes, request.method ?? "GET", url.pathname);
+			if (!projectPath && !matched) throw new ServeError(404, "not_found", "Not Found");
+			if (projectPath && !options.projects) throw new ServeError(404, "not_found", "Not Found");
 			const body = await readJsonBody(request);
 			const actors = resolveRequestActors(options.actors, {
 				actorHeader: request.headers[ACTOR_HEADER],
 				authenticated: token !== null
 			});
 			const result = queue.then(async () => {
-				if (matched.route.write) await options.session.assertWritable();
-				return await matched.route.run({
-					params: matched.params,
+				const target = projectPath && options.projects ? await options.projects.resolve(projectPath.projectId) : {
+					session: options.session,
+					routes
+				};
+				const found = matched ?? matchRoute(target.routes, request.method ?? "GET", projectPath?.rest ?? url.pathname);
+				if (!found) throw new ServeError(404, "not_found", "Not Found");
+				if (found.route.write) await target.session.assertWritable();
+				return await found.route.run({
+					params: found.params,
 					query: readQuery(url.searchParams),
 					body,
 					actors
@@ -13470,6 +14339,21 @@ function createRequestHandler(routes, options, boundPort) {
 		}
 	};
 }
+/** `/projects/<id>/issues/...` as the project's id and the `/issues/...` path under it; `null` for any other path. */
+function readProjectPath(pathname) {
+	const segments = pathname.split("/").filter(Boolean);
+	if (segments[0] !== "projects" || segments.length < 3 || segments[2] !== "issues") return null;
+	let projectId;
+	try {
+		projectId = decodeURIComponent(segments[1]);
+	} catch {
+		return null;
+	}
+	return {
+		projectId,
+		rest: `/${segments.slice(2).join("/")}`
+	};
+}
 function isJsonContentType(value) {
 	return value?.split(";")[0].trim().toLowerCase() === "application/json";
 }
@@ -13613,6 +14497,146 @@ function readTextOrNull(path) {
 	}
 }
 //#endregion
+//#region src/serve/page-presence.ts
+function createPagePresence(options) {
+	const closedGraceMs = options.closedGraceMs ?? 5e3;
+	const staleMs = options.staleMs ?? 12e4;
+	const tickMs = options.tickMs ?? 1e4;
+	const now = options.now ?? Date.now;
+	const tabs = /* @__PURE__ */ new Map();
+	let finished = false;
+	let graceTimer = null;
+	let lastTick = now();
+	function stop() {
+		finished = true;
+		clearInterval(ticker);
+		if (graceTimer) {
+			clearTimeout(graceTimer);
+			graceTimer = null;
+		}
+	}
+	function idle() {
+		if (finished) return;
+		stop();
+		options.onIdle();
+	}
+	const ticker = setInterval(() => {
+		const current = now();
+		const asleep = current - lastTick > 3 * tickMs;
+		lastTick = current;
+		if (asleep) {
+			for (const id of tabs.keys()) tabs.set(id, current);
+			return;
+		}
+		if (tabs.size === 0) return;
+		for (const [id, lastSeen] of tabs) if (current - lastSeen > staleMs) tabs.delete(id);
+		if (tabs.size === 0) idle();
+	}, tickMs);
+	ticker.unref();
+	return {
+		seen: (tabId) => {
+			if (!finished) tabs.set(tabId, now());
+		},
+		closed: (tabId) => {
+			if (finished || !tabs.delete(tabId) || tabs.size > 0) return;
+			if (graceTimer) clearTimeout(graceTimer);
+			graceTimer = setTimeout(() => {
+				graceTimer = null;
+				if (tabs.size === 0) idle();
+			}, closedGraceMs);
+			graceTimer.unref();
+		},
+		stop
+	};
+}
+//#endregion
+//#region src/serve/projects.ts
+function createServeProjects(input) {
+	const routesOptions = { personWriterId: input.personWriterId ?? null };
+	const opened = /* @__PURE__ */ new Map();
+	let defaultOpened = null;
+	/** Every project that can be offered right now, default first, with the folder each lives in. */
+	function entries() {
+		const defaultDir = input.defaultProject?.dir ?? null;
+		const dirs = [...defaultDir === null ? [] : [defaultDir], ...input.readRegistry().map((project) => project.path).filter((path) => path !== defaultDir)];
+		const found = [];
+		for (const dir of dirs) {
+			const binding = input.readBinding(dir);
+			if (binding === null && dir !== defaultDir) continue;
+			found.push({
+				view: viewOf(dir, binding, dir === defaultDir),
+				dir
+			});
+		}
+		return found;
+	}
+	return {
+		list: () => entries().map((entry) => entry.view),
+		resolve: async (projectId) => {
+			const entry = entries().find((candidate) => candidate.view.id === projectId);
+			if (!entry) throw new ServeError(404, "project_not_found", "No project with that id is on this computer's list");
+			if (entry.view.isDefault && input.defaultProject) {
+				defaultOpened ??= {
+					session: input.defaultProject.session,
+					routes: createIssueRoutes(input.defaultProject.session, routesOptions)
+				};
+				return defaultOpened;
+			}
+			const cached = opened.get(projectId);
+			if (cached) return cached;
+			let session;
+			try {
+				session = await input.openSession(entry.dir);
+			} catch (error) {
+				throw new ServeError(503, "project_unavailable", describeFailure(error).message);
+			}
+			const project = {
+				session,
+				routes: createIssueRoutes(session, routesOptions)
+			};
+			opened.set(projectId, project);
+			return project;
+		},
+		close: async () => {
+			const sessions = [...opened.values()].map((project) => project.session);
+			opened.clear();
+			await Promise.allSettled(sessions.map(async (session) => await session.close()));
+		}
+	};
+}
+function projectId(dir) {
+	return createHash("sha256").update(dir).digest("hex").slice(0, 12);
+}
+function viewOf(dir, binding, isDefault) {
+	return {
+		id: projectId(dir),
+		name: dir.split(/[\\/]/).filter(Boolean).pop() ?? dir,
+		folder: tildify(dir),
+		storage: storageOf(dir, binding),
+		isDefault
+	};
+}
+/** Where the board lives. The connection string is read here to name its host, and goes no further. */
+function storageOf(dir, binding) {
+	if (binding?.databaseUrl) return {
+		kind: "postgres",
+		where: hostOf(maskDatabaseUrl(binding.databaseUrl))
+	};
+	return {
+		kind: "file",
+		path: tildify(resolve(dir, binding?.dbPath ?? ".kanbo/board.db"))
+	};
+}
+/** The host of an already masked connection string; a string that is not one names no host. */
+function hostOf(maskedUrl) {
+	try {
+		const { host } = new URL(maskedUrl);
+		return host && !host.includes("*") ? host : "a Postgres database";
+	} catch {
+		return "a Postgres database";
+	}
+}
+//#endregion
 //#region src/cli/commands/serve.ts
 function registerServeCommand(program) {
 	program.command("serve").description("Open the board in your browser").option("--port <port>", "port to listen on", String(DEFAULT_SERVE_PORT)).option("--host <host>", "address to listen on; anything but this computer needs a token", DEFAULT_SERVE_HOST).option("--db <path>", "the board file to open").option("--database-url <url>", "a shared Postgres board to use instead of a board file").option("--workspace <nameOrId>", "the project, when this folder is not bound to one").option("--token <token>", "a password every request must carry (or set KANBO_SERVE_TOKEN); made up for you when left out").option("--cors-origin <origin>", "let pages from this web address call the board; repeat for more", collect, []).option("--no-open", "print the board page link without opening it in the browser").action(async (options) => {
@@ -13620,7 +14644,7 @@ function registerServeCommand(program) {
 			status: (line) => console.error(line),
 			page: (line) => console.log(line)
 		});
-		await waitForInterrupt();
+		if (await waitForStop(running.idle) === "idle") console.error("kanbo serve: the last board tab was closed — stopped.");
 		try {
 			await running.close();
 			process.exit(0);
@@ -13632,26 +14656,46 @@ function registerServeCommand(program) {
 }
 /**
 * Open the board and serve it — everything `kanbo serve` does but wait. The
-* command waits for Ctrl-C and ends the process; the home menu waits for
-* Ctrl-C and comes back to its menu.
+* command waits for Ctrl-C (or the last board tab closing) and ends the
+* process; the home menu waits the same and comes back to its menu.
 */
 async function startServe(options, output) {
 	const port = parsePort(options.port);
 	const access = resolveServeAccess(options.host, options.token?.trim() || process.env.KANBO_SERVE_TOKEN?.trim() || null);
+	const here = findBinding(process.cwd());
+	const mostRecent = here === null && namesNoBoard(options) ? readProjectRegistry()[0] : void 0;
+	const defaultDir = here?.projectDir ?? mostRecent?.path ?? null;
 	const session = await openBoardSession({
 		db: options.db,
 		databaseUrl: options.databaseUrl,
 		workspace: options.workspace
-	}, "read");
+	}, "read", mostRecent?.path);
 	const agentShell = isAgentShell();
 	const actors = {
-		writer: createCliActor(),
+		writer: createServeWriter(),
 		person: agentShell ? null : createPersonActor()
 	};
+	const projects = createServeProjects({
+		defaultProject: defaultDir === null ? null : {
+			dir: defaultDir,
+			session
+		},
+		readRegistry: () => readProjectRegistry(),
+		readBinding: (dir) => readProjectBinding(dir),
+		openSession: async (dir) => await openBoardSession({}, "read", dir),
+		personWriterId: actors.writer.id
+	});
+	const opensBrowser = !agentShell && process.stdout.isTTY === true && options.open;
+	let presence;
+	const idle = new Promise((resolve) => {
+		presence = opensBrowser ? createPagePresence({ onIdle: resolve }) : void 0;
+	});
 	let server;
 	try {
 		server = await startKanboServer({
 			session,
+			projects,
+			presence,
 			actors,
 			host: options.host,
 			port,
@@ -13659,10 +14703,12 @@ async function startServe(options, output) {
 			corsOrigins: options.corsOrigin
 		});
 	} catch (error) {
+		presence?.stop();
 		await session.close();
 		throw error;
 	}
-	output.status(`kanbo serve: ${server.url} — workspace ${session.workspace.id}, bearer token required${access.generated ? " (generated for this run)" : ""}`);
+	const projectCount = projects.list().length;
+	output.status(`kanbo serve: ${server.url} — workspace ${session.workspace.id}, ${projectCount} ${projectCount === 1 ? "project" : "projects"}, bearer token required${access.generated ? " (generated for this run)" : ""}`);
 	output.status(`kanbo serve: ${describePersonRights(actors)}`);
 	presentServePage({
 		url: server.url,
@@ -13676,25 +14722,40 @@ async function startServe(options, output) {
 	});
 	return {
 		link: access.generated ? `${server.url}/#token=${access.token}` : `${server.url}/`,
+		idle,
 		close: async () => {
+			presence?.stop();
 			try {
 				await server.close();
 			} finally {
-				await session.close();
+				try {
+					await projects.close();
+				} finally {
+					await session.close();
+				}
 			}
 		}
 	};
 }
-/** Settles on the first Ctrl-C (SIGINT) or SIGTERM, and stops listening for both. */
-function waitForInterrupt() {
+/** Whether neither a flag nor the environment says which board to open. */
+function namesNoBoard(options) {
+	return !options.db && !options.databaseUrl && !options.workspace && !process.env.KANBO_DB_PATH && !process.env.KANBO_DATABASE_URL && !process.env.KANBO_WORKSPACE_ID;
+}
+/**
+* Settles on the first Ctrl-C (SIGINT) or SIGTERM, or when `idle` settles, and
+* stops listening for both signals whichever it was.
+*/
+function waitForStop(idle) {
 	return new Promise((resolve) => {
-		const stop = () => {
-			process.off("SIGINT", stop);
-			process.off("SIGTERM", stop);
-			resolve();
+		const finish = (why) => {
+			process.off("SIGINT", onSignal);
+			process.off("SIGTERM", onSignal);
+			resolve(why);
 		};
-		process.on("SIGINT", stop);
-		process.on("SIGTERM", stop);
+		const onSignal = () => finish("interrupt");
+		process.on("SIGINT", onSignal);
+		process.on("SIGTERM", onSignal);
+		idle.then(() => finish("idle"));
 	});
 }
 function collect(value, previous) {
@@ -13965,6 +15026,7 @@ function registerKanboCommands(program, context = {}) {
 	registerServeCommand(program);
 	program.commandsGroup("For agents and integrations:");
 	registerMcpCommand(program);
+	registerClaimCommand(program);
 	registerRunCommands(program);
 	registerCapabilitiesCommand(program);
 	program.commandsGroup("Shared Postgres boards:");
@@ -13988,6 +15050,7 @@ function registerKanboCommands(program, context = {}) {
 const KANBO_TOOL_NAMES = [
 	"kanbo_prime",
 	"kanbo_ready",
+	"kanbo_card_claim",
 	"kanbo_columns",
 	"kanbo_sprints",
 	"kanbo_card_get",
@@ -14013,12 +15076,13 @@ const KANBO_TOOL_NAMES = [
 const KANBO_TOOL_CLI_EQUIVALENTS = {
 	kanbo_prime: { kanbo: "kanbo prime" },
 	kanbo_ready: { kanbo: "kanbo ready" },
+	kanbo_card_claim: { kanbo: "kanbo claim [card] [--agent <name>]" },
 	kanbo_columns: { kanbo: "kanbo columns list" },
 	kanbo_sprints: { kanbo: "kanbo sprint list" },
 	kanbo_card_get: { kanbo: "kanbo card get <id>" },
 	kanbo_card_list: { kanbo: "kanbo card list" },
 	kanbo_card_create: { kanbo: "kanbo card create --description <text> [--title <title>] [--parent <id>]" },
-	kanbo_card_update: { kanbo: "kanbo card update <id> [--title <title>] [--description <text>]" },
+	kanbo_card_update: { kanbo: "kanbo card update <id> [--title <title>] [--description <text>] [--parent <id>]" },
 	kanbo_card_move: { kanbo: "kanbo card move <id> <column>" },
 	kanbo_card_comment: { kanbo: "kanbo card comment <id> --content <text>" },
 	kanbo_card_link_pr: { kanbo: "kanbo card pr add <id> <url>" },
@@ -14160,13 +15224,15 @@ function buildCapabilitiesManifest() {
 			"Only a person may close a sprint. `kanbo sprint close` refuses an agent's shell (exit 4), and the operation refuses any actor but a person; there is no MCP tool that closes one — `kanbo_sprints` only reads. Unlike approval, the database role does not enforce this.",
 			`The agent role (\`${BOARD_AGENT_ROLE}\`) may not delete a card at all — it holds select, insert and update on \`issues\` and nothing more, even though it may delete freely on every other board table.`,
 			"A column may ask a card to meet entry rules before it enters (`entryRules`). Anyone but a person moving, creating or bulk-moving a card into it early is refused with `board_column_rules_unmet` and one line per unmet rule (CLI exit 1); a person goes through and is told what is missing. Only a person sets the rules — `kanbo columns rules` refuses an agent's shell (exit 4). The database role does not enforce them.",
+			"A column may name the columns it accepts cards from (`allowedFrom`) and the most cards it holds (`wipLimit`). Anyone but a person moving, creating, bulk-moving or claiming a card against them is refused with `board_column_rules_unmet` (`allowed_from`, `wip_limit`); a person goes through and is told. A new board's Done accepts cards from In Review only. Only a person sets them — `kanbo columns flow` refuses an agent's shell (exit 4). The database role does not enforce them.",
+			"A claim (`kanbo claim`, `kanbo_card_claim`, `POST /issues/claim`) takes a ready card from To Do, starts its run and moves it into the board's first `started` column in one write; two claimers never get the same card, and the one that loses is told `board_nothing_ready` or `board_card_not_ready`. A card has one run going at a time: starting a second is refused with `board_card_run_active`, on every path.",
 			"Only a person changes the board's columns: `kanbo columns add`, `rename`, `move`, `remove`, `template` and `add-standard` refuse an agent's shell (exit 4), and the rename, move, remove and add-missing operations refuse any actor but a person (`board_column_structure_requires_user`); no MCP tool changes columns. To Do can be neither removed nor renamed away from its slug `to_do`: `kanbo ready` takes work from it.",
 			"No board tool or command deletes a card, agent role or not. Cancelling one is a move to another column. The one exception is `kanbo serve`'s `DELETE /issues/:id`, which it answers only for a request presenting its token, on a server a person started, that has not sent `x-kanbo-actor: agent` (403 `issue_delete_requires_user` otherwise).",
 			"`kanbo migrate` and `kanbo roles apply` refuse a host app's own database file: the app migrates it, and this package never touches it.",
-			"A write to a board older than this build's schema epoch is refused (exit 3) until `kanbo migrate` runs (on a host app's database, until the app migrates it) — reads stay open either way.",
+			"A write to a board older than this build's schema epoch is refused (exit 3) until `kanbo migrate` runs (on a host app's database, until the app migrates it), and so is a read of a board file that lacks a table or a column this build reads; a board whose only difference is its schema stamp stays readable.",
 			"There is no MCP tool that approves a card, and there never will be: `kanbo_wait_approval` hands the card to a person and ends the turn; only a person takes it back."
 		]
 	};
 }
 //#endregion
-export { COLUMN_TEMPLATES as $, projectKanboSprint as A, createBoardOps as B, pageOf as C, nextIssueIdentity as Ct, projectKanboFieldChange as D, projectKanboColumn as E, readIssuePrefix as Et, readBinding as F, ENTRY_RULES as G, formatExternalSessionRef as H, readProjectBinding as I, evaluateEntryRules as J, ENTRY_RULE_DESCRIPTIONS as K, writeBinding as L, renderCapabilitiesMarkdown as M, BINDING_FILE_PATH as N, projectKanboPullRequest as O, ignoreBoardFile as P, COLUMN_CATALOGUE as Q, maskDatabaseUrl as R, matchesKanboCardQuery as S, formatIssueId as St, projectKanboCardComment as T, nextIssueOrder as Tt, parseExternalSessionRef as U, cardDisplayTitle as V, pullRequestFactKeys as W, readEntryRules as X, readChecklist as Y, serializeEntryRules as Z, suggestCardKey as _, parseActivityStringArray as _t, BOARD_ERROR_RESPONSES as a, TRACKED_FIELDS as at, DEFAULT_KANBO_COMMENT_LIMIT as b, normalizeCommentAuthorKind as bt, registerKanboTools as c, BOARD_ACTOR as ct, KANBO_MCP_INSTRUCTIONS as d, activityText as dt, COLUMN_TEMPLATE_IDS as et, KANBO_CAPABILITIES_MARKDOWN_RESOURCE_URI as f, activityToken as ft, isValidCardKey as g, isEmptyActivityValue as gt, CARD_KEY_PATTERN as h, formatPlainActivityValue as ht, KANBO_TOOL_NAMES as i, normalizeStatusName as it, projectKanboSubCard as j, projectKanboRun as k, KANBO_TOOLS as l, currentUnixSeconds as lt, registerKanboCapabilitiesResources as m, formatActivityIssueReference as mt, buildCapabilitiesManifest as n, runBoardWrite as nt, KANBO_MCP_SERVER_NAME as o, diffFieldChanges as ot, KANBO_CAPABILITIES_RESOURCE_URI as p, commentAuthorReference as pt, UNMET_ENTRY_RULE_REASONS as q, KANBO_TOOL_CLI_EQUIVALENTS as r, DEFAULT_STATUSES as rt, createKanboMcpServer as s, previewComment as st, CAPABILITIES_MANIFEST_VERSION as t, readChangeSeq as tt, buildKanboTools as u, activityKindOrder as ut, DEFAULT_BOARD_FILE_PATH as v, readSystemCommentKind as vt, projectKanboCard as w, nextIssueNumber as wt, KANBO_CARD_INCLUDES as x, toIssueView as xt, DEFAULT_KANBO_CARD_INCLUDES as y, isOutsideWriter as yt, maskDatabaseUrls as z };
+export { serializeEntryRules as $, projectKanboSprint as A, createBoardOps as B, pageOf as C, toIssueView as Ct, projectKanboFieldChange as D, nextIssueOrder as Dt, projectKanboColumn as E, nextIssueNumber as Et, BINDING_FILE_PATH as F, FLOW_RULES as G, formatExternalSessionRef as H, ignoreBoardFile as I, ENTRY_RULE_DESCRIPTIONS as J, readFlowRules as K, readBinding as L, renderCapabilitiesMarkdown as M, maskDatabaseUrl as N, projectKanboPullRequest as O, readIssuePrefix as Ot, maskDatabaseUrls as P, readEntryRules as Q, readProjectBinding as R, matchesKanboCardQuery as S, normalizeCommentAuthorKind as St, projectKanboCardComment as T, nextIssueIdentity as Tt, parseExternalSessionRef as U, cardDisplayTitle as V, pullRequestFactKeys as W, evaluateEntryRules as X, UNMET_ENTRY_RULE_REASONS as Y, readChecklist as Z, suggestCardKey as _, formatPlainActivityValue as _t, BOARD_ERROR_RESPONSES as a, DEFAULT_STATUSES as at, DEFAULT_KANBO_COMMENT_LIMIT as b, readSystemCommentKind as bt, registerKanboTools as c, diffFieldChanges as ct, KANBO_MCP_INSTRUCTIONS as d, currentUnixSeconds as dt, COLUMN_CATALOGUE as et, KANBO_CAPABILITIES_MARKDOWN_RESOURCE_URI as f, activityKindOrder as ft, isValidCardKey as g, formatActivityIssueReference as gt, CARD_KEY_PATTERN as h, commentAuthorReference as ht, KANBO_TOOL_NAMES as i, runBoardWrite as it, projectKanboSubCard as j, projectKanboRun as k, KANBO_TOOLS as l, previewComment as lt, registerKanboCapabilitiesResources as m, activityToken as mt, buildCapabilitiesManifest as n, COLUMN_TEMPLATE_IDS as nt, KANBO_MCP_SERVER_NAME as o, normalizeStatusName as ot, KANBO_CAPABILITIES_RESOURCE_URI as p, activityText as pt, ENTRY_RULES as q, KANBO_TOOL_CLI_EQUIVALENTS as r, readChangeSeq as rt, createKanboMcpServer as s, TRACKED_FIELDS as st, CAPABILITIES_MANIFEST_VERSION as t, COLUMN_TEMPLATES as tt, buildKanboTools as u, BOARD_ACTOR as ut, DEFAULT_BOARD_FILE_PATH as v, isEmptyActivityValue as vt, projectKanboCard as w, formatIssueId as wt, KANBO_CARD_INCLUDES as x, isOutsideWriter as xt, DEFAULT_KANBO_CARD_INCLUDES as y, parseActivityStringArray as yt, writeBinding as z };