Shortcut Kanban Integration
Manage tasks and stories on Shortcut.com project boards via API.
Prerequisites
Shortcut API token configured via one of:
- Environment variable:
SHORTCUT_API_TOKEN - File:
~/.config/shortcut/api-token
- Environment variable:
Access to a Shortcut workspace with appropriate permissions
Setup
Get your API token from Shortcut.com (Settings → API Tokens)
Store it either:
- As environment variable:
export SHORTCUT_API_TOKEN="your-token" - In a file:
echo "your-token" > ~/.config/shortcut/api-token && chmod 600 ~/.config/shortcut/api-token
- As environment variable:
Initialize workflow states for your workspace:
bash scripts/shortcut-init-workflow.shThis creates~/.config/shortcut/workflow-stateswith your workspace's actual state IDs.Optionally add to
~/.bashrcfor persistence:bash export SHORTCUT_API_TOKEN=$(cat ~/.config/shortcut/api-token 2>/dev/null | tr -d '\n') source ~/.config/shortcut/workflow-states
Available Operations
List Stories
scripts/shortcut-list-stories.sh [--active|--completed|--all] [--json]
Options:
--active- Show only incomplete stories (default)--completed- Show only completed stories--all- Include archived stories--json- Output raw JSON
Show Story Details
scripts/shortcut-show-story.sh <story-id>
Displays full story information including:
Story name and status
Description (if present)
Checklist items with completion status
Create Story
scripts/shortcut-create-story.sh "Story name" [--description "text"] [--type feature|bug|chore]
Story types:
feature(default) - New functionalitybug- Bug fixchore- Maintenance task
Update Story
scripts/shortcut-update-story.sh <story-id> [--complete|--todo|--in-progress] [--description "new text"]
Workflow states: The script uses state IDs from ~/.config/shortcut/workflow-states (created by shortcut-init-workflow.sh). If not configured, it falls back to common defaults:
Backlog:
500000006To Do:
500000007In Progress:
500000008In Review:
500000009Done:
500000010
Note: Different Shortcut workspaces may use different state IDs. Always run shortcut-init-workflow.sh to configure your workspace's actual IDs.
Manage Checklist Tasks
Create a task:
scripts/shortcut-create-task.sh <story-id> "task description"
Update task completion status:
scripts/shortcut-update-task.sh <story-id> <task-id> [--complete|--incomplete]
Edit task description:
scripts/shortcut-edit-task.sh <story-id> <task-id> "new description"
Delete a task:
scripts/shortcut-delete-task.sh <story-id> <task-id>
Use shortcut-show-story.sh to see task IDs.
Manage Comments
Add a comment:
scripts/shortcut-add-comment.sh <story-id> "comment text"
Update a comment:
scripts/shortcut-update-comment.sh <story-id> <comment-id> "new text"
Delete a comment:
scripts/shortcut-delete-comment.sh <story-id> <comment-id>
Use shortcut-show-story.sh to see comment IDs.
Workflow
List existing stories to understand current board state
Create new stories with descriptive names and appropriate types
Update story status as work progresses
Notes
Scripts use
SHORTCUT_API_TOKENenvironment variable or fall back to~/.config/shortcut/api-tokenStories are created in "Unstarted" state by default (workflow_state_id: 500000006)
If your workspace uses different workflow state IDs, you may need to adjust the scripts
The token must have permissions for the workspace you want to manage