Project State Management: Event-Driven Alternative to Kanban

Pain Point

Traditional Kanban boards are static and require manual updates. You forget to move cards, lose context between sessions, and can't track the "why" behind state changes.

• Boards become stale: You waste time updating cards instead of doing work.
• Context gets lost: Three months later, you can't remember why you made a key decision.
• No code linkage: There's no automatic link between code changes and project progress.
• Manual standups: Writing daily status updates is tedious and often skipped.

What You Can Do

• Conversational updates: Instead of dragging cards, chat with your assistant: "Finished the auth flow, starting on the dashboard."
• Event-driven state tracking: The system logs events, updates project state, and preserves context automatically.
• Decision audit trail: When you ask "Where are we on the dashboard?" it gives you the full story — what's done, what's next, what's blocking you, and why.
• Git commit integration: Commits are automatically scanned and linked to projects.
• Daily standup summaries: Posted to Discord every morning, based on events + commits. No manual writing needed.
• Blocker management: "Blocked on [issue]" creates a blocker entry and updates project status.

Skills You Need

• postgres or SQLite for project state database
• github (gh CLI) for commit tracking
• Discord or Telegram for updates and queries
• Cron jobs for daily summaries
• Sub-agents for parallel project analysis

How to Set It Up

1. Project State Database

Set up the database schema to track projects, events, and blockers:

CREATE TABLE projects (
  id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
  name TEXT UNIQUE,
  status TEXT, -- "active", "blocked", "completed"
  current_phase TEXT,
  last_update TIMESTAMPTZ DEFAULT NOW()
);

CREATE TABLE events (
  id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
  project_id INTEGER REFERENCES projects(id),
  event_type TEXT, -- "progress", "blocker", "decision", "pivot"
  description TEXT,
  context TEXT,
  timestamp TIMESTAMPTZ DEFAULT NOW()
);

CREATE TABLE blockers (
  id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
  project_id INTEGER REFERENCES projects(id),
  blocker_text TEXT,
  status TEXT DEFAULT 'open', -- "open", "resolved"
  created_at TIMESTAMPTZ DEFAULT NOW(),
  resolved_at TIMESTAMPTZ
);

2. Discord Channel

Create a Discord channel #project-state for daily standup summaries and project queries.

3. Configure the System

Use the prompt above in your AGENTS.md. The system works on two triggers:

• Conversational: You tell OpenClaw what you're doing naturally. It captures events automatically.
• 9 AM cron: Scans git commits, links to projects, and posts a standup summary.

4. Integrate with Your Workflow

Just talk to your assistant naturally about what you're doing. The system captures everything.

Key Insights

• Conversation > cards: Talking about your work is faster than dragging Kanban cards.
• Events preserve context: Unlike card movements, events capture why things happened.
• Git linking is free insight: Automatic commit-to-project linking means your standup writes itself.
• Decision search is invaluable: "Why did we decide X?" is the question you'll ask most three months from now.

Related Links

• Event Sourcing Pattern
• Why Kanban Fails for Solo Developers

Deploy with ShipClaw

Skip the setup — get a fully managed OpenClaw instance ready to run this use case.

Quick Start

1. Pick a plan — Pro recommended for this use case
2. Go to your Instances Dashboard and click Deploy New Instance
3. Once deployed, use the sample prompt above to configure your agent
4. Customize thresholds, schedules, and sources to fit your workflow