Project management · checked 2026-10-14Can I vibecode Trello?
YES· one-shottable
A board for one person is a small app: ordered lists, cards you drag between them, and labels, checklists, due dates and attachments on each card, all on a SQLite file. An agent can build that in one session, and the free self-hosted projects show how little of Trello most people use. The parts left behind are the social ones: real-time editing with a team, Power-Ups, automation rules and the phone apps. If you share boards with other people, running Planka or Wekan is quicker than building.
$6/moprice per seat
$72you'd save a year
one sittingbuild time
—people replaced it
What you need on hand.
DifficultyIntermediate · Some system setup or keys.
TimeAbout an hour for the first version
- Claude Code, Codex or CursorAny of them can run the prompt.
- Node.js 22better-sqlite3 compiles a native module on some machines, so build tools may be needed.
- A JSON export of each Trello board you want to keepBoard menu > Print, Export, and Share > JSON. It holds only the 1,000 most recent actions.
Before you buildTrello Free keeps 10 boards and 10 collaborators per Workspace. If you are under that, you may not need to pay or build anything.
- 1. Install one agent: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor.
- 2. Make an empty folder and open it in the agent.
- 3. Paste the prompt below, press enter, and answer its questions as it builds.
The prompt
Build me a personal kanban board to replace Trello. Requirements: - Node.js 22 + TypeScript: a Fastify API and a React front end built with Vite. `npm start` builds the UI and serves everything on http://localhost:4700. - Storage: better-sqlite3 in ./data/boards.db. Attachments go to ./data/files/<card id>/. Order lists and cards with fractional indexing (`fractional-indexing`) so a drag rewrites one row, not the whole list. - Boards hold lists and lists hold cards. Create, rename, archive and restore all three; a board has a background colour setting. - Card detail: Markdown description (render with `marked`, sanitise with `dompurify`), per-board labels with name and colour, checklists with a done/total count, due date, comments, and file attachments up to 25 MB. - Drag and drop with `@dnd-kit`: cards within and between lists, lists along the board. Keyboard alternative: focus a card and press Alt+Arrow to move it. - Filter bar: by label, by due state (overdue, this week, none) and by text across titles and descriptions. Cards show badges for due date, checklist progress, comments and attachments. - Import a Trello board JSON export (lists, cards, labels, checklists, due dates, comments); attachments become plain links. Export any board as JSON, or as one Markdown file per list. - Single user. No accounts, no telemetry, local-first. Listen on 127.0.0.1. - Out of scope: real-time multi-user editing, Power-Ups, automation rules, mobile apps, calendar and timeline views. - README: setup, where the data lives, how to back it up (copy ./data) and how to import a Trello export.
Opens your agent with the prompt filled in, you press enter. Or copy it and paste it into an empty folder.
Then keep going
Next prompts, same folder.
The first prompt builds the core. Run these one at a time in the same folder to grow it into your own Trello.
Add recurring cards to the kanban app in this folder. Requirements: - On a card, set a repeat rule: daily, weekly on chosen days, monthly on a date, or every N days. - When a repeating card is moved to a list marked "Done", create the next copy in the list marked "Backlog" with its labels and an empty checklist, due on the next date. - Check for missed repeats at startup and once an hour, using `croner`. - Show a repeat icon on the card and list upcoming copies in the card detail. - Update the README.
Make the kanban app in this folder usable on a phone. Requirements: - Add a web app manifest and a service worker so it installs as a PWA and loads offline in read-only mode. - Replace drag and drop on screens under 700 px wide with a "Move to..." menu on each card. - Add one password from .env (signed cookie) that is required whenever the server listens on anything other than 127.0.0.1. - Document running it behind Tailscale or a Cloudflare Tunnel in the README, with a warning not to open the port to the internet without the password.
Add automation rules to the kanban app in this folder. Requirements: - Triggers: a card is created, a card moves into a given list, a label is added, a due date passes. - Actions: move the card, add or remove a label, set a due date N days ahead, add a checklist from a template, or POST JSON to a webhook URL. - A page to list, enable and disable rules, and a log of the last 200 runs with the card each one touched. - Guard against loops: a rule cannot fire from a change that another rule made in the same run. - Update the README.
Add a calendar view to the kanban app in this folder. Requirements: - A month and a week view on each board, placing cards by due date; dragging a card to another day changes its due date. - A read-only iCal feed per board at /ical/<token>.ics, with a random token you can regenerate, so a calendar app can subscribe. - Cards without a due date stay in a side list. - Update the README with how to subscribe from Apple Calendar and Google Calendar.
What you lose
- Real-time editing and notifications when teammates move cards
- Power-Ups and the Butler-style automation rules
- The iPhone and Android apps
- Calendar, Timeline, Table and Dashboard views (Premium)
- Guest access for clients and contractors
Why people still pay
Paying mostly buys headroom: unlimited boards, bigger files, custom fields and more automation runs than the free plan allows. The other draw is familiarity. Colleagues and clients already know how to read a Trello board, so nobody needs onboarding. A single user who stays under 10 boards rarely hits a reason to pay.
Trello or your own copy?
Seats
Over
Your usage
3h ×$/h
Trello, 1 yr$72
Your own copy, 1 yr$38running + build session
You keep$35pays for itself in 3 months
Estimate · Runs on your own machine with nothing to pay for. A small VPS would add a few dollars a month if you want the board on your phone. The build is token usage on your agent plan.
Take your data, then cancel.
1 · Take your data out of Trello
- 1Open the board menu, choose Print, Export, and Share, then pick the JSON option. Any board member can do this.
- 2A board's JSON holds only its 1,000 most recent actions, so older comments may be missing. Premium Workspace admins can instead open Workspace Settings > Export and download every board as CSV or JSON, with comments included.
- 3Tick Include raw attachments when creating that Workspace export to get the files in a ZIP; without it the export links to files hosted on Trello.
- 4CSV exports leave out comments and archived cards by default. Adding .csv to the end of a board's address in the browser includes archived cards.
- 5Cards sitting in your Inbox can't be exported; move them onto a board first.
2 · Cancel Trello
- 1Only a Workspace admin can cancel, and only in the web version: click the Trello logo, choose the Workspace, open Billing and select Cancel at the bottom.
- 2To step down from Premium to Standard instead, open Billing, choose Explore plans and pick Standard.
- 3The plan runs to the end of the billing period, then the Workspace turns free.
- 4If your Workspace uses Atlassian's centralized billing, open the Workspace, choose Change plan and pick Free.
- After the downgrade the 10 most active boards stay open and the rest are closed, not deleted. Close or move extra boards beforehand.
- Boards turn view-only until the Workspace is under 10 collaborators.
- Data from paid features is hidden, not erased: export it first or upgrade again to see it.
- Enterprise plans and free trials can't be cancelled by yourself: contact your Trello advocate or billing support.
The escape hatch
Don't feel like building it? These are already free.
WekanOpen sourceMIT-licensed kanban with swimlanes and rules, and an importer for Trello boards among many other tools; runs from Docker or Snap.★ 21k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗PlankaFreeReal-time boards with Markdown cards, attachments, webhooks and a REST API. Source-available under a community license; a paid Pro edition adds calendar, timeline and phone apps.★ 13k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗KanOpen sourceAGPL-3.0 Trello alternative with board visibility controls, workspace members and a Trello importer; Docker Compose sets up Postgres for you.★ 5.8k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗
WebVisit ↗PlankaFreeReal-time boards with Markdown cards, attachments, webhooks and a REST API. Source-available under a community license; a paid Pro edition adds calendar, timeline and phone apps.★ 13k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗KanOpen sourceAGPL-3.0 Trello alternative with board visibility controls, workspace members and a Trello importer; Docker Compose sets up Postgres for you.★ 5.8k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗
The numbers
Trello pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Annual, per month | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | Up to 10 collaborators and 10 boards per Workspace, unlimited cards, 10 MB per file, 250 Workspace command runs a month, unlimited Power-Ups per board, two-factor authentication. |
| Standard | $6 | $5 | Unlimited boards, 250 MB per file, 1,000 command runs a month, custom fields, advanced checklists, saved searches, single-board guests, planner and AI features. |
| Premium | $12.50 | $10 | Everything in Standard plus Calendar, Timeline, Table, Dashboard and Map views, unlimited command runs, admin and security controls, collections, observers, Workspace templates and CSV or JSON export of a whole Workspace. |
| Enterprise | — | $17.50 | Everything in Premium plus unlimited Workspaces, organisation-wide permissions, multi-board guests, Power-Up administration and 24/7 admin support. |
- Free tier
- 10 collaborators and 10 boards per Workspace, 10 MB per file and 250 command runs a month; Calendar, Timeline and Table views are Premium.
- Billing
- Standard and Premium are paid monthly or annually by credit card, per Workspace member and admin. The prepaid period stays active after a downgrade; discounts exist for non-profits and education.
- Hidden costs
- Multi-board guests are billed at the full member rate. Atlassian Guard (SAML SSO, enforced two-factor) is a separate subscription from $4 per user a month, and some partner Power-Ups charge their own fee.
- Source
- trello.com
Also on the list
Related apps
Free covers up to 10 collaborators and 10 boards per Workspace, with unlimited cards.
Yes. An AI coding agent such as Claude Code, Codex or Cursor can build a usable personal version in one session with the prompt on this page, running on your own machine.
About $6 a month on the Standard plan per seat, $72 a year (checked 2026-10-14).
Real-time editing and notifications when teammates move cards; Power-Ups and the Butler-style automation rules; The iPhone and Android apps; Calendar, Timeline, Table and Dashboard views (Premium); Guest access for clients and contractors. If any of those matter to you, keep paying.
Yes: Wekan (open source), Planka (free), Kan (open source).