What is Focalboard used for?

Focalboard is listed as a Productivity tool on TiloBox. Review the overview, features, and official documentation on this page to decide whether it solves your specific workflow.

How do I get started with Focalboard?

Start with the project's GitHub repository and official website for supported installation and deployment instructions. Test the setup with representative data or a small project before rolling it out more widely.

What license does Focalboard use?

Focalboard is listed under the MIT license. Read the complete license text and the project's notices before using, modifying, or distributing the software.

Is Focalboard ready for production use?

Production readiness depends on your requirements. Review maintenance activity, security practices, documentation, backup and upgrade procedures, and compatibility with your stack; then validate it in a non-production environment.

Is Focalboard an alternative to Trello?

Focalboard is listed as an alternative to Trello. Compare the core workflow, deployment model, integrations, and licensing against your must-have requirements before switching.

Productivity Alternative to Trello Alternative to Notion Alternative to Monday.com Alternative to Asana

Focalboard

Open-source, self-hosted project management tool and alternative to Trello, Notion, and Asana.

View on GitHub Visit website

LicenseMIT

GitHub stars26.4k

Last commit3 months ago

Tags6 topics

BoardsNotion AlternativeSelf HostedProject ManagementGolangKanban

Overview

Why consider Focalboard?

Focalboard is an open-source project management platform by Mattermost. It organizes work using Kanban boards, tables, galleries, and calendars with rich markdown cards.

Guided learning

Learn Focalboard by building

Practical setup notes, real use cases, and copy-ready examples in one focused guide.

3 min read 10 sections

In this guide10 sections

What is Focalboard?

Focalboard is an open-source project management and task coordination workspace created by Mattermost. Implemented in Go, TypeScript, and React, Focalboard serves as a private, self-hosted alternative to commercial productivity platforms like Trello, Notion, and Asana.

Focalboard allows teams and individuals to track tasks, coordinate software sprints, manage content editorial pipelines, and document roadmaps. It provides multiple synchronized views of the same underlying database: Kanban boards, dynamic data tables, visual galleries, and interactive calendar views.

Who Is It For?

Engineering & Product Teams: Managing sprint backlogs, release milestones, and feature specifications.
Content & Marketing Creators: Tracking editorial calendars, social media schedules, and asset delivery pipelines.
Freelancers & Solopreneurs: Organizing personal tasks, client deliverables, and projects in a private, responsive desktop or server app.

Key Features

Multiple views for any board: Switch between Kanban, Table, Gallery, and Calendar views instantly.
Rich Markdown card content: Embed checklists, code blocks, images, file attachments, and formatted text within task cards.
Custom card properties: Define select dropdowns, multi-select tags, date pickers, numbers, URLs, and assignees.
Board templates: Pre-built templates for Software Development, Content Calendar, Meeting Agenda, and Personal Goals.
Integration with Mattermost: Run Focalboard as an integrated plugin inside Mattermost team chat or as a standalone server.

Deploying Standalone Focalboard with Docker

yaml

1version: '3.8'

3services:

4 focalboard:

5 image: mattermost/focalboard:latest

6 container_name: focalboard

7 restart: unless-stopped

8 ports:

9 - "8000:8000"

10 environment:

11 - VIRTUAL_PORT=8000

12 volumes:

13 - ./data:/data

Start the instance:

bash

1docker compose up -d

Open http://localhost:8000 in your browser to register your initial administrator account and create your first team workspace.

Practical Use Cases

1. Agile Sprint Kanban Board

A development team creates a sprint board with columns ("Backlog", "In Progress", "In Review", "Done"), filtering tasks by assignee and story points.

2. Editorial Content Pipeline

A marketing team tracks article submissions across multiple stages, using the Calendar view to visualize scheduled publishing dates.

3. Personal Habit and Goal Tracker

An individual runs Focalboard locally on a desktop or personal VPS, structuring personal study roadmaps and weekly goal checklists.

Troubleshooting and Limitations

Standalone vs Plugin Mode: Standalone Focalboard runs independently; if you already use Mattermost team chat, consider installing Boards directly via the Mattermost Plugin Marketplace for unified SSO.
Data Persistence: Ensure the /data volume is mounted persistently to retain SQLite databases or configure PostgreSQL connection strings in config.json.

Official Resources

Official Website: https://www.focalboard.com
GitHub Repository: https://github.com/mattermost/focalboard
Documentation: https://www.focalboard.com/guide/

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