Resources · Zapier integration

Kanban Tool Zapier integrationAutomate Kanban Tool with Zapier.

The Kanban Tool Zapier integration gives you 12 triggers, 10 actions and 2 searches. Every trigger is polled, none is instant, so expect a short wait. Below: what each one does, what it costs you in tasks, and what tends to break first.

See the 24 operations

Verified Trustpilot reviews · AI, automation & growth agency

Overview

What the Kanban Tool Zapier integration actually does

It links your Kanban Tool boards to the rest of your tools without code. Zapier watches a board for something new (a task, a comment, a card moving columns), then does something with it: create a task, tick a checklist item, write a comment. Nothing on the Kanban Tool side is instant, and that shapes everything else.

Three setups people actually build with it:

A definition of done that fills itself in. When a card lands in a review column, Task Moved picks it up and Create Checklist Item adds the review steps to it. Nobody has to remember the list.

A board that reacts to what people say. New Comment reads every new comment on a board; add a filter and Move Task shifts the card to a blocked lane when someone flags a problem.

A new board that never starts from zero. New Board spots a project board as soon as Zapier next checks, and the next step opens its matching folder in your file storage.

What Zapier does not do here: no trigger is instant, so a change can sit for up to 15 minutes on the free plan before your Zap sees it. No action creates a board, a swimlane, a stage or a card type; you can watch those appear, you cannot make them. And Find Task never looks at archived tasks.

If you are still weighing the tool itself, the Make vs Zapier and n8n vs Zapier comparisons set the criteria side by side.

Vocabulary

Zapier vocabulary in one minute

Eight words come back on every line of this page. Here they are in plain English.

Zap
The automation you build: one trigger, then one or more actions that run every time that trigger event happens.
Trigger
The event in an app that starts the Zap. Once the Zap is switched on, Zapier waits for that event and nothing else.
Action
What the Zap does after it starts: the step that writes, sends or moves something on your behalf, in any connected app.
Task
The unit Zapier bills. One task is one action your Zap completed successfully; your plan's allowance counts those.
Polling vs instant
Polling: Zapier asks the app on a timer and keeps only what is new. Instant: the app calls Zapier the moment it happens.
Filter
A step that lets the Zap carry on only when the incoming data meets a condition you set, and stops it quietly otherwise.
Search step
A step that looks up something already sitting in an app, so the steps after it can reuse what it found.
Connection
Your Kanban Tool account linked to Zapier once, then reused by every step of every Zap that touches Kanban Tool.
Cost

What it really costs

Kanban Tool is not one of the apps Zapier keeps for paid plans: it works on the free plan. The bill comes from tasks, not from the app.

  • Free plan100 tasks a month, unlimited Zaps
  • Free plan Zap sizeTwo steps: one trigger, one action
  • Trigger checksFree, whatever the frequency
  • App tierUsable on the free plan

The trigger costs nothing, however often Zapier checks the board. Each action that succeeds counts as one task, so a Zap with three actions burns three times faster than a one-action Zap. A failed action is not counted. The catch on the free plan: it only builds two-step Zaps, one trigger and one action. Add a filter, a search like Find Task or a second action, and you have a multi-step Zap, which needs a paid plan.

Connect

Connect Kanban Tool to Zapier in 3 steps

  1. 01

    Open your connections

    In Zapier, open the Apps page of your account, the place where every linked tool lives. Click + Add connection: a dialog opens with a search box, ready for the app name.

  2. 02

    Pick Kanban Tool

    Type Kanban Tool in the search box and pick it from the results. Then click Add connection. A new browser tab opens on the Kanban Tool side, where the actual sign-in happens.

  3. 03

    Sign in and grant access

    Sign in to Kanban Tool in that tab and grant Zapier access to the account. You do this once: from then on, every Kanban Tool step in every Zap you build reuses this same connection.

First Zap

Your first Zap: move a card when a comment flags a blocker

GoalWhen someone writes a comment containing the word blocked, the card moves to the Blocked lane on its own.

  1. 01

    Create the Zap

    Start a new Zap. For the step that starts it, pick Kanban Tool, then the New Comment event, and choose the connection you just added.

  2. 02

    Point it at a board

    Select the board to watch. Test the trigger: Zapier brings back the three most recent comments, so pick one that actually says blocked to build on real data.

  3. 03

    Add the filter

    Click the plus icon, choose Filter, then set the comment text field, a text contains rule and the word blocked. This filter makes it a multi-step Zap, so a paid plan.

  4. 04

    Add the action

    Add Kanban Tool with Move Task. Pick the same board, map the task from the comment step, and choose the stage or swimlane where blocked cards belong.

  5. 05

    Test, then publish

    Run the test on the action and check on the board that the card really moved to the right lane. Then click Publish to switch the Zap on for good.

Triggers

Kanban Tool triggers on Zapier

12 events start a Zap when something happens in Kanban Tool. Zapier checks for them at the interval your plan allows.

1

New Activity on a Board

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new activity on a board is made.”

This is the widest net Kanban Tool offers: any new activity logged on the board you choose starts the Zap. You get a running feed of what happened, without having to guess which specific event matters.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one.
When to use it
you want an audit trail of a client board copied into a spreadsheet or a team channel.
Watch out
it covers everything, so on a busy board each check can bring back plenty, and every action it runs costs a task.
2

New Board

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new board is created.”

Fires once a board appears in your Kanban Tool account. It is the only trigger here that does not ask you to pick a board first, since the board itself is the news.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one.
When to use it
each new project board should get a matching folder or a kickoff note somewhere else, without someone remembering to do it.
Watch out
no Zapier action creates a board, so this trigger is a one-way door: you can react to a new board, not build one.
3

New Board Collaborator

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new collaborator is added to a board.”

Someone gets added to a board you watch, and your Zap hears about it. Useful the day a freelancer or a new hire joins a project and needs the same welcome steps every time.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one.
When to use it
create an onboarding task for the newcomer with Create Task, so their first card is waiting for them.
Watch out
it watches one board at a time; a team spread across several boards needs one Zap per board.
4

New Card Type

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new card type is defined for a board.”

Card types are the categories you sort tasks into. This trigger tells you when somebody defines a new one on a given board, which usually means the way the team sorts work just changed.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one.
When to use it
you keep a shared process doc and want a heads-up whenever a board's categories grow.
Watch out
Zapier has no action to create card types, so mirroring them across boards stays a manual job.
5

New Checklist Item

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new checklist item is added to a task.”

A new line added to a task's checklist starts the Zap. It is the most granular trigger of the app: you follow the sub-steps of one card rather than the board as a whole.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one.
When to use it
a launch card carries the go-live list, and each new item should reach the person who owns it.
Watch out
you must pick both a board and a specific task, so this trigger does not follow checklists across a whole board.
6

New Comment

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new comment is added to a task.”

Every fresh comment on a task in the chosen board gets handed to your Zap, with the text people actually wrote. That makes it the best trigger for reacting to what the team says, not just to where cards sit.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one.
When to use it
pair it with a filter on a keyword, as in the first Zap above, to move or flag a card automatically.
Watch out
a Zap that answers with Create Comment on the same board will set itself off again and again.
7

New Swimlane

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new swimlane is created for a board.”

Swimlanes are the horizontal rows that split a board by client, team or priority. When one is added to the board you watch, the Zap starts, and you know the board just got a new slice of work.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one.
When to use it
each new client lane should come with a setup card created by Create Task.
Watch out
like boards and stages, swimlanes can be watched but not created from Zapier.
8

New Task

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new task is added.”

The trigger most people start with: a card gets added to the selected board, and the Zap receives it with its details. Whoever created it, by hand or through another Zap, it counts.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one.
When to use it
new requests on a support board should land in a team chat or a tracking sheet.
Watch out
a Zap that creates tasks on the board this trigger watches will loop; point the action at another board.
9

New Workflow Stage

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new workflow stage is created for a board.”

Workflow stages are the columns of your board. Add one, say a QA column between Doing and Done, and this trigger passes the news on to your Zap.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one.
When to use it
your Zaps built on Task Moved depend on column names, and you want an alert when the layout changes under them.
Watch out
a renamed or removed column is not a new stage, so this trigger will not tell you about those.
10

Task Archived

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a task is archived.”

When a card leaves the board through archiving, your Zap gets it. For many teams that is the real end of a job, more reliable than reaching a Done column that people skip.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one.
When to use it
log finished work in a billing sheet or a client report once it is archived.
Watch out
once archived, a task is invisible to Find Task, so later steps cannot look it up again.
11

Task Moved

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a task is moved to another workflow stage or swimlane.”

A card changes column or swimlane, and the Zap starts. This is how you turn the shape of your board into rules: a move into Review, into Blocked, into Done, each can kick off its own follow-up.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one.
When to use it
add a review checklist when a card enters Review, as in the Zap at the top of this page.
Watch out
it catches every move on the board; a filter on the stage keeps only the ones you care about.
12

Task Updated

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a task is updated.”

Any change to an existing card on the chosen board shows up here: a new name, a rewritten description, a different due date. Think of it as a catch-all for edits rather than moves.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one.
When to use it
a due date shifts on a client card and the account manager should hear about it.
Watch out
Update Task on the same board edits cards too, which brings this trigger straight back.
Actions

Kanban Tool actions on Zapier

Kanban Tool gives you 10 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

1

Archive Task

Action

In Zapier“Archives a specific task.”

Takes a card off the active board without deleting it: the card stays in Kanban Tool, just out of the columns your team looks at every day.

When to use it
cards that reach the last column get archived automatically, so the board stays readable.
Watch out
archived cards no longer show up in Find Task.
2

Complete Checklist Item

Action

In Zapier“Completes an existing checklist item on a task.”

Ticks a checklist line as done, with no other change. A narrow action, and that is what makes it safe.

When to use it
the Contract signed line should tick itself when the e-signature tool reports a signature.
Watch out
the Zap must point at one precise item, not just the card.
3

Create Checklist Item

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new checklist item on a task.”

Adds a line to the checklist of an existing card. Your Zap has to know which board and which task, then gives the item a name.

When to use it
a card entering Review gets the same review steps every time.
Watch out
each item is a separate action, so five checklist lines cost five tasks.
4

Create Comment

Action

In Zapier“Writes a new comment on a specific task.”

Writes a comment on a given card, so news from another tool shows up right where the team works.

When to use it
a payment confirmed in your invoicing app posts a short note on the client's card.
Watch out
never run it in a Zap triggered by New Comment on the same board.
5

Create Task

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new task on a specific board.”

Drops a new card on the board you choose, with the name your Zap provides. The most common way in for work that starts outside Kanban Tool.

When to use it
a form submission or an email request should become a card on the intake board.
Watch out
only a name and a board are required, so map the details yourself or the card arrives bare.
6

Delete Checklist Item

Action

In Zapier“Deletes a checklist item from a task.”

Strips one line from a card's checklist. Board, task and item are all required.

When to use it
a step that no longer applies, say a legal check dropped for small orders, should vanish from new cards.
Watch out
deleting is not the same as completing; use Complete Checklist Item to keep a trace.
7

Delete Task

Action

In Zapier“Deletes a specific task.”

Removes a card for good. Unlike archiving, nothing is kept on the board for later.

When to use it
test cards or duplicates created by another automation need clearing out.
Watch out
one wrong mapping and the wrong card disappears; test on a scratch board first.
8

Move Task

Action

In Zapier“Moves a specific task between workflow stages and swimlanes.”

Shifts a card to another workflow stage, another swimlane, or both. It is the action that lets something outside the board push work forward.

When to use it
a comment flagging a blocker sends the card to a Blocked lane, as in the first Zap.
Watch out
paired with Task Moved on the same board, it can chase its own tail.
9

Update Checklist Item

Action

In Zapier“Updates a checklist item's name or assigned user.”

Edits a checklist line already on a card: rename it, change who it is assigned to, or flip its completed state.

When to use it
ownership of a launch step moves to someone else after a handover.
Watch out
it needs the board, the task and the exact checklist item.
10

Update Task

Action

In Zapier“Updates a task's name, description, due date or other details.”

Changes details on an existing card: its name, description, due date and other fields. Only the board and the task are mandatory.

When to use it
a new deadline agreed in your CRM should reach the matching card.
Watch out
you need the task identifier, which usually means Find Task just before.
Searches

Kanban Tool searches on Zapier

2 search steps look for data that already exists in Kanban Tool, so a later step can use it.

Searches live at the bottom of the Action event list, under the SEARCH heading. They fetch a card that already exists so the next step can work on it. Three settings decide what happens when the result is not what you expected.

1

Find Task

SearchFind or create

In Zapier“Finds a task on a selected board given task's name, location, or with advanced search query. Does not search for archived tasks. Optionally, creates a new task if none are not found.”

Looks for a card on a board you pick, by its name, its location, or an advanced query. It is how a Zap gets hold of a task identifier that no earlier step carried.

When to use it
before Update Task or Move Task, when the trigger comes from another app.
Watch out
archived cards are skipped. The editor also shows a Find or Create task entry: it is this same search with the creation box ticked, not an extra operation.
2

Get Task Details

Search

In Zapier“Gets task details (ex. description, custom fields)”

Pulls the full picture of a card you already know, its description and custom fields included, so later steps can use them.

When to use it
a trigger hands you a task, but the custom field holding the client name is what the next step needs.
Watch out
it requires both the board and the task, so it does not replace Find Task.

The three settings every search exposes

  1. Successful if no search results are found?
    Left on its default, an empty search stops the Zap there and the steps that needed it are skipped. Switch it on and the Zap carries on without a result.
  2. Create X if it doesn't exist yet?
    Ticking it turns the search into a find-or-create: the setting above disappears and Zapier asks for the fields needed to create the missing card.
  3. If multiple search results are found?
    Three ways out when several cards match: keep the first one (the default), stop the Zap, or pass all of them on.
When it breaks

When it breaks

Zapier links no help article to Kanban Tool, so the failures to plan for are the general ones. They hit this app hard, because every trigger is polled and most actions write back into boards.

Most broken Kanban Tool Zaps come down to the four cases below. If a Zap misbehaves anyway, the Zapier troubleshooting page is the next stop.

  • The backlog stays where it is

    A Zap only reacts to what happens after it is switched on. Cards that already sat on the board are never picked up; moving them is a separate job.

  • The Zap that triggers itself

    Write into the board your trigger watches (a comment answering a comment, a move answering a move) and the Zap restarts again and again, eating tasks fast.

  • Bulk imports get held back

    Import a large batch of cards and the next check returns a flood of new items. Zapier's flood protection can hold that batch back instead of running it.

  • No double runs on the same card

    Zapier remembers what a polling trigger has already seen, so the same card does not start the Zap twice.
Need help

Need help automating Kanban Tool with Zapier?

A person reads every message.

FAQ

Kanban Tool and Zapier: frequent questions

01Is the Kanban Tool Zapier integration free?
Yes, Kanban Tool works on the free Zapier plan, since Zapier does not reserve it for paid plans. The free plan gives you 100 tasks a month and unlimited Zaps, but only two-step Zaps: one trigger, one action. As soon as you add a filter, a search such as Find Task or a second action, the Zap becomes multi-step and needs a paid plan. Most useful Kanban Tool setups, like moving a card when a comment says blocked, need that filter.
02How many tasks does a Kanban Tool Zap use?
One task per action that succeeds, nothing for the trigger. Zapier can check your board as often as your plan allows without costing a thing; only completed actions are billed. A Zap that adds three checklist items to a card uses three tasks each time it runs. An action that fails is not counted. On the free plan's 100 tasks, a busy trigger like New Activity on a Board can drain the month quickly.
03Is the Kanban Tool Zapier integration real time?
No. All 12 Kanban Tool triggers are polling triggers, none is instant. Zapier checks the board at an interval set by your plan: every 15 minutes on Free, every 2 minutes on Professional, every minute on Team and Enterprise. The type comes from the app itself and cannot be changed in the editor. On paid plans you can also run a check by hand from the editor when you are testing.
04What does connecting a Kanban Tool account require?
A Kanban Tool account, and access to the boards the Zap will touch. You add the connection from the Apps page of Zapier, sign in to Kanban Tool in the tab that opens and grant access. Since almost every trigger and action asks for a Board, the connected account must be able to read those boards, and write on them if the Zap creates, moves or edits cards. Boards owned by colleagues count too.
05Why can a Kanban Tool Zap not find an archived task?
Because Find Task skips archived tasks by design. If one Zap archives cards with Archive Task and another one later tries to update or comment on them, the search comes back empty. Left on its default setting, an empty search stops the Zap at that step. Either act on the card before archiving it, or use the Task Archived trigger to grab what you need once it is archived, before any later step has to look for it.
06What if the Kanban Tool operation for a workflow does not exist?
Then that step cannot be done through this integration, and the page lists every operation that does exist. Creating boards, swimlanes, workflow stages or card types is not offered, for instance: those can only be watched as triggers. A workaround sometimes exists, like adding a task to an existing lane instead of making a new lane. If the gap is a dealbreaker, check whether another automation tool covers it before building around it.
07Zapier, Make or n8n for Kanban Tool?
It depends on your criteria, not on a ranking. Zapier's Kanban Tool integration covers 12 triggers, 10 actions and 2 searches, all ready to configure without code, and works on the free plan for two-step Zaps. If your flows need several steps per run, compare how each tool counts usage. If polling delays matter, check what each tool offers for Kanban Tool. Hosting, pricing model and the skills of whoever maintains the Zaps should weigh as much as the operation list.
Same platform

Other docs you might need on this stack.

Browse all integrations