KANVAX: Kanban Board in 3 days

The Challenge: Create a Kanban in 3 days

I decided to take on a personal challenge: create a complete Kanban board in just 3 days. The result was KANVAX, a web application built with .NET 9, Blazor Server and MudBlazor that handles authentication, board management, tasks with drag & drop, and a full logs system.

Project Context

KANVAX was built to test how much can be accomplished in a short time with modern web technologies. The goal was to create a fully functional Kanban board with user accounts, collaborative boards and real-time interactions.

Inspiration: Trello and Milanote

Before writing a single line of code, I studied the two most popular tools on the market:

• Trello: The industry standard. Its simplicity lies in its minimalist approach.
• Milanote: A more visual and creative tool, perfect for design teams.

I wanted to combine the best of both: Trello's simplicity with a touch of Milanote's visual elegance.

Technologies Used

The tech stack I chose was:

• .NET 9: The latest version of Microsoft's framework
• Blazor Server: To create an interactive experience without JavaScript
• MudBlazor: Material Design UI components for Blazor

Features Implemented

The Code

The project structure follows a clean architecture:

KANVAX/
├── Components/
│   ├── Pages/          # Razor pages
│   ├── Dialogs/        # Dialog components
│   └── Services/       # Business logic
├── Models/             # Data models
└── Program.cs          # Entry point

The code is available on GitHub and was produced in collaboration with OpenCode, an AI tool that assisted me throughout the process.

Lessons Learned

1. Planning is key: Before coding, I defined the minimum viable scope.
2. MudBlazor accelerates development: Prefabricated components save hours of work.
3. Blazor Server is powerful: Allows creating interactive apps without writing JavaScript.
4. Drag & drop is challenging: Implementing reorder support in Blazor requires creativity.

Conclusion

KANVAX demonstrates that with the right tools and a good plan, it's possible to create complete applications in record time. The project was a success and now serves as a basis for future experiments.