Let’s be honest, when we hear or read that an application is for free, we immediately have doubts: if the application is good or just a waste of time using it. In this case, we have a productivity-oriented program that can be implemented in mid-sized workgroups. We will talk about Wekan and learn how to install it in Debian 10 / Debian 9.

As we are told in their wiki 

“Wekan is an open-source kanban board which allows a card-based task and to-do management, similar to tools like WorkFlowy or Trello.”

For those who don’t know, the Kanban Board is a method of work organization and personnel of Japanese origin, that consists of showing the workflow in columns from left to right, where each column is a process or entity.

Wekan is developed by a group of collaborators from all over the world, who donate their time and knowledge to make the application grow and achieve its objectives. Wekan is built with the Meteor JavaScript framework and is distributed under the MIT license, allowing anyone to easily work with and modify it.

Features of Wekan

Being an application focused on productivity, we find a large number of interesting features for the job.

• WIP Limits
• Boards: List of all your public and private boards, board shortcuts at top of page
• Wekan full screen or window on desktop (without browser buttons etc)
• Wekan full screen on mobile Firefox

It also has an authentication system, an administration panel and the ability to perform SMTP configuration.

With the SMTP configuration you can do the self-registration from the application, or change for invitation only and inviting users to meetings.

And many more that you can always consult on their Github site.

Installing Wekan on Debian 10 / Debian 9

We have already talked about Wekan, and its features and if you have reached this point it is because you want to install it and you will be pleased. Let’s get to work.

The easiest way to install it is through the snap technology, that is easily downloadable and with a single command we can reach the goal.

If you don’t have it installed, all you need is a command:

:~# apt install snapd

And then with a simple one:

:~# snap install wekan

And with that we’ll have our Wekan installed.

Using Wekan on Debian 10 / Debian 9

Once the installation of Wekan is done, we proceed to enter in our favorite web browser the address http://localhost:8080/ or http://yourserver:8080 and we should see an image like this.

Where we are asked to log in and if we do not proceed to register.

Before we start we must take into account some of the temrinology that Wekan uses. It’s not complicated at all, but serves as a reference for understanding the workflow.

• A board: It can be said that a board is the project itself.
• A List: A list can be compared to a project stage. Or a simple step to execute.
• A Card:The cards represent a task to be performed.

With these little tips we can get started.

Once you have registered you can use the application and it will show you the following screen:

In this screen it appears empty and we must progressively add the boards.

For the moment we are going to modify the Welcome Board by clicking on it.

On this screen we can add the cards to indicate the tasks to be done, divided into basic or advanced tasks. Let’s add a basic task by clicking on Add Card.

Then we write in the name of the task and click on Add.

After adding it we can click on the card and modify its properties, such as: reception, start and end dates, as well as the members who are assigned the task.

So we can continue to improve our work, adding people, customizing with colors and defining whether the board is public or private.

Modify some settings

As mentioned above, without configuring anything Wekan is available at http://localhost:8080/, but it is possible to modify some parameters and configurations, being the port change highly recommended. To this end, we write:

:~# snap set wekan port="8081"

Obviously you can place any port you want.

We can also assign you the address where Wekan will be accessed.

:~# snap set wekan root-url="http://www.example.com:5000"

Note: both the port and the domain are examples

Once we have made the changes, we must always restart the Wekan service for the changes to take effect.

:~# systemctl restart snap.wekan.wekan

To conclude this article and not to make it too long, we can say that Wekan is a great application focused on productivity in teamwork with multiple tools and a focus always aimed at process optimization.

Its installation process is very simple thanks to the snap technology, and avoids long configuration processes.

For more information, you can visit the project’s website and share this article through your favorite social networks.