Shortcut vs Scrumboy
Scrumboy is a credible self-hosted alternative for solo developers and small-to-medium teams whose work centers on Kanban boards, issue tracking, custom workflows, priorities, and sprints. Its main tradeoff is narrower documented planning coverage: unlike Shortcut’s broader software-delivery model, the supplied evidence does not establish roadmaps, objectives, portfolio-style progress reporting, or native GitHub/GitL
Decision guide
The practical reasons to choose either option, based on documented capabilities.
Choose Scrumboy if
- Solo developers or small teams needing self-hosted Kanban and issue tracking
- Teams requiring custom per-project workflows, priorities, tags, and sprints
- Organizations needing OIDC/SSO, 2FA, audit trails, and control of application data on their own infrastructure
Stay with Shortcut if
- Roadmaps, objectives, target-date planning, or structured progress reporting are required
- Workflows depend on documented native GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Slack, or Sentry integrations
- Teams need connected project documentation rather than task notes and a sticky-note canvas
Deployment and operations
Scrumboy is self-hosted and licensed under AGPL-3.0. It can run from an official multi-architecture Docker image, Docker Compose, Go source, or a Windows executable. The default deployment uses SQLite and file-backed uploads under a data directory; operators must persist and back up that directory. Kubernetes installation is not documented in the supplied material. Optional production capabilities—including TLS, OIDC/SSO, SMTP password reset, 2FA, and push notifications—require additional server
Migration considerations
Scrumboy supports JSON export/import with merge or replace modes and full-instance or single-project scope, but those exports omit uploaded wallpapers and audit events. The documented configuration also references Trello JSON import; no Shortcut-specific importer or compatibility path is documented, so a direct migration from Shortcut is not established.
Feature fit
What Scrumboy covers
- Issue and task tracking
- Kanban-style workflow boards
- Custom workflows and priorities
- Backlog and sprint management
- Assignments, tags, and filtering
- Automation API support
- AI-agent connectivity
What’s different or missing
- Documented product roadmaps
- Documented objectives and goal alignment
- Documented portfolio progress reporting
- Documented native development-tool integrations
- Documented connected project documents
- Documented Shortcut importer
Project snapshot
- GitHub stars
- 429
- Contributors
- 6
- Language
- Go
- Last commit
- Aug 16, 2026
- Latest release
- Aug 13, 2026
Categories: Calendars & Scheduling, Workflow Automation, Project Management, Task Management, Knowledge Management, Team Communication, Document Collaboration
Sources and editorial review12 linked sources
Public documentation supports this comparison. Automation assists collection and classification; editorial standards and corrections remain the responsibility of Kris.
Self-hosted kanban & project management with shareable boards, voice commands, sticky-notes, multi-language and MCP support
repository description · github.comSelf-hosted project management & issue-tracking solution + instant shareable & customizable boards + realtime collaboration, automation, API access and MCP-compatible client support
readme · github.comCustom Workflows: You can create any combination of workflow you want, per project
readme · github.comSprints: create, activate, close; sprint filter on board; default sprint weeks (1 or 2) per project
readme · github.comRuns in seconds. No setup required.
readme · github.comScrumboy is distributed as a container image on GitHub Container Registry
readme · github.comSimplicity of a light Kanban, with the power of structured systems: Roles, sprints, audit trails & customizable workflows - without being locked into SaaS tools. Centered around the self-hosted & privacy-focused community, as well as small to medium-sized teams & solo builders
verdict · github.comSprints: create, activate, close; sprint filter on board; default sprint weeks (1 or 2) per project.
shared feature · github.comScrumboy is distributed as a container image on GitHub Container Registry: `ghcr.io/markrai/scrumboy:latest` Published images are multi-arch for `linux/amd64` and `linux/arm64`; Docker pulls the variant that matches your host.
deployment · github.comMount a volume or host directory on `/data` so the database **and** file-backed uploads (for example `user-wallpapers/`) survive container recreation.
deployment · github.comBackup: export/import JSON; merge or replace; scope full or single project. JSON export is not a complete `DATA_DIR` disaster-recovery backup (uploaded wallpapers and `audit_events` are omitted);
migration · github.com**Webhooks (API-only, full mode):** Register URLs per project so Scrumboy can POST JSON when subscribed domain events fire (e.g. `todo.assigned`). For your own automations, not in-app or browser notifications.
shared feature · github.com
