# About Kanso: a workspace for software product work

> Kanso is a workspace for software product work: docs, boards, releases, a calendar, chat and an inbox in one place. Its only website is kansohq.app.

Kanso is a workspace for software product work. Docs, boards, releases, a calendar, chat and an inbox sit in one place, so the plan, the work and the talk stay together.

Web page: https://kansohq.app/about

## How a product moves through Kanso

The plan, the work and the talk, together.

### The plan: It starts as a plan.

Every product begins as an idea and then a spec. In Kanso the spec is a page with headings, to-dos, tables and code, kept inside the project it describes.

- [Kanso Docs: specs, briefs and notes](https://kansohq.app/product/docs.md)

### The work: Then it becomes work.

A board holds each piece of work. Cards carry a priority, an owner, a due date and the criteria that say when they are done.

Due dates land on the calendar by themselves.

- [Kanso Boards: tasks by status and priority](https://kansohq.app/product/boards.md)
- [Kanso Calendar: tasks on the week](https://kansohq.app/product/calendar.md)

### The release: The work gathers behind a date.

A release page gathers the work behind one date into sections, with an owner, a due date and a status on every line.

- [Kanso Releases: everything behind a ship date](https://kansohq.app/product/releases.md)

### The talk: And the talk stays with it.

Channels and direct messages link straight to the task, page or release being discussed.

Mentions, messages and work assigned to you reach your inbox, one line each.

- [Kanso Chat: channels and direct messages](https://kansohq.app/product/chat.md)
- [Kanso Inbox: mentions and assignments](https://kansohq.app/product/inbox.md)

## Kanso at a glance

- What it is: A workspace for software product work: docs, boards, releases, a calendar, chat and an inbox in one place.
- Who it is for: Anyone building a software product, alone or with a team. Pages, docs, boards and timelines also work for most other kinds of project.
- What it costs: There is a Free plan and it does not expire. No card is needed to start. Pro adds history and release rooms, and Team is for a shared workspace.
- Website: kansohq.app, Kanso's only website.
- On X: [@useKanso](https://x.com/useKanso)

## What is in Kanso

- [Kanso Docs: specs, briefs and notes](https://kansohq.app/product/docs.md): Pages with headings, to-dos, tables and code, kept inside the project they describe, next to its board and its release.
- [Kanso Boards: tasks by status and priority](https://kansohq.app/product/boards.md): A board for each piece of work. Cards carry a priority, an owner, a due date and the criteria that say when they are done.
- [Kanso Releases: everything behind a ship date](https://kansohq.app/product/releases.md): A release page gathers the work behind one date into sections, with an owner, a due date and a status on every line.
- [Kanso Calendar: tasks on the week](https://kansohq.app/product/calendar.md): Due dates land on the calendar by themselves. Your open tasks sit beside the week, sorted by how much they matter.
- [Kanso Chat: channels and direct messages](https://kansohq.app/product/chat.md): Channels and direct messages that link straight to the task, page or release being discussed.
- [Kanso Inbox: mentions and assignments](https://kansohq.app/product/inbox.md): Mentions, messages and work assigned to you, one line each, in the order it arrived.

## What Kanso cares about

- Calm on the outside: Kanso looks like quiet paper: flat, plain and easy to read, so your work is the thing on the screen.
- Sharp underneath: It answers instantly and precisely. Moving a card, opening a page and finding a message all happen without waiting.
- Craft, not decoration: Spacing, alignment and speed matter more than anything added for show. If it does not help the work, it is left out.
- You choose how to build: Kanso does not build the product for you. It keeps the plan, the work and the talk together and hands your coding agent the whole picture.

## Why Kanso exists

A software product is rarely in one place. The spec sits in a document, the tasks in a tracker, the dates in a calendar and the decisions in a chat thread.

Kanso keeps them in one workspace, linked to each other, so nothing is written down twice and nobody has to ask where something lives.

## The name

Kanso (簡素) is the Japanese word for simplicity: nothing on the page that does not earn its place.

## How Kanso fits with a coding agent

Kanso does not build the product for you. It is where you write the plan, track the work and keep the team together.

You choose how to build. Kanso packages the context, so your coding agent starts with the whole picture.

## Telling Kanso apart

Other products and companies share the name Kanso. This Kanso's only website is kansohq.app, and its account on X is @useKanso.

If the address is not kansohq.app, it is not this Kanso.

[Kanso home, with plans and prices](https://kansohq.app/index.md)