Import CSV and Excel into Trello
Kanban Importer is a free Trello Power-Up that builds a kanban board from a file or from a task list an AI assistant wrote. It reads CSV, TSV, Excel, OpenDocument and JSON, one card per row with lists, labels, dates and checklists. Assistants can then read where each task got to and move cards when you say something is done.
What it does
You have the work written down already. A backlog in Excel, a sprint plan in Google Sheets, an export from Jira or GitHub, a CSV somebody emailed you. Kanban Importer turns that file into a Trello board: one card per row, in the right list, with the labels, dates, members and checklists already attached.
Excel to Trello, Google Sheets to Trello, CSV to Trello, and a Trello import that carries more than a list of card titles.
No copy and paste, and no retyping a hundred cards.
It reads the file you already have
| Format | Notes |
|---|---|
| CSV and TSV | Comma, semicolon, tab or pipe, detected for you |
Excel .xlsx, .xlsm | Read directly, no conversion step |
OpenDocument .ods | What LibreOffice and Google Sheets export |
| JSON | Arrays, wrapped objects, and newline delimited dumps |
| Trello board export | Rebuild or clone a board, checklists included |
| Jira and GitHub exports | Nested fields expand so you can map them |
Excel dates arrive as real dates rather than five digit serial numbers. Quotes, commas and line breaks inside a cell survive, and so does a gap in the middle of a row.
Built for agile teams
Tick one box and it creates Backlog, Ready, In Progress, In Review and Done, in that order, before importing anything. An empty board becomes a working kanban board in a single pass.
User stories go in the card title, acceptance criteria become a checklist, the definition of done sits in the description, and work type and priority ride along as labels.
Nothing happens until you say so
Column matching is automatic and every choice is a dropdown you can change. The preview shows the first rows exactly as they will be created, along with which lists and labels are about to be added and which rows will be skipped. During the run, every row reports success, skip or failure, and failed rows download as a small file so you can fix those and re-import only them.
An AI assistant can fill it, then keep up with it
Ask Claude, Codex or any assistant for the tasks only a person can do, the ones it cannot finish because they need a password you hold, a decision only you can make, or a signature. It writes them as JSON. Paste that in and they land in Backlog, each tagged with the id the assistant gave it.
From then on the assistant can read the board. Ask how things stand and it tells you what is done, what is in progress and what it is still waiting on you for. Tell it you finished something and it moves the card.
That second half runs through a small MCP server, @njligames/kanban-importer-mcp, which you add to Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex or Cursor in about a minute. It runs on your own machine. In a plain chat window with no MCP, an Export for AI button on the board copies the status out for you to paste instead.
Connect Excel to Trello and keep it connected
An import is a one time copy. If the spreadsheet is the thing your team actually keeps up to date, you can point the board at it instead and let the board follow.
Paste the link to a Google Sheet, straight from your address bar, and the board reads it whenever you sync. Rows you add become new cards. Rows you change update the card they created. Rows you delete archive it. A card somebody edited by hand in Trello is left alone as long as its row has not changed, so sync does not quietly undo people's work.
The sheet has to be shared so that anyone with the link can view it. A file in a GitHub repository works the same way. Details are in keeping a board in sync.
Your file never leaves your browser
The file is read in your browser and the cards go straight to Trello. Nothing is uploaded to us, and there is no server of ours holding your data, because there is no server of ours at all. Read the privacy policy for the detail.
Common questions
Can Claude or ChatGPT create Trello cards?
Yes. Ask the assistant for its task list as JSON and paste it into Kanban Importer, which creates one Trello card per task with its description, checklist and labels. Nothing has to be typed into Trello by hand.
How do I let an AI assistant update my Trello board?
Add the Kanban Importer MCP server to your assistant. Any client that runs a local MCP server, including Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex and Cursor, can then read the board and move a card to a different column when you say a task is done.
Is there a Trello MCP server?
Yes, several. Kanban Importer publishes one as @njligames/kanban-importer-mcp. It differs from the general purpose ones by working in the task ids your assistant invented rather than Trello card ids, so it can move the right card without listing the whole board and guessing.
What if my assistant cannot run an MCP server?
Use the Export for AI button on the board. It copies the status of every tagged task to your clipboard as JSON, which you paste into the chat. It needs no setup and no Trello token at all.
Is Kanban Importer free?
Yes, including the AI features and the MCP server. There is no account, no trial and no card limit.
Does my spreadsheet get uploaded anywhere?
No. The import runs entirely in your browser and talks only to Trello. There is no server to upload it to.
What it costs
Nothing. It is free to use, on as many boards as you like.
Before you import
Five things trip almost everyone up when moving a spreadsheet into Trello: Excel dates arriving as five digit numbers, ambiguous date formats, members who are not on the board yet, the absence of undo, and what keeping a board in sync actually requires. They are written up in getting a spreadsheet into Trello.
Get started
Read the getting started guide, or browse the help centre for supported formats, column matching, agile setup and troubleshooting.
Questions or a format you wish it read? Email james@njligames.com.
Also see custom app development if you need a tool like this built for your own workflow.