The kanban board is the main dashboard for managing all your content in Riterly. It organizes every idea card you've created across five pipeline stages — from initial idea through to published — and gives you a clear view of where each piece of content stands at any moment.
The board is not a general-purpose task manager. The columns aren't labels you apply manually; they represent real states in the AI pipeline, and cards move through them only when specific pipeline actions are triggered. You can't drag a card from Pending to Drafted to simulate progress. The position of a card on the board always reflects what has actually happened to that content.
The Five Columns
The board has five columns, arranged left to right in pipeline order:
Pending — An idea card exists, but no pipeline work has started. The card sits here until you explicitly kick off the process. There's no time limit and no pressure to act immediately.
Research — The system is fetching and processing the references attached to the card. This is a system-driven state, not a manual one. You don't move a card here yourself; it moves here automatically when the pipeline begins.
Outline Review — The AI has produced an outline based on your idea and any references you provided. The card waits here for your input — you review, edit, and decide whether to approve it before any drafting begins.
Drafted — A full draft exists and is ready for you to read. You can request changes or mark it as published from here.
Published — The content has been marked as published. These cards are accessible from the Published column or via your post history.
The dashboard — the active view — shows everything from Pending through Drafted. Published content moves out of the active view but remains accessible.
Creating and Managing Idea Cards
To create a new idea card, use the New Idea button on the dashboard. This opens a creation form with three inputs:
- Title — required; this is the working title for your content
- Notes — optional but recommended; use this to capture your intended angle, key points, or any direction you want the AI to follow
- References — optional; you can add URLs, upload files, or paste a markdown brief
Adding notes and references at creation time gives the pipeline more to work with. The output reflects what you put in — a bare title with no context produces a more generic result than a title backed by notes and references.
Once created, the card appears in Pending. You can kick off the pipeline immediately, or leave the card there indefinitely. Nothing starts until you choose to start it.
Every idea card displays a consistent set of base information: the post title, its current status (the column it's in), the creation date, any notes you've added, and links to any references attached to it. Cards at the Outline Review and Drafted stages show additional information about what the pipeline has generated — the outline or draft content — beyond these base fields.
Available Actions at Each Stage
What you can do with a card depends on where it is in the pipeline.
Pending
- Edit the card — update the title, notes, or any other base fields
- Add references — attach URLs, files, or a markdown brief before the pipeline begins
- Kick off the pipeline — start the AI process and move the card into Research
Outline Review
- Review the outline the AI has produced
- Make edits directly to the outline
- Regenerate — ask the AI to produce a new outline
- Approve — confirm the outline and proceed to drafting
The Outline Review stage is where you shape the direction of the content before a full draft is written. Approving without reviewing is possible, but taking a few minutes here typically produces a better draft.
Drafted
- Read the draft
- Request a re-draft — return to the drafting step and generate a new version
- Mark as published — move the card to the Published column
Published
- View post details, including generation cost and word count for that piece of content
Published cards are read-only on the board. The post details view gives you a record of what was generated and what it cost.
Archiving, Trash, and Finding Your Content
If you want to discard an idea — whether it's still in Pending or partway through the pipeline — archive it. Archiving moves the card to Trash.
Trashed content is not immediately deleted. You have 30 days to restore a card from the Trash view before it's permanently removed. If you archive something by mistake, go to Trash and restore it.
Your content is accessible in three places depending on its state:
- Active dashboard — all cards from Pending through Drafted
- Published column (or post history) — content that has been marked as published
- Trash view — archived content within the 30-day restoration window
For next steps, see the help doc on kicking off the AI pipeline from a Pending card, which covers what happens when you trigger the process and what to expect in the Research stage. If you've reached the Outline Review stage and want to understand how to get the most out of it, the Outline Review help doc covers your options in detail.