Troubleshooting and organizing agile boards in Taiga

Taming Taiga Project Boards: Your Practical Guide to Troubleshooting Common Issues in 2026

ByClara Singh

Ever spent more time wrestling with your project management tool than managing your actual project?

If your team uses Taiga, you’re not alone in that struggle. From sudden “Something happened” errors to mysteriously empty Kanban boards, Taiga’s power comes with its fair share of setup and operational quirks. The good news is that most of these headaches have clear causes and, more importantly, practical solutions. This guide cuts through the noise to help you fix the most common Taiga project board issues and get your team back to productive work.

TL;DR

Taiga is a powerful, open-source agile project management platform, but self-hosted instances often face technical hurdles. The most frequent problems stem from incorrect configuration, network/database connectivity issues, and frontend/backend misalignment. By methodically checking your environment variables, verifying service health, and examining browser developer tools, you can resolve the majority of errors and restore full functionality to your project boards.

Key Takeaways

  • Configuration is Key: Most deployment and access errors are caused by misconfigured environment variables (like TAIGA_SITES_DOMAIN) or incorrect port mappings between services.
  • Check Connectivity First: A significant portion of backend failures are due to the Taiga services (back, async, events) being unable to connect to the PostgreSQL database or RabbitMQ message broker.
  • The Browser Console is Your Friend: For frontend issues like blank pages or empty Kanban boards, the browser’s Developer Tools (F12) console and network tabs are the first and best place to diagnose problems.
  • Community Knowledge is Invaluable: The official Taiga Community forum is an active hub where many common problems and their solutions have been documented and discussed.

Why Getting Taiga Right Matters for Agile Teams

An unstable project management tool doesn’t just cause technical frustration—it breaks the flow of your agile process. When developers can’t update tasks, when Scrum Masters can’t see the board, or when product owners can’t prioritize the backlog, your entire team’s velocity grinds to a halt.

The complexity arises because Taiga isn’t a single application; it’s a distributed system of microservices (frontend, backend, async tasks, events, database, message broker) that must work in harmony. A failure in any one link—be it a wrong password in a config file, a container failing to start, or a misdirected API call—can manifest as a cryptic error on your board. Understanding this architecture is the first step to effective troubleshooting.

The best developer tools fade into the background and let you focus on building. A properly configured Taiga instance does exactly that, becoming an invisible scaffold for your team’s collaboration instead of a constant source of distraction.

Configuration and Deployment Errors: The Usual Suspects

These are the most common blockers when first setting up Taiga or after a restart. They often prevent you from accessing the application at all.

  • The Dreaded “Something happened” Error: This generic Taiga frontend error is typically a symptom of a backend API that is unreachable or misconfigured. As one user discovered, the core issue is often a mismatch between the port the taiga-back service runs on (e.g., 8001) and the port the frontend is configured to call (e.g., 8000). The solution is to ensure your TAIGA_URL and reverse proxy settings point to the correct backend port.
  • Database Connection Failures: Your taiga-back and taiga-async services depend on a healthy connection to the PostgreSQL database (taiga-db). Errors like "connection timed out" or "password authentication failed" indicate this link is broken.
    • Fix: Verify the POSTGRES_HOST, POSTGRES_USER, and POSTGRES_PASSWORD environment variables for the back services exactly match those set for the taiga-db container. Ensure the database container is running and healthy (use docker-compose logs taiga-db to check).
  • Blank Page on Load: If you see only a browser tab titled “Taiga” on a white screen, the frontend static files are being served, but the JavaScript application can’t initialize. This is almost always due to an incorrect TAIGA_SITES_DOMAIN environment variable or a problem with the reverse proxy configuration.

Operational Issues: When The Board Behaves Oddly

These problems occur after a seemingly successful deployment, often disrupting daily work.

  • Empty Kanban Board: A fully loaded project that suddenly shows an empty Kanban column is a known issue. The root cause is often a faulty or corrupted client-side filter. Specifically, using or clearing an “Epic” filter can sometimes save a broken epic=null parameter in your browser’s local storage, which causes the board’s API calls to fail.
    • Fix: The immediate workaround is to open Taiga in a private/incognito browser window (which uses a clean storage slate). For a permanent fix, clear your browser’s local storage for the Taiga site (in Chrome DevTools: Application > Storage > Local Storage).
  • Images and Media Not Loading: Uploaded project logos or attachments that appear as broken icons often point to a problem with the taiga-protected service or media file permissions. Additionally, WebSocket errors for the events service (ws://.../events) can disrupt real-time updates and are frequently due to misconfigured reverse proxy rules for the /events path.
  • Asynchronous Tasks Failing: Features like sending emails might not work if the taiga-async service cannot connect to the RabbitMQ message broker. Look for "Cannot connect to amqp://..." errors in the async container logs.

Taiga Troubleshooting Checklist: A Step-by-Step Guide

When something goes wrong, follow this structured approach to isolate the issue. The flowchart below maps out the diagnostic process based on the symptom you’re seeing.

A visual guide to diagnosing Taiga issues. Start with your symptom and follow the steps.

How to use this guide:

  1. For “Can’t Access” or “Something happened” errors: Start from the top-left (red). Immediately open your Browser Console (F12). Look for failed (404, 500) network requests, especially to /api/v1/ endpoints, or JavaScript errors. These will tell you if the frontend can’t talk to the backend.
  2. Inspect Service Logs: The console clues will lead you to check the specific backend container logs (e.g., docker-compose logs taiga-back). This is where you’ll find concrete errors about database connections or configuration problems.
  3. Verify Core Services: Ensure your database (taiga-db) and message broker (rabbitmq) containers are running and healthy. Use docker-compose ps and check their logs for startup errors.
  4. For “Empty Kanban Board”: Start from the green bar. Open your project in a Private Browser Window. If the board loads, the issue is definitely a local client-side problem.
  5. Clear Local Storage: As found by the community, clearing the site’s local storage (not just cache) is the most reliable fix for the persistent empty board issue caused by faulty filters.

Your Taiga Troubleshooting Questions, Answered (FAQ)

I see “Something happened and the Taiga has captured the error.” Where are these errors captured?
This frontend message is generic. The real error details are not stored in a visible log file for users. You must find them by checking the backend container logs (docker-compose logs taiga-back) and, crucially, the JavaScript console in your browser’s Developer Tools (F12).

My Kanban board is empty, but everything else works. What’s wrong?
This is a frontend filtering issue, not a data loss problem. A corrupted filter (often related to Epics) gets stuck in your browser’s local storage. Test by opening the board in a private/incognito window. If it works there, clear your browser’s local storage for the Taiga site to fix it permanently.

How do I know if my database or RabbitMQ connections are the problem?
Examine the logs for the taiga-back and taiga-async services. Explicit errors like "could not connect to server... port 5432" (PostgreSQL) or "Cannot connect to amqp://..." (RabbitMQ) are clear indicators. First, ensure the taiga-db and rabbitmq containers are running with docker-compose ps.

I’m using a reverse proxy (like Nginx). What’s the most common mistake?
The most frequent configuration errors are: 1) Not correctly proxying the /events path for WebSockets (it requires special upgrade headers), and 2) Having mismatched settings between the proxy, the TAIGA_SITES_DOMAIN/TAIGA_URL variables, and the frontend’s conf.json file.

Where can I get community help for Taiga issues?
The official Taiga Community forum is the primary and most active support hub. Before posting, search the forum thoroughly—chances are your issue has already been solved. The taiga-docker GitHub repository issues are also a source of technical discussions.

Are there tools to connect Taiga with AI assistants?
Yes, the ecosystem is growing. Tools like the Taiga MCP Server act as a bridge, allowing AI agents (in Claude, Cursor, etc.) to interact with your Taiga instance using natural language to read projects, create user stories, and update tasks. This is separate from core troubleshooting but can enhance automation.

Does the hosted Taiga.io service have these problems?
Generally, no. Most of the issues detailed here are specific to self-hosted deployments, where you manage the servers, Docker containers, and configuration. The SaaS version (tree.taiga.io) abstracts away this infrastructure complexity.

Final Thoughts

Successfully running a self-hosted Taiga instance is a testament to your team’s technical capability, but it requires an understanding of its moving parts. The key to smooth operation is meticulous initial configuration, proactive monitoring of service health, and knowing where to look when things go wrong.

Most problems are solvable with a calm, logical approach: let the browser console guide you, verify inter-service communications, and don’t underestimate the power of clearing a browser cache. The active Taiga community is also an invaluable resource, having collectively documented solutions to nearly every common pitfall.

Always back up your .env configuration file and database volumes before making any major changes to your Taiga instance. A simple mistake in a config change can bring the system down, but a backup ensures you can recover quickly.

Has your team encountered a particularly tricky Taiga issue that wasn’t covered here? What was your solution? Share your experience in the comments to help others in the community.

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