How to colour board columns and show WIP limits in Jira Cloud

Board columns in Jira Cloud all look the same: a grey title and a count. When a team agrees that In review should never hold more than three cards, nothing on the board says so until someone counts.

What Jira lets you change

Column colours: none. Jira doesn't let you colour a column title or its background.

Limits: on a company-managed board, a board admin can set a minimum and maximum per column in Board settings → Columns; the column background turns red or yellow when it's outside them. Team-managed boards have a limit too, from the column's ⋯ menu. Neither changes the column's colour otherwise.

With Tintboard for Jira

1. Install Tintboard for Jira from the Atlassian Marketplace (free for up to 10 users).
2. Open Settings → Apps → Tintboard → Colours → Board column colours. Type a column name (they're matched by name, on every board) and pick a colour. Copy the status colours adds one for each status you've already coloured.
3. Optionally set a limit: when the column holds more cards, its title turns red, with a tooltip saying by how much.
4. Save, and install the Tintboard browser extension, or let IT install it for everyone.

The column title gets a coloured top bar and a faint tint, light or dark to match the Jira theme. Cards inside keep their own colours from card rules. Get started.