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Task Master MCP server

Provides task management capabilities for development workflows with PRD parsing, task CRUD operations with dependency management, complexity analysis, and context-based organization across project phases.
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Setup instructions
Provider
Eyal Toledano
Release date
Apr 07, 2025
Language
Go
Stats
18.6K stars
View on GitHub

Task Master is an AI-driven task management system designed to work seamlessly with Cursor AI and other code editors. It helps manage and organize development tasks by integrating with AI models like Claude, GPT, and others to streamline your workflow.

Installation Options

MCP Installation (Recommended)

Quick Install for Cursor 1.0+

Copy and paste the following into your browser:

cursor://anysphere.cursor-deeplink/mcp/install?name=taskmaster-ai&config=eyJjb21tYW5kIjoibnB4IiwiYXJncyI6WyIteSIsIi0tcGFja2FnZT10YXNrLW1hc3Rlci1haSIsInRhc2stbWFzdGVyLWFpIl0sImVudiI6eyJBTlRIUk9QSUNfQVBJX0tFWSI6IllPVVJfQU5USFJPUElDX0FQSV9LRVlfSEVSRSIsIlBFUlBMRVhJVFlfQVBJX0tFWSI6IllPVVJfUEVSUExFWElUWV9BUElfS0VZX0hFUkUiLCJPUEVOQUlfQVBJX0tFWSI6IllPVVJfT1BFTkFJX0tFWV9IRVJFIiwiR09PR0xFX0FQSV9LRVkiOiJZT1VSX0dPT0dMRV9LRVlfSEVSRSIsIk1JU1RSQUxfQVBJX0tFWSI6IllPVVJfTUlTVFJBTF9LRVlfSEVSRSIsIk9QRU5ST1VURVJfQVBJX0tFWSI6IllPVVJfT1BFTlJPVVRFUl9LRVlfSEVSRSIsIlhBSV9BUElfS0VZIjoiWU9VUl9YQUlfS0VZX0hFUkUiLCJBWlVSRV9PUEVOQUlfQVBJX0tFWSI6IllPVVJfQVpVUkVfS0VZX0hFUkUiLCJPTExBTUFfQVBJX0tFWSI6IllPVVJfT0xMQU1BX0FQSV9LRVlfSEVSRSJ9fQo=

Manual Configuration

  1. Add your MCP configuration in the appropriate file for your editor:
Editor Scope Linux/macOS Path Windows Path Key
Cursor Global ~/.cursor/mcp.json %USERPROFILE%\.cursor\mcp.json mcpServers
Project <project_folder>/.cursor/mcp.json <project_folder>\.cursor\mcp.json mcpServers
Windsurf Global ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json %USERPROFILE%\.codeium\windsurf\mcp_config.json mcpServers
VS Code Project <project_folder>/.vscode/mcp.json <project_folder>\.vscode\mcp.json servers
  1. Add the configuration content:

For Cursor & Windsurf:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "taskmaster-ai": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "--package=task-master-ai", "task-master-ai"],
      "env": {
        "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "YOUR_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY_HERE",
        "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "YOUR_PERPLEXITY_API_KEY_HERE",
        "OPENAI_API_KEY": "YOUR_OPENAI_KEY_HERE",
        "GOOGLE_API_KEY": "YOUR_GOOGLE_KEY_HERE",
        "MISTRAL_API_KEY": "YOUR_MISTRAL_KEY_HERE",
        "OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "YOUR_OPENROUTER_KEY_HERE",
        "XAI_API_KEY": "YOUR_XAI_KEY_HERE",
        "AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY": "YOUR_AZURE_KEY_HERE",
        "OLLAMA_API_KEY": "YOUR_OLLAMA_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

For VS Code:

{
  "servers": {
    "taskmaster-ai": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "--package=task-master-ai", "task-master-ai"],
      "env": {
        "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "YOUR_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY_HERE",
        "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "YOUR_PERPLEXITY_API_KEY_HERE",
        "OPENAI_API_KEY": "YOUR_OPENAI_KEY_HERE",
        "GOOGLE_API_KEY": "YOUR_GOOGLE_KEY_HERE",
        "MISTRAL_API_KEY": "YOUR_MISTRAL_KEY_HERE",
        "OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "YOUR_OPENROUTER_KEY_HERE",
        "XAI_API_KEY": "YOUR_XAI_KEY_HERE",
        "AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY": "YOUR_AZURE_KEY_HERE"
      },
      "type": "stdio"
    }
  }
}
  1. For Cursor only: Enable Task Master MCP
    • Open Cursor Settings (Ctrl+Shift+J)
    • Click on MCP tab on the left
    • Enable task-master-ai with the toggle

Command Line Installation

# Install globally
npm install -g task-master-ai

# OR install locally within your project
npm install task-master-ai

Getting Started

Setting Up Task Master

  1. Initialize Task Master in your project:

Through MCP (in your editor's AI chat):

Initialize taskmaster-ai in my project

Through command line:

task-master init
# OR if installed locally
npx task-master init
  1. Configure models (optional):

In your editor's AI chat:

Change the main, research and fallback models to <model_name>, <model_name> and <model_name> respectively.

Example:

Change the main model to claude-code/sonnet
  1. Create a PRD (Product Requirements Document):
    • For new projects: Create at .taskmaster/docs/prd.txt
    • For existing projects: Use scripts/prd.txt or migrate with task-master migrate

Using Task Master

MCP Chat Commands

  • Parse requirements: Can you parse my PRD at scripts/prd.txt?
  • Plan next steps: What's the next task I should work on?
  • Implement a task: Can you help me implement task 3?
  • View tasks: Can you show me tasks 1, 3, and 5?
  • Expand a task: Can you help me expand task 4?
  • Research information: Research the latest best practices for implementing JWT authentication with Node.js

Command Line Usage

# Parse a PRD and generate tasks
task-master parse-prd your-prd.txt

# List all tasks
task-master list

# Show the next task to work on
task-master next

# Show specific task(s)
task-master show 1,3,5

# Research with project context
task-master research "What are the latest best practices for JWT authentication?"

# Generate task files
task-master generate

# Add editor support rules
task-master rules add windsurf,roo,vscode

Claude Code Support

Task Master supports Claude models through the Claude Code CLI with no API key:

  • Available models: claude-code/opus and claude-code/sonnet
  • Requirements: Claude Code CLI installed
  • To use: Set your main model to a claude-code model in chat

Troubleshooting

If task-master init doesn't respond, try running it with Node directly:

node node_modules/claude-task-master/scripts/init.js

Or clone and run:

git clone https://github.com/eyaltoledano/claude-task-master.git
cd claude-task-master
node scripts/init.js

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "taskmaster-ai" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","--package=task-master-ai","task-master-ai"],"env":{"ANTHROPIC_API_KEY":"YOUR_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY_HERE","PERPLEXITY_API_KEY":"YOUR_PERPLEXITY_API_KEY_HERE","OPENAI_API_KEY":"YOUR_OPENAI_KEY_HERE","GOOGLE_API_KEY":"YOUR_GOOGLE_KEY_HERE","MISTRAL_API_KEY":"YOUR_MISTRAL_KEY_HERE","OPENROUTER_API_KEY":"YOUR_OPENROUTER_KEY_HERE","XAI_API_KEY":"YOUR_XAI_KEY_HERE","AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY":"YOUR_AZURE_KEY_HERE","OLLAMA_API_KEY":"YOUR_OLLAMA_API_KEY_HERE"}}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "taskmaster-ai": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "--package=task-master-ai",
                "task-master-ai"
            ],
            "env": {
                "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "YOUR_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY_HERE",
                "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "YOUR_PERPLEXITY_API_KEY_HERE",
                "OPENAI_API_KEY": "YOUR_OPENAI_KEY_HERE",
                "GOOGLE_API_KEY": "YOUR_GOOGLE_KEY_HERE",
                "MISTRAL_API_KEY": "YOUR_MISTRAL_KEY_HERE",
                "OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "YOUR_OPENROUTER_KEY_HERE",
                "XAI_API_KEY": "YOUR_XAI_KEY_HERE",
                "AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY": "YOUR_AZURE_KEY_HERE",
                "OLLAMA_API_KEY": "YOUR_OLLAMA_API_KEY_HERE"
            }
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
  • Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "taskmaster-ai": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "--package=task-master-ai",
                "task-master-ai"
            ],
            "env": {
                "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "YOUR_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY_HERE",
                "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "YOUR_PERPLEXITY_API_KEY_HERE",
                "OPENAI_API_KEY": "YOUR_OPENAI_KEY_HERE",
                "GOOGLE_API_KEY": "YOUR_GOOGLE_KEY_HERE",
                "MISTRAL_API_KEY": "YOUR_MISTRAL_KEY_HERE",
                "OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "YOUR_OPENROUTER_KEY_HERE",
                "XAI_API_KEY": "YOUR_XAI_KEY_HERE",
                "AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY": "YOUR_AZURE_KEY_HERE",
                "OLLAMA_API_KEY": "YOUR_OLLAMA_API_KEY_HERE"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect

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