MCP Tasks is an efficient task manager designed to help AI assistants manage tasks across multiple file formats while minimizing tool confusion and maximizing efficiency. It provides powerful search, filtering, and organization capabilities for Markdown, JSON, and YAML task files.
Add this to ~/.cursor/mcp.json for Cursor or ~/.config/claude_desktop_config.json for Claude Desktop:
{
"mcpServers": {
"mcp-tasks": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "mcp-tasks"]
}
}
}
{
"mcpServers": {
"mcp-tasks": {
"command": "docker",
"args": [
"run",
"--rm",
"-i",
"flesler/mcp-tasks"
]
}
}
}
You can customize the environment with additional variables:
{
"mcpServers": {
"mcp-tasks": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "mcp-tasks"],
"env": {
"STATUS_WIP": "In Progress",
"STATUS_TODO": "To Do",
"STATUS_DONE": "Done",
"STATUS_REMINDERS": "Reminders",
"STATUS_NOTES": "Notes",
"STATUSES": "In Progress,To Do,Done,Backlog,Reminders,Notes",
"AUTO_WIP": "true",
"PREFIX_TOOLS": "true",
"KEEP_DELETED": "true",
"TRANSPORT": "stdio",
"PORT": "4680",
"INSTRUCTIONS": "Use mcp-tasks tools when the user mentions new or updated tasks"
}
}
}
}
To encourage AI to use these tools, start with a prompt like:
Use mcp-tasks tools to track our work in path/to/tasks.md
When telling the AI about new or updated tasks, you can append:
use mcp-tasks
When PREFIX_TOOLS=true (default), all tools are prefixed with tasks_:
| Tool | Description | Parameters |
|---|---|---|
tasks_setup |
Initialize a task file | source_path, workspace? |
tasks_search |
Search tasks with filtering | source_id, statuses?, terms?, ids? |
tasks_add |
Add new tasks to a status | source_id, texts[], status, index? |
tasks_update |
Update tasks by ID | source_id, ids[], status, index? |
tasks_summary |
Get task counts and work-in-progress | source_id |
tasks_setup({
workspace: "/path/to/project",
source_path: "tasks.md" // Can also use tasks.json or tasks.yml
})
// Returns source ID and initial task counts
tasks_add({
source_id: "xK8p", // From setup response
texts: ["Implement authentication", "Write tests"],
status: "To Do",
index: 0 // Optional, add at top
})
tasks_search({
source_id: "xK8p",
terms: ["auth", "deploy"], // Search terms (text or status, OR logic)
statuses: ["To Do"], // Filter by status
ids: ["m3Qw", "p9Lx"] // Filter by specific task IDs
})
tasks_update({
source_id: "xK8p",
ids: ["m3Qw", "p9Lx"],
status: "Done" // Use "Deleted" to remove
})
tasks_summary({
source_id: "xK8p"
})
MCP Tasks works with three file formats:
| Extension | Format | Best For | Auto-Created |
|---|---|---|---|
.md |
Markdown | Human-readable task lists | ✅ |
.json |
JSON | Structured data, APIs | ✅ |
.yml |
YAML | Configuration files | ✅ |
The format is auto-detected from the file extension. Markdown (.md) is recommended for human readability and editing.
You can also use MCP Tasks directly from the command line:
# Setup a task file
mcp-tasks setup tasks.md $PWD
# Add tasks
mcp-tasks add "Implement authentication" # Defaults to "To Do" status
mcp-tasks add "Write tests" "Backlog" # Add with specific status
mcp-tasks add "Fix critical bug" "In Progress" 0 # Add at top (index 0)
# Search tasks
mcp-tasks search # All tasks
mcp-tasks search "" "auth,login" # Search for specific terms
mcp-tasks search "To Do,Done" "" # Filter by statuses
# Update task status (comma-separated IDs)
mcp-tasks update m3Qw,p9Lx Done
# Get summary
mcp-tasks summary
If you encounter ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND when running npx mcp-tasks:
npx clear-npx-cache
npx mcp-tasks
Tasks are stored in the file path specified during setup. The absolute path is returned in every tool call response under source.path.
To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:
claude mcp add-json "mcp-tasks" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","mcp-tasks"]}'See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.
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.
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": {
"mcp-tasks": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"mcp-tasks"
]
}
}
}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.
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.
To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:
1. Find your configuration file:
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json2. Add this to your configuration file:
{
"mcpServers": {
"mcp-tasks": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"mcp-tasks"
]
}
}
}3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect