Task Manager MCP server

This MCP server for AI code editors like Cursor helps maximize agentic capabilities and overcome limited context windows, while providing a user interface to view tasks, adjust plans, and review changes.

Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js
• npm
• Git

Setup Steps

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/jhawkins11/task-manager-mcp.git
   cd task-manager-mcp
   

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install
   

3. Build the server:

   npm run build
   

Configuration

For manual testing (without Cursor), create a .env file in the project root:

# OpenRouter Configuration (Recommended)
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-v1-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
OPENROUTER_MODEL=google/gemini-2.5-flash-preview:thinking
FALLBACK_OPENROUTER_MODEL=google/gemini-2.5-flash-preview:thinking

# Alternative: Google AI API
# GEMINI_API_KEY=your_google_ai_api_key
# GEMINI_MODEL=gemini-1.5-flash-latest
# FALLBACK_GEMINI_MODEL=gemini-1.5-flash-latest

# UI and WebSocket Configuration
UI_PORT=4999
WS_PORT=4999

# Optional Features
AUTO_REVIEW_ON_COMPLETION=false

Using with Cursor

Configure Cursor MCP Server

1. Create or edit Cursor's MCP configuration file:

   • Project-specific: .cursor/mcp.json in your project directory
   • Global: ~/.cursor/mcp.json in your home directory

2. Add the following configuration:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "task-manager-mcp": {
         "command": "node",
         "args": ["/full/path/to/your/task-manager-mcp/dist/server.js"],
         "env": {
           "OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "sk-or-v1-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
           // Optional configurations:
           // "OPENROUTER_MODEL": "google/gemini-2.5-flash-preview:thinking",
           // "FALLBACK_OPENROUTER_MODEL": "google/gemini-2.5-flash-preview:thinking",
           // "UI_PORT": "4999",
           // "WS_PORT": "4999"
         }
       }
     }
   }
   

   Important: Replace the path with the absolute path to the server.js file on your system and use your actual API key.

Create a Custom Cursor Mode

1. In Cursor, go to Settings → Features → Chat → Enable Custom modes

2. Go to chat view and click the mode selector (bottom left)

3. Click "Add custom mode"

4. Configure the mode:

   • Name it (e.g., "MCP Planner" or "Task Dev")
   • Choose an icon/shortcut
   • Enable these tools: plan_feature, mark_task_complete, get_next_task, review_changes, adjust_plan
   • Add the following instructions:

   Always use plan_feature mcp tool when getting feature request before doing anything else. ALWAYS!!!!!!!! It will return the first step of the implementation. DO NOT IMPLEMENT MORE THAN WHAT THE TASK STATES. After you're done run mark_task_complete which will give you the next task. If the user says "review" use the review_changes tool. The review_changes tool will generate new tasks for you to follow, just like plan_feature. After a review, follow the same one-at-a-time task completion workflow: complete each review-generated task, mark it complete, and call get_next_task until all are done.
   
   If clarification is required at any step, you will not receive the next task and will have to run get_next_task manually after the user answers the clarification question through the UI.
   
   IMPORTANT: Your job is to complete the tasks one at a time. DO NOT DO ANY OTHER CHANGES, ONLY WHAT THE CURRENT TASK SAYS TO DO.
   

5. Save the custom mode

Workflow

1. Select your custom mode in Cursor
2. Describe the feature you want to implement (e.g., "add auth using JWT")
3. The system will:
   • Plan the implementation using the plan_feature tool
   • Break it down into step-by-step tasks
   • Launch a UI showing the task list and progress
   • Return the first task to Cursor
4. Cursor will implement only the current task
5. When a task is complete, Cursor calls mark_task_complete and receives the next task
6. If clarification is needed:
   • The UI will display a question
   • You answer in the UI
   • The agent calls get_next_task to continue
7. To review changes, tell Cursor to "review" - it will analyze your code changes and create new tasks if needed

Cost Management

To minimize costs:

• Connect your Google AI API key to OpenRouter to use free models
• Use models marked as "Free" on OpenRouter (like google/gemini-2.5-flash-preview:thinking)
• For instructions, see: https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPTCoding/comments/1jrp1tj/a_simple_guide_to_setting_up_gemini_25_pro_free/

The server automatically retries with a fallback model if the primary hits a rate limit.

Manual Server Operation

For local testing without Cursor:

# Using node directly:
node /full/path/to/your/task-manager-mcp/dist/server.js

# Or using npm:
npm start

This starts all required services and opens the UI at http://localhost:4999 (default).

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 "task-manager-mcp" '{"command":"node","args":["/full/path/to/your/task-manager-mcp/dist/server.js"],"env":{"OPENROUTER_API_KEY":"sk-or-v1-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"}}'

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": {
        "task-manager-mcp": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "/full/path/to/your/task-manager-mcp/dist/server.js"
            ],
            "env": {
                "OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "sk-or-v1-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
            }
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "task-manager-mcp": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "/full/path/to/your/task-manager-mcp/dist/server.js"
            ],
            "env": {
                "OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "sk-or-v1-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect