10x Your AI Workflow with Taskmaster AI

Managing AI-driven projects can be chaotic: vague prompts, lost context, and AI assistants that hallucinate or rewrite code they shouldn’t touch. Taskmaster AI is the open-source project manager that brings order, structure, and supercharged productivity to your AI workflow—directly in your code editor or via the CLI. Here’s how you can set it up, use it, and finally make your AI tools work for you, not against you.

Why Taskmaster AI?

Breaks down big ideas into actionable, prioritized tasks
Provides detailed context for every task so AI agents can perform with near-zero corrections
Tracks dependencies, progress, and complexity
Integrates with popular editors and AI assistants (Cursor, Claude, Perplexity, OpenAI, Gemini, and more)
Open source and free to use

“Taskmaster will take your project idea and, as a good PM, divide the project into smaller tasks, prioritize them, research them to understand their complexity, and even break down big tasks into smaller ones for you.”
— Nomad Coders YouTube review

Installation & Setup
Option 1: Editor Integration via MCP (Recommended)
Taskmaster AI can be run as an MCP server in your editor (Cursor, VS Code, etc.).

Step 1: Add Taskmaster to MCP config

json
{
  "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"
      }
    }
  }
}

Step 2: Enable the MCP server in your editor settings.

Step 3: Prompt your AI assistant:

text
Can you please initialize taskmaster-ai into my project?

Option 2: Command Line Interface

Install globally:

bash
npm install -g task-master-ai
Or locally in your project:

bash
npm install task-master-ai
Initialize a new project:

bash
# Global
task-master init

# Local
npx task-master init
2. Generate and Manage Your Project Tasks
Step 1: Create a Product Requirements Document (PRD)

Place your PRD.txt inside the scripts folder.

Be as specific as possible: describe features, implementation ideas, and requirements.

Step 2: Parse the PRD and generate tasks

bash
task-master parse-prd scripts/PRD.txt

Step 3: List all tasks

bash
task-master list
Step 4: See what to do next

bash
task-master next
Step 5: Show task details (for implementation or AI handoff)

bash
task-master show <task-id>

Supercharge with AI-Powered Complexity Analysis
Analyze task complexity:

bash
task-master analyze-complexity
Generate a complexity report:

bash
task-master complexity-report
Expand a complex task into subtasks:

bash
task-master expand <task-id>
Or expand all:

bash
task-master expand-all
4. Track Progress and Stay Motivated
Mark tasks as done:

bash
task-master set-status <task-id> done

Watch your progress bar fill up as you check off tasks and subtasks.

Use the tasks folder to view all tasks and subtasks as plain text—perfect for sharing with your AI assistant for maximum context.

Integrate with Your AI Assistant
Copy task instructions into your AI chat window for context-rich, accurate completions.

Let Taskmaster handle project planning, so your AI can focus on implementation.

Example Workflow

bash
# 1. Initialize Taskmaster in your project
npx task-master init

# 2. Parse your PRD
npx task-master parse-prd scripts/PRD.txt

# 3. List tasks and pick the next one
npx task-master list
npx task-master next

# 4. Analyze and expand complex tasks
npx task-master analyze-complexity
npx task-master expand-all

# 5. Mark tasks as done as you complete them
npx task-master set-status <task-id> done

Pro Tips
Be specific in your PRD: The more detail, the better the task breakdown and AI output.

Use the CLI for speed: Manage tasks, analyze complexity, and expand tasks faster than typing in chat.

Integrate with your favorite AI: Taskmaster works hand-in-hand with Claude, Perplexity, OpenAI, Gemini, and more.

Resources
Taskmaster AI GitHub1
Nomad Coders Taskmaster AI Video Guide2

Don’t just use AI—supercharge it.
Taskmaster AI is the project manager your AI workflow has been missing. Try it on your next project and experience the difference.