Advanced Tasks

AI-Driven Development Workflow

The Cursor agent is pre-configured (via the rules file) to follow this workflow:

1. Task Discovery and Selection

Ask the agent to list available tasks:

What tasks are available to work on next?

Can you show me tasks 1, 3, and 5 to understand their current status?

The agent will:

Run task-master list to see all tasks
Run task-master next to determine the next task to work on
Run task-master show 1,3,5 to display multiple tasks with interactive options
Analyze dependencies to determine which tasks are ready to be worked on
Prioritize tasks based on priority level and ID order
Suggest the next task(s) to implement

2. Task Implementation

When implementing a task, the agent will:

Reference the task's details section for implementation specifics
Consider dependencies on previous tasks
Follow the project's coding standards
Create appropriate tests based on the task's testStrategy

You can ask:

Let's implement task 3. What does it involve?

2.1. Viewing Multiple Tasks

For efficient context gathering and batch operations:

Show me tasks 5, 7, and 9 so I can plan my implementation approach.

The agent will:

Run task-master show 5,7,9 to display a compact summary table
Show task status, priority, and progress indicators
Provide an interactive action menu with batch operations
Allow you to perform group actions like marking multiple tasks as in-progress

3. Task Verification

Before marking a task as complete, verify it according to:

The task's specified testStrategy
Any automated tests in the codebase
Manual verification if required

4. Task Completion

When a task is completed, tell the agent:

Task 3 is now complete. Please update its status.

The agent will execute:

task-master set-status --id=3 --status=done

5. Handling Implementation Drift

If during implementation, you discover that:

The current approach differs significantly from what was planned
Future tasks need to be modified due to current implementation choices
New dependencies or requirements have emerged

Tell the agent:

We've decided to use MongoDB instead of PostgreSQL. Can you update all future tasks (from ID 4) to reflect this change?

The agent will execute:

task-master update --from=4 --prompt="Now we are using MongoDB instead of PostgreSQL."

# OR, if research is needed to find best practices for MongoDB:
task-master update --from=4 --prompt="Update to use MongoDB, researching best practices" --research

This will rewrite or re-scope subsequent tasks in tasks.json while preserving completed work.

6. Reorganizing Tasks

If you need to reorganize your task structure:

I think subtask 5.2 would fit better as part of task 7 instead. Can you move it there?

The agent will execute:

task-master move --from=5.2 --to=7.3

You can reorganize tasks in various ways:

Moving a standalone task to become a subtask: --from=5 --to=7
Moving a subtask to become a standalone task: --from=5.2 --to=7
Moving a subtask to a different parent: --from=5.2 --to=7.3
Reordering subtasks within the same parent: --from=5.2 --to=5.4
Moving a task to a new ID position: --from=5 --to=25 (even if task 25 doesn't exist yet)
Moving multiple tasks at once: --from=10,11,12 --to=16,17,18 (must have same number of IDs, Taskmaster will look through each position)

When moving tasks to new IDs:

The system automatically creates placeholder tasks for non-existent destination IDs
This prevents accidental data loss during reorganization
Any tasks that depend on moved tasks will have their dependencies updated
When moving a parent task, all its subtasks are automatically moved with it and renumbered

This is particularly useful as your project understanding evolves and you need to refine your task structure.

7. Resolving Merge Conflicts with Tasks

When working with a team, you might encounter merge conflicts in your tasks.json file if multiple team members create tasks on different branches. The move command makes resolving these conflicts straightforward:

I just merged the main branch and there's a conflict with tasks.json. My teammates created tasks 10-15 while I created tasks 10-12 on my branch. Can you help me resolve this?

The agent will help you:

Keep your teammates' tasks (10-15)
Move your tasks to new positions to avoid conflicts:

# Move your tasks to new positions (e.g., 16-18)
task-master move --from=10 --to=16
task-master move --from=11 --to=17
task-master move --from=12 --to=18

This approach preserves everyone's work while maintaining a clean task structure, making it much easier to handle task conflicts than trying to manually merge JSON files.

8. Breaking Down Complex Tasks

For complex tasks that need more granularity:

Task 5 seems complex. Can you break it down into subtasks?

The agent will execute:

task-master expand --id=5 --num=3

You can provide additional context:

Please break down task 5 with a focus on security considerations.

The agent will execute:

task-master expand --id=5 --prompt="Focus on security aspects"

You can also expand all pending tasks:

Please break down all pending tasks into subtasks.

The agent will execute:

task-master expand --all

For research-backed subtask generation using the configured research model:

Please break down task 5 using research-backed generation.

The agent will execute:

task-master expand --id=5 --research