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AI-Driven Development Workflow

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

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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

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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?

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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:

  1. Keep your teammates’ tasks (10-15)
  2. 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.

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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