---
title: "Installation(2)"
description: "This guide walks you through setting up Task Master in your development environment."
---

## Initial Setup

<Tip>
  MCP (Model Control Protocol) provides the easiest way to get started with Task Master directly in your editor.
</Tip>

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Option 1: Using MCP (Recommended)" icon="sparkles">
    <Steps>
      <Step title="Add the MCP config to your editor">
        <Link href="https://cursor.sh">Cursor</Link> recommended, but it works with other text editors
        ```json
        {
        	"mcpServers": {
        		"taskmaster-ai": {
        			"command": "npx",
        			"args": ["-y", "task-master-ai"],
        			"env": {
        				"ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "YOUR_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY_HERE",
        				"PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "YOUR_PERPLEXITY_API_KEY_HERE",
        				"MODEL": "claude-3-7-sonnet-20250219",
        				"PERPLEXITY_MODEL": "sonar-pro",
        				"MAX_TOKENS": 128000,
        				"TEMPERATURE": 0.2,
        				"DEFAULT_SUBTASKS": 5,
        				"DEFAULT_PRIORITY": "medium"
        			}
        		}
        	}
        }
        ```
      </Step>
      <Step title="Enable the MCP in your editor settings">
        
      </Step>
      <Step title="Prompt the AI to initialize Task Master">
        > "Can you please initialize taskmaster-ai into my project?"

        **The AI will:**

        1. Create necessary project structure
        2. Set up initial configuration files
        3. Guide you through the rest of the process
        4. Place your PRD document in the `scripts/` directory (e.g., `scripts/prd.txt`)
        5. **Use natural language commands** to interact with Task Master:

           > "Can you parse my PRD at scripts/prd.txt?"
           >
           > "What's the next task I should work on?"
           >
           > "Can you help me implement task 3?"
      </Step>
    </Steps>
  </Accordion>
  <Accordion title="Option 2: Manual Installation">
    If you prefer to use the command line interface directly:

    <Steps>
      <Step title="Install">
        <CodeGroup>

        ```bash Global
        npm install -g task-master-ai
        ```

        
        ```bash Local
        npm install task-master-ai
        ```

        </CodeGroup>
      </Step>
      <Step title="Initialize a new project">
        <CodeGroup>

        ```bash Global
        task-master init
        ```

        
        ```bash Local
        npx task-master-init
        ```

        </CodeGroup>
      </Step>
    </Steps>
    This will prompt you for project details and set up a new project with the necessary files and structure.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Common Commands

<Tip>
  After setting up Task Master, you can use these commands (either via AI prompts or CLI)
</Tip>

```bash
# Parse a PRD and generate tasks
task-master parse-prd your-prd.txt

# List all tasks
task-master list

# Show the next task to work on
task-master next

# Generate task files
task-master generate