claude-task-master/apps/docs/best-practices/advanced-tasks.mdx

---
title: Advanced Tasks
sidebarTitle: "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:

```bash
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:

```bash
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:

```bash
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:

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

```bash
# 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:

```bash
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:

```bash
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:

```bash
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:

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