What is Gotask Mcp

gotask-mcp is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server designed for the Taskfile and go-task, enabling the execution of defined tasks in a development environment.

Use cases

Use cases for gotask-mcp include automating repetitive tasks, performing quality assurance checks, and integrating with coding agents powered by generative AI for efficient task management.

How to use

To use gotask-mcp, ensure you have the prerequisites installed, clone the repository, create a suitable Taskfile.yml, and start the MCP server using the provided command in Cursor IDE settings.

Key features

Key features include the ability to retrieve a list of available tasks and run named tasks, providing contextual information about the project to enhance task execution.

Where to use

gotask-mcp can be used in software development environments, particularly where automation of task execution is beneficial, such as in CI/CD pipelines or local development setups.

gotask-mcp

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server for Taskfile/go-task.

Prerequisites

This project and the mcp CLI rely on your having the dependency management tool uv installed. You can install via e.g. brew install uv for Homebrew users. See here for alternatives.

You will also need to have Taskfile installed. brew install go-task will work if you are a Homebrew user.
See here for alternatives.

Quickstart for Cursor IDE

0. ensure you have the prerequisites installed
1. clone down this repository
2. ensure you have a suitable Taskfile.yml in your working project (you can use the example in this project for inspiration)
3. in Cursor settings > MCP Servers, start a server with the following command:

uv run --with mcp --directory /path/to/gotask-mcp mcp run /path/to/gotask-mcp/src/server.py

It is recommended to copy the contextual rule in .cursor/rules/tool-use-rule.mdc into your working project (or write a similar rule). The Cursor Agent will need some instructions if it is to use the tools properly.

Details

A task runner (such as Taskfile) is a means of defining and running short commands that do regularly required, simple or complex work.

Such tasks can be an important part of the development cycle, for example autofixes and QA checks. Therefore it would seem useful if coding agents powered by generative AI could run these tasks at the appropriate time. The way to achieve this is with an MCP server that provides tools for running such tasks.

The server is designed to run in an isolated environment and to have contextual information about the working project passed in by the Client (tested with Cursor IDE Agent)

1. a tool to retrieve a list of available tasks
2. a tool to run a named task

The Cursor Agent is expected to pass in the working directory path as an input to these tools, which allows the tools to read the project Taskfile.yml.

(N.B. at the time of writing MCP resources don’t work very well with Cursor IDE - the first tool would ideally be implemented as a resource, not a tool)