taskdeck

A task runner built for working with coding agents. Like a Makefile or justfile, each repo gets one file, taskdeck.yaml, listing the commands people run in it. You run them from the CLI or a local UI, and your agent runs them over MCP.

Every repo grows commands you forget: pnpm run deploy worker --skip-build, .\launch-two.ps1 -Count 3 -Manual, "edit tfvars, then apply, then deploy". make and just gave those commands a name. taskdeck also tells you, and your agent, how to run each one and how risky it is:

• Typed params. Every action is a form in the UI and a schema for agents, so nobody guesses flags.

• Risk levels. Your agent runs the safe actions itself. A deploy or a delete becomes a proposal with a Run button for you, not a command in chat that you forget by tomorrow.

• Nothing to rewrite. Actions call what you already have: npm scripts, PowerShell, make, or your own CLI.

• Somewhere to watch them. Each repo gets real terminals, run history and multi-step workflows shown as checklists, all kept by one small local daemon.

Get started

Add taskdeck to your agent once:

npx taskdeck init --claude

init adds taskdeck's MCP server to the client you name, using the right command for your OS:

• --claude for Claude Code

• --copilot (or --vscode) for GitHub Copilot in VS Code

• --cursor for Cursor

• --windsurf for Windsurf

Name several clients, or pass --all for every one installed. With no flags, init asks about each client it finds. --dry-run shows what it would change. For any other MCP client, add the server yourself: "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "taskdeck@latest", "mcp"] (on Windows, "command": "cmd", "args": ["/c", "npx", "-y", "taskdeck@latest", "mcp"]).

Then open a new chat in any repo (chats that are already open don't load new MCP servers) and say:

set up taskdeck

In Claude Code, /mcp__taskdeck__setup does the same. The agent finds the repo's commands, reads its docs, writes taskdeck.yaml and checks it. If your agent has no MCP, ask it to read AGENT_SETUP.md and do what it says.

After that, the agent checks taskdeck before it tells you to run anything. It runs what the contract allows (agent: run) and proposes the rest. If no taskdeck window is open, one opens on the proposal (set TASKDECK_POPUP=0 in the daemon's environment to turn that off). An open window brings the proposal up for review, and runs the agent starts show up in its terminal dock.

Related MCP server: SnapBack

The UI

npx taskdeck ui

This command starts the daemon if it isn't running and adds the current repo. It opens in its own window (Chrome, Edge or Brave app mode); --browser opens a normal tab instead.

• Run actions. Fill in the form and the exact command updates as you type. Press Run to watch it in a real terminal, with colors, progress bars and prompts you can type into. "Open in my terminal" sends it to your own terminal instead.

• Keep going after you close the tab. Runs carry on in the daemon. High-risk actions ask you to confirm first.

• Review proposals. Proposals from your agent wait under "Waiting for you" until you run or dismiss them.

• Switch between repos. Each repo keeps its own terminal tabs, and the left bar marks the ones with something running. Add repos with Browse, and pick one of 14 themes from the gear icon.

Real terminals come from the optional node-pty dependency, prebuilt for Windows and macOS. On Linux it needs build tools; without it, output is piped instead.

The CLI

npx taskdeck list

npx taskdeck show deploy

npx taskdeck run deploy target=worker skipBuild --dry-run

npx taskdeck check

check validates the contract and lists commands in the repo that the contract doesn't cover yet.

Scripts can add and remove repos, e.g. when creating and deleting worktrees. The contract can live outside the repo; action cwds resolve from the repo root you pass:

npx taskdeck add ../feat-login --contract ../feat-login.taskdeck.yaml

npx taskdeck remove ../feat-login

remove only takes the repo out of the UI and leaves its files alone. Agents have the same pair of commands over MCP.

The daemon

The daemon is one Node process that uses about 60 MB and no CPU while nothing runs. It doesn't start at login: the UI, the CLI or the MCP server starts it when one of them needs it. When a newer taskdeck connects (@latest picks up releases), it restarts the daemon on the new version once no runs are going, and open UI windows reload themselves.

npx taskdeck status

npx taskdeck stop

stop refuses while runs are still going; --force stops them too. Your repo list and run history stay in ~/.taskdeck either way.

Uninstall

npx taskdeck uninstall

This command takes taskdeck out of every client that has it and stops the daemon. It refuses while runs are going; --force stops them too. Your repo list and run history stay in ~/.taskdeck unless you add --purge. It never touches the taskdeck.yaml files in your repos. If you also installed taskdeck globally, run npm rm -g taskdeck.

To take taskdeck out of one client and leave the rest running, name it: npx taskdeck uninstall --copilot.

Status

Early, but in daily use. Today taskdeck has the contract format (CONTRACT.md), discovery helpers for npm-family scripts and PowerShell, the CLI, the local UI and the MCP server. See examples/ for real contracts and ROADMAP.md for what might come next.

State lives in ~/.taskdeck: repos, run logs and proposals (TASKDECK_HOME moves it). The daemon only listens on 127.0.0.1, and every API call needs the key in ~/.taskdeck, so web pages you visit can't drive it.

License

Public domain (Unlicense). Do whatever you like with it.