⚡ Task Orchestrator MCP Server

Task Orchestrator MCP is a task orchestration server that helps AI agents execute complex workflows with proper dependency management. Think of it as a smart task scheduler—define your tasks, set up dependencies between them, and let the system handle execution order, retries, and progress tracking. Perfect for CI/CD pipelines, multi-step processes, and any workflow that needs tasks to run in the right sequence.

Whether you're building deployment pipelines, running test suites, or coordinating multi-stage processes, Task Orchestrator MCP provides structured task execution with automatic dependency resolution, retry logic, and persistent storage for tracking progress over time.

✨ Features

• 📋 Task Management - Create, update, delete, and track tasks with different statuses (pending, in_progress, completed, failed)

• 🔗 Dependency Tracking - Define task dependencies to ensure tasks execute in the correct order

• 🔄 Workflow Support - Group tasks into workflows for organized execution

• 🚀 Workflow Execution - Orchestrate workflow runs with automatic task progression

• ⏱️ Execution Time Tracking - Track task start and completion times with duration calculation

• 🔁 Retry Logic - Configure automatic retry limits for failed tasks

• 💾 Persistent Storage - All tasks and workflows are saved to JSON file storage

• 📊 Execution Tracking - Track task execution results and errors

• 📝 Activity Logging - All tool calls are logged to the output directory for debugging and auditing

Related MCP server: Agent Board

🚀 Installation

npm install
npm run build

⚙️ Configuration

The MCP server is configured via environment variables in mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "task-orchestrator": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/task-orchestrator-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "TASK_ORCHESTRATOR_STORAGE_PATH": "/path/to/task-orchestrator-mcp/task-orchestrator-storage.json",
        "TASK_ORCHESTRATOR_OUTPUT_DIR": "/path/to/task-orchestrator-mcp/output"
      }
    }
  }
}

• TASK_ORCHESTRATOR_STORAGE_PATH: Path to the JSON file where tasks and workflows are stored

• TASK_ORCHESTRATOR_OUTPUT_DIR: Directory where activity logs are stored

🎯 Quick Start

Basic Example

Create a task:

{
  "name": "Build frontend",
  "description": "Build the React frontend application",
  "dependencies": ["task_123"],
  "metadata": {
    "priority": "high",
    "estimated_time": "5m"
  },
  "maxRetries": 3
}

Create a workflow:

{
  "name": "CI Pipeline",
  "taskIds": ["task_1_id", "task_2_id", "task_3_id"]
}

Start workflow execution:

{
  "workflowId": "workflow_abc123"
}

🛠️ Available Tools

Task Management

create_task

Create a new task with optional dependencies.

Parameters:

• name (required): The name of the task

• description (optional): Description of the task

• dependencies (optional): Array of task IDs that this task depends on

• metadata (optional): Additional metadata for the task

• maxRetries (optional): Maximum number of retry attempts for this task

update_task

Update an existing task.

Parameters:

• id (required): The ID of the task to update

• name (optional): New name for the task

• description (optional): New description

• dependencies (optional): New dependencies

• metadata (optional): New metadata

delete_task

Delete a task by ID.

Parameters:

• id (required): The ID of the task to delete

get_task

Get a specific task by ID.

Parameters:

• id (required): The ID of the task to retrieve

list_tasks

List all tasks or filter by status.

Parameters:

• status (optional): Filter by status ('pending', 'in_progress', 'completed', 'failed')

Task Execution

execute_task

Mark a task as completed with a result.

Parameters:

• id (required): The ID of the task to execute

• result (optional): The result of the task execution

fail_task

Mark a task as failed with an error message.

Parameters:

• id (required): The ID of the task to fail

• error (required): The error message

mark_in_progress

Mark a task as in progress.

Parameters:

• id (required): The ID of the task to mark as in progress

reset_task

Reset a task back to pending status.

Parameters:

• id (required): The ID of the task to reset

retry_task

Retry a failed task, incrementing retry count.

Parameters:

• id (required): The ID of the task to retry

Note: Task will only be retried if it hasn't exceeded its maxRetries limit.

Dependency Management

get_next_tasks

Get tasks that are ready to execute (all dependencies completed).

can_execute

Check if a task can be executed based on its dependencies.

Parameters:

• id (required): The ID of the task to check

Workflow Management

create_workflow

Create a workflow (group of tasks in sequence).

Parameters:

• name (required): The name of the workflow

• taskIds (required): Array of task IDs in the workflow

get_workflow

Get a workflow by ID.

Parameters:

• id (required): The ID of the workflow to retrieve

list_workflows

List all workflows.

delete_workflow

Delete a workflow by ID.

Parameters:

• id (required): The ID of the workflow to delete

Workflow Execution

start_workflow_execution

Start execution of a workflow, creating a workflow run.

Parameters:

• workflowId (required): The ID of the workflow to execute

advance_workflow_run

Advance a workflow run to the next task.

Parameters:

• runId (required): The ID of the workflow run to advance

get_workflow_run

Get a workflow run by ID.

Parameters:

• runId (required): The ID of the workflow run to retrieve

list_workflow_runs

List all workflow runs.

get_next_workflow_tasks

Get tasks that are ready to execute within a specific workflow (dependency-aware).

Parameters:

• workflowId (required): The ID of the workflow to get ready tasks for

System

get_stats

Get statistics about tasks and workflows.

clear_all

Clear all tasks and workflows.

save_state

Manually save the current state to storage.

get_version

Get the version information of this task orchestrator MCP server.

📖 Usage Example

Creating a Sequential Task Chain

1. Create initial tasks with no dependencies:

{
  "name": "Install dependencies"
}

2. Create dependent tasks:

{
  "name": "Run tests",
  "dependencies": ["task_1234567890_abc"]
}

3. Check which tasks can be executed: (Use get_next_tasks tool)

4. Execute a task:

{
  "id": "task_1234567890_abc",
  "result": {
    "status": "success",
    "duration": "30s"
  }
}

5. Check if dependent task can now be executed: (Use can_execute tool)

Creating a Workflow

1. Create multiple tasks with dependencies as needed

2. Create a workflow:

{
  "name": "CI Pipeline",
  "taskIds": ["task_1_id", "task_2_id", "task_3_id"]
}

Dependency-Aware Workflow Orchestration

The task-orchestrator-mcp supports true dependency-aware workflow execution that respects the full task dependency graph (not just linear execution). This enables parallel execution of independent tasks within a workflow.

Key Benefits

• 🚀 Parallel Execution - Independent tasks can run simultaneously (e.g., frontend and backend builds)

• 🔗 Dependency Graph - Full DAG support, not just linear sequences

• ⏭️ Automatic Progression - System automatically finds newly unlocked tasks after dependencies complete

• 📊 State Tracking - Workflow runs track completed, active, and blocked tasks

• 🛡️ Error Handling - Failed tasks with retry limits are handled gracefully

• 🤖 Agent-Friendly - Clear responses showing exactly what tasks to work on next

• ✅ Backward Compatible - Existing linear workflows continue to work seamlessly

📝 Logging

All tool calls are automatically logged to the output directory specified by SEQUENTIAL_OUTPUT_DIR. Logs are organized by date:

output/
├── task-orchestrator-log-2024-06-22.json
├── task-orchestrator-log-2024-06-23.json
└── ...

Each log entry contains:

• timestamp: When the tool was called

• tool: Name of the tool

• arguments: Arguments passed to the tool

• result: Result returned by the tool

🛠️ Development

# Build
npm run build

# Watch mode
npm run dev

# Start server
npm start

💾 Storage

Tasks and workflows are stored in a JSON file at the path specified by SEQUENTIAL_STORAGE_PATH. The file contains:

{
  "tasks": {
    "task_id": {
      "id": "task_id",
      "name": "Task name",
      "description": "Task description",
      "status": "pending",
      "dependencies": [],
      "createdAt": "2024-06-22T10:00:00.000Z",
      "updatedAt": "2024-06-22T10:00:00.000Z",
      "result": null,
      "error": null,
      "metadata": {}
    }
  },
  "workflows": {
    "workflow_id": ["task_id_1", "task_id_2"]
  }
}

📄 License

MIT