Task Graph MCP

Task Graph MCP Server

Agent task workflows that actually work.

When you have AI agents working on complex tasks, things go wrong fast. Agents lose context, skip steps, forget to coordinate. Task Graph solves this with structured workflows: phases to guide work, prompts for automatic guidance, gates to enforce quality, and coordination primitives for multi-agent scenarios—all through the Model Context Protocol.

Why Task Graph?

The problem: You've got complex tasks that need structured execution. Maybe a single agent working through phases, or multiple agents coordinating in parallel. Without proper workflows, agents lose track, skip steps, and produce inconsistent results.

What you get:

• Structured workflows — Phases (explore, implement, review, test) guide agents through work. Transition prompts provide automatic guidance at each step.
• Quality gates — Require tests to pass, code to be committed, or reviews to complete before transitions. Enforce your standards automatically.
• Ready-to-use topologies — Pre-built workflows for solo work, parallel swarms, specialist relays, or hierarchical delegation. Start immediately, customize later.
• Configurable workflows — Define your own states, phases, prompts, and gates. Match your process, not ours.
• Multi-agent coordination — Advisory file locks, DAG dependencies, atomic claiming. No more conflicts or duplicate work.
• Token-efficient — Designed for LLM context limits. Compact queries, minimal round-trips, structured outputs.
• Built-in accounting — Track tokens, cost, and time per task. Know exactly what your agents are spending.
• Zero infrastructure — SQLite with WAL mode. No database server to run. Just point at a file.

Features

Quick Start

# Install

cargo install task-graph-mcp

Add to your MCP client (Claude Code, etc.)

{

"mcpServers": { "task-graph": { "command": "task-graph-mcp" } } }

Agent workflow (worker_id auto-generated if omitted)

connect(workflow="swarm", tags=["code"]) → "bright-lunar-swift-fox" list_tasks(ready=true, agent="bright-lunar-swift-fox") → claimable work claim(worker_id="bright-lunar-swift-fox", task="add-auth") → you own it update(..., phase="implement") → enter implementation phase thinking(agent="bright-lunar-swift-fox", thought="Adding JWT...") → visible to others update(worker_id="bright-lunar-swift-fox", task="add-auth", status="completed", attachments=[{type:"commit", content:"abc123"}]) → done

Installation

From crates.io (Recommended)

cargo install task-graph-mcp

Pre-built Binaries

Download the latest release for your platform from GitHub Releases:

Extract and place the binary in your PATH.

From Source

git clone https://github.com/Oortonaut/task-graph-mcp.git

cd task-graph-mcp cargo build --release

The binary will be at target/release/task-graph-mcp.

Usage

As an MCP Server

Add to your MCP client configuration:

{

"mcpServers": { "task-graph": { "command": "task-graph-mcp", "args": [] } } }

CLI Options

task-graph-mcp [OPTIONS]

Options: -c, --config Path to configuration file -d, --database Path to database file (overrides config) -v, --verbose Enable verbose logging -h, --help Print help -V, --version Print version

Configuration

Full reference: See docs/CONFIGURATION.md for complete configuration documentation including workflows, prompts, gates, roles, and tags.

Create .task-graph/config.yaml:

server:

db_path: .task-graph/tasks.db media_dir: .task-graph/media # Directory for file attachments skills_dir: .task-graph/skills # Custom skill overrides stale_timeout_seconds: 900 default_format: json # or markdown

paths: style: relative # or project_prefixed

auto_advance: enabled: false # Auto-transition unblocked tasks target_state: ready # Target state (requires custom state in states config)

States Configuration

Task states are configurable. Default states: pending, working, completed, failed, cancelled.

To add a ready state for auto-advance:

states:

initial: pending disconnect_state: pending # State for tasks when owner disconnects (must be untimed) blocking_states: [pending, working] definitions: pending: exits: [ready, working, cancelled] ready: exits: [working, cancelled] working: exits: [completed, failed, pending] timed: true # Time in this state counts toward time_actual_ms completed: exits: [] failed: exits: [pending] cancelled: exits: []

auto_advance: enabled: true target_state: ready

See SCHEMA.md for full documentation on state definitions.

Dependencies Configuration

Dependency types define how tasks relate to each other. Default types: blocks, follows, contains, duplicate, see-also, relates-to.

dependencies:

definitions: blocks: display: horizontal # Same-level relationship blocks: start # Blocks claiming the dependent task follows: display: horizontal blocks: start contains: display: vertical # Parent-child relationship blocks: completion # Blocks completing the parent duplicate: display: horizontal blocks: none # Informational only see-also: display: horizontal blocks: none relates-to: display: horizontal blocks: none

Attachments Configuration

Preconfigured attachment keys provide default MIME types and modes, reducing boilerplate when attaching common content types.

attachments:

unknown_key: warn # allow | warn (default) | reject definitions: commit: mime: text/git.hash mode: append checkin: mime: text/p4.changelist mode: append meta: mime: application/json mode: replace note: mime: text/plain mode: append

Built-in defaults:

Usage:

# MIME and mode auto-filled from config:

attach(task="123", name="commit", content="abc1234")

→ mime=text/git.hash, mode=append

attach(task="123", name="meta", content='{"v":1}')

→ mime=application/json, mode=replace (overwrites existing meta)

Explicit values override defaults:

attach(task="123", name="commit", mime="text/plain", content="override")

Environment variables:

• TASK_GRAPH_CONFIG_PATH: Path to configuration file (takes precedence over .task-graph/config.yaml)
• TASK_GRAPH_DB_PATH: Database file path (fallback if no config file)
• TASK_GRAPH_MEDIA_DIR: Media directory for file attachments (fallback if no config file)
• TASK_GRAPH_LOG_DIR: Log directory path (fallback if no config file)

MCP Tools

Worker Management

Task CRUD

| update(worker_id: worker_str, task: task_str, status?: status_str, phase?: str, assignee?: worker_str, title?: str, description?: str, priority?: int, points?: int, tags?: str[], needed_tags?: str[], wanted_tags?: str[], time_estimate_ms?: int, reason?: str, force?: bool, attachments?: object[]) | Update tas