Start Command

The start command bridges task planning and implementation. It launches your AI coding agent (Claude Code) with the full context of a specific task — details, dependencies, test strategy, and project context — so the agent can begin implementing immediately.

Usage

# Start working on a specific task
tm start 5

# Auto-detect the next available task
tm start

What Happens

When you run tm start:

1. Taskmaster loads the task's full context — title, description, implementation details, test strategy
2. It checks which dependencies have been completed and includes that context
3. It builds a comprehensive prompt with everything the agent needs
4. It launches Claude Code with the prompt pre-loaded
5. The task status is automatically set to in-progress

This means the AI agent starts with full awareness of what to build, what's already done, and how to verify the work — no copy-pasting task details into chat.

When to Use Start

The start command is best for focused, single-task implementation. Use it when:

• You want to hand off a well-defined task to the AI agent
• You want the agent to have full task context without manual setup
• You're working through tasks one at a time

For automated multi-task execution, see the Loop command or Clusters.