Rules System

Rules are instruction files that teach your AI coding assistant how to use Taskmaster. When rules are installed, your assistant knows how to list tasks, check dependencies, expand work, update status, and follow the right workflow — without you having to explain it every time.

What Rules Do

A Taskmaster rules file tells your AI assistant:

How to discover work — Use tm next or tm list --ready to find available tasks
How to implement tasks — Read task details, check dependencies, follow the test strategy
How to track progress — Update task status, append implementation notes to subtasks
When to expand — Use tm analyze-complexity and tm expand for complex tasks
How to handle drift — Use tm update when implementation diverges from the plan

Installing Rules

# Auto-detect your editor and install
tm rules add -y

# Install for a specific editor
tm rules add cursor

# Guided interactive setup
tm rules setup

How Rules Differ by Editor

Each editor has its own rules format and location:

Cursor uses .mdc files in .cursor/rules/ with frontmatter for rule descriptions
Claude Code uses markdown imports in CLAUDE.md pointing to .taskmaster/CLAUDE.md
VS Code uses .github/copilot-instructions.md for Copilot Chat
Windsurf uses a single .windsurfrules file in the project root

The content is functionally identical across editors — only the format and file location change.

Updating Rules

When you update Taskmaster, re-run the rules command to get the latest instructions:

tm rules add cursor

This updates the rules file with new commands and best practices from the latest version.

Custom Instructions

Rules don't overwrite your existing editor configuration. For Claude Code, Taskmaster creates .taskmaster/CLAUDE.md and adds an import line to your main CLAUDE.md — your custom instructions remain untouched.

Monorepo Support

Taskmaster auto-detects monorepo setups (via lerna.json, nx.json, or turbo.json) and adjusts rules placement accordingly.