Use Taskmaster to Break Down PRDs Before Writing Code

Jumping straight into code from a PRD or feature spec is a great way to miss the big picture. Taskmaster turns your requirements document into a structured, prioritised task list that Claude Code can work through systematically.

Install it globally and initialise your project:

npm install -g task-master-ai
task-master init

Drop your PRD into .taskmaster/docs/prd.txt, then parse it:

task-master parse-prd .taskmaster/docs/prd.txt

Rank every task by complexity first

Before writing a single line of code, run the complexity analyser. It scores every task from 1 to 10 using AI, flags which ones need breaking down, and tells you how many subtasks each complex item should produce:

task-master analyze-complexity
task-master complexity-report

Tasks scoring above your threshold (default is 5) get flagged for expansion. You can then expand them individually or all at once:

task-master expand --id=5
task-master expand --id=5 --num=4 --prompt="Focus on error handling"
task-master expand --all

This gives you a realistic, granular task list before Claude touches any code.

Install the MCP server and skip the CLI entirely

The real power comes from running Taskmaster as an MCP server inside Claude Code. You can even ask Claude to set it up for you — just open a Claude Code session in your project and say:

"Can you please initialize taskmaster-ai into my project?"

Or add it manually in one line:

claude mcp add taskmaster-ai -- npx -y task-master-ai

Once connected, you manage everything through natural conversation. No commands to memorise:

"What's the next task I should work on?" "Break task 5 down into subtasks focused on security" "Mark task 3 as done and show me what's next" "We've switched to Postgres — update all future database tasks" "Run a complexity analysis and expand anything scoring above 7"

Use tags to switch between features cleanly

Tags give each feature branch its own independent task list. Switch tags and you switch context entirely — your task state is exactly where you left it when you come back:

task-master add-tag payments
task-master use-tag payments

Move tasks between tags if priorities shift:

task-master move --from=5 --from-tag=backlog --to-tag=payments

Parse the PRD, score the complexity, expand the hard tasks, then let Claude work through the queue — one task at a time, all in natural language.