Manus Task Master Skill

A conductor skill for Manus built on Task Master AI

Created by SimplioLabs — Nir Appelton

---

What Is This?

This is a fork of eyaltoledano/claude-task-master with a custom Manus conductor skill layer added by SimplioLabs. It transforms Manus into an autonomous project conductor that orchestrates every task and project through Task Master's structured, AI-powered workflow.

Task Master is the engine. This skill is the conductor that teaches Manus how to drive it.

How It Works on Manus

When this skill is activated, Manus automatically:

1. Initializes projects — Installs Task Master, runs task-master init, helps draft or parse a PRD, analyzes complexity, and expands tasks into actionable subtasks
2. Runs the Conductor Loop every session — list → next → show → expand → implement → log → done → repeat
3. Handles implementation drift — When plans change, bulk-updates all future tasks to stay aligned
4. Scales intelligently — Introduces tags, PRD-driven workflows, and multi-context management only when project complexity demands it
5. Leverages AI research — Uses Task Master's research command for real-time information beyond knowledge cutoffs

The Conductor Loop

1. LIST    → task-master list                              # See all tasks
2. NEXT    → task-master next                              # Pick the next ready task
3. SHOW    → task-master show <id>                         # Read task details
4. EXPAND  → task-master expand --id=<id> --research       # Break into subtasks
5. IMPLEMENT → (write code, build features)                # Do the work
6. LOG     → task-master update-subtask --id=<id> --prompt="notes"
7. DONE    → task-master set-status --id=<id> --status=done
8. REPEAT

Skill Trigger

The skill activates automatically when you mention "task master", "taskmaster", "TM", or ask Manus to plan, manage, or organize project tasks.

Skill Files

All Manus skill files live on the manus-skill branch:

skills/task-master/
├── SKILL.md                              # Core conductor workflow (150 lines)
├── README.md                             # Skill documentation
└── references/
    ├── mcp-tools.md                      # Full MCP tool reference (42+ tools, 3 tiers)
    ├── advanced-workflows.md             # Tags, PRD-driven dev, autopilot, git patterns
    └── task-structure.md                 # Task JSON schema, statuses, dependencies, config

File	Lines	What It Covers
SKILL.md	150	Core conductor loop, 25+ CLI commands, installation, configuration, tag decision patterns
references/mcp-tools.md	154	Complete MCP tool inventory — core (7), standard (14), all (42+) tiers with parameters
references/advanced-workflows.md	158	Tagged task lists, PRD-driven feature development, autopilot TDD, git integration patterns
references/task-structure.md	166	Task JSON schema, all 6 status values, dependency management, config file formats

Install This Skill on Manus

Option 1: Import from GitHub (Recommended)

1. Open Manus and go to Settings
2. Click Skills → + Add → Import from GitHub
3. Paste this repository link:

https://github.com/simpliolabs/manus-task-master-skill

4. Done — the skill is now active and will trigger automatically on your next project

Option 2: Upload Manually

1. Download the skill files from the manus-skill branch (skills/task-master/ directory)
2. In Manus, go to Skills → + Add → Upload a skill
3. Upload the .zip or .skill file

Zero setup required. Manus comes with Node.js and OpenAI pre-configured. The skill automatically installs Task Master (npm install -g task-master-ai) on first use. Just import and go.

Key Capabilities

Capability	Description
PRD Parsing	Parse product requirement documents into structured, prioritized tasks
Complexity Analysis	AI-powered analysis with recommended subtask counts per task
Task Expansion	Break high-level tasks into detailed, implementable subtasks
Dependency Management	Automatic dependency tracking, validation, and circular-dependency prevention
Implementation Drift	Bulk-update future tasks when architecture or plans change
Tagged Contexts	Isolated task lists for features, experiments, team members
AI Research	Real-time research with project context for up-to-date information
Autopilot TDD	Automated test-driven development cycle across subtasks
42+ MCP Tools	Full programmatic access across 3 tiers (core/standard/all)

Branch Structure

Branch	Purpose
main	Full upstream Task Master codebase (syncs with eyaltoledano/claude-task-master)
manus-skill	Manus conductor skill layer by SimplioLabs

Credits

Component	Author
Task Master AI	Eyal Toledano, Ralph Khreish
Manus Conductor Skill	SimplioLabs — Nir Appelton
Built with	Manus Skill Creator workflow

License

Task Master is licensed under MIT + Commons Clause by Eyal Toledano and Ralph Khreish. See LICENSE for full terms.

The Manus skill integration layer (skills/task-master/) is created by SimplioLabs (Nir Appelton) and is available under the same license terms.