eyaltoledano/claude-task-master · error

REMOVE_TASK_ERROR

REMOVE_TASK_ERROR

Error message

result.error || 'Failed to remove tasks'

What it means

After passing pre-validation, removeTaskDirect delegates the actual removal to the core remove-task logic. If that core call reports success=false, the direct function forwards the core's error message under REMOVE_TASK_ERROR. This surfaces failures that happen during the removal itself (dependency checks, file writes, etc.).

Source

Thrown at mcp-server/src/core/direct-functions/remove-task.js:104

				}
			};
		}

		// Enable silent mode to prevent console logs from interfering with JSON response
		enableSilentMode();

		try {
			// Call removeTask with proper context including tag
			const result = await removeTask(tasksJsonPath, id, {
				projectRoot,
				tag
			});

			if (!result.success) {
				return {
					success: false,
					error: {
						code: 'REMOVE_TASK_ERROR',
						message: result.error || 'Failed to remove tasks'
					}
				};
			}

			log.info(`Successfully removed ${result.removedTasks.length} task(s)`);

			return {
				success: true,
				data: {
					totalTasks: taskIdArray.length,
					successful: result.removedTasks.length,
					failed: taskIdArray.length - result.removedTasks.length,
					removedTasks: result.removedTasks,
					message: result.message,
					tasksPath: tasksJsonPath,
					tag
				}

View on GitHub (pinned to c0c98d367c)

Solutions

  1. Read the returned `message` — it is the underlying core error; fix the condition it describes (usually file permission or state issue)
  2. Check that tasks.json and its containing directories are writable by the process running the MCP server
  3. Retry after confirming no concurrent process (editor, CLI) is holding/rewriting tasks.json
  4. Upgrade task-master-ai if the message points to an internal core error; report the core error if it persists
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// Pre-check writability of the workspace before mutating calls
import { accessSync, constants } from 'fs';
try { accessSync(tasksJsonPath, constants.W_OK); } catch { throw new Error(`tasks.json is not writable: ${tasksJsonPath}`); }

Try / catch

try {
  const res = await client.callTool('remove_task', { id, projectRoot });
  if (!res.success && res.error?.code === 'REMOVE_TASK_ERROR') {
    // res.error.message carries the underlying core failure (permissions, concurrent write, etc.)
    console.error(`Core removal failed: ${res.error.message}`);
  }
} catch (e) {
  console.error('remove_task failed:', e.message);
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: The core removeTasks operation fails after id validation: filesystem write failures (read-only dir, permissions), errors thrown inside the core removal routine, or tag-scoped data mutations failing during the write-back.

Common situations: tasks.json is read-only or owned by another user; disk full; the file was modified concurrently between validation and write; projectRoot misconfigured so supporting state files cannot be written; a bug/regression in the core remove logic.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of eyaltoledano/claude-task-master@c0c98d367c (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/72c88c8d0d275e11. Report an issue: GitHub.