eyaltoledano/claude-task-master · error

Task ${taskId} not found

Error message

Task ${taskId} not found

What it means

After loading a valid tasks array, expandTask() searches for a task whose id equals parseInt(taskId, 10). If no task matches, it throws 'Task <id> not found' rather than expanding a nonexistent item.

Source

Thrown at scripts/modules/task-manager/expand-task.js:103

			report
		});

		// If remote handled it, return the result
		if (remoteResult) {
			return remoteResult;
		}
		// Otherwise fall through to file-based logic below
		// --- End BRIDGE ---

		// --- Task Loading/Filtering (Unchanged) ---
		logger.info(`Reading tasks from ${tasksPath}`);
		const data = readJSON(tasksPath, projectRoot, tag);
		if (!data || !data.tasks)
			throw new Error(`Invalid tasks data in ${tasksPath}`);
		const taskIndex = data.tasks.findIndex(
			(t) => t.id === parseInt(taskId, 10)
		);
		if (taskIndex === -1) throw new Error(`Task ${taskId} not found`);
		const task = data.tasks[taskIndex];
		logger.info(
			`Expanding task ${taskId}: ${task.title}${useResearch ? ' with research' : ''}`
		);
		// --- End Task Loading/Filtering ---

		// --- Handle Force Flag: Clear existing subtasks if force=true ---
		if (force && Array.isArray(task.subtasks) && task.subtasks.length > 0) {
			logger.info(
				`Force flag set. Clearing existing ${task.subtasks.length} subtasks for task ${taskId}.`
			);
			task.subtasks = []; // Clear existing subtasks
		}
		// --- End Force Flag Handling ---

		// --- Context Gathering ---
		let gatheredContext = '';
		try {

View on GitHub (pinned to c0c98d367c)

Solutions

1. Run `task-master list` (or read tasks.json) to confirm the exact top-level task ID, then retry with that numeric ID.
2. If you meant a subtask, use expand-task with the parent task ID — subtask expansion is handled differently.
3. Check the active tag; switch to the tag containing the task (task-master use-tag <tag>).

Example fix

// before
await expandTask('42');   // no task 42
// after
await expandTask('12');   // verified via task-master list

const data = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(tasksPath, 'utf8'));
const numericId = parseInt(taskId, 10);
if (!data.tasks.some((t) => t.id === numericId)) {
  throw new Error(`Task ${numericId} does not exist; use task-master list to find valid IDs`);
}

function taskExists(tasks, id) {
  return tasks.some((t) => t.id === Number(id));
}

try {
  await expandTask(taskId, context);
} catch (err) {
  if (/Task \d+ not found/.test(err.message)) {
    console.error(`No task with id ${taskId} — check 'task-master list' and the active tag.`);
  } else throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling expandTask with an ID that does not exist in the current tasks file — a typo, an out-of-range ID, a subtask-style ID like '1.2' (parseInt yields 1 unless exact match exists... here strictly integer matching), or an ID belonging to a different tag's file.

Common situations: Referring to a subtask ID (e.g. 5.2) where expandTask expects a top-level task ID; task list changed after deletion/next renumbering; querying the wrong tag; ID from a stale complexity report or console output.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Not found" and "does not exist" errors: why "Task not found", "No such folder", and "Can't find" fire when a lookup comes back empty — this error's family across 14 libraries.

Related errors

• Prompt must be a non-empty string
• Prompt cannot be empty or only whitespace
• Task ${taskId} not found
• Task ${taskId} not found
• Parent task with ID ${parentIdNum} not found

AI-assisted analysis of eyaltoledano/claude-task-master@c0c98d367c (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/793f4bad0b20550d. Report an issue: GitHub.