Error when creating tasks: ENOENT no such file or directory

[mengjian-github]

Issue Description

When attempting to create tasks using the mcp__request_planning function, the following error occurs:

Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/root/Documents/tasks.json'

Steps to Reproduce

1. Called the mcp__request_planning function with valid parameters
2. Received error about missing tasks.json file in /root/Documents/ directory

Expected Behavior

The task should be created and stored properly in the system.

Actual Behavior

The system returns an error indicating it cannot find or access the tasks.json file in the specified directory.

Environment Information

• OS: macOS (darwin 23.3.0)
• Project path: /Users/bytedance/code/lark-to-markdown
• Shell: /bin/bash

Additional Context

This appears to be a configuration issue where the task manager is looking for a tasks.json file in a hardcoded path (/root/Documents/) rather than using a relative or configurable path. The system might need to be updated to use a more appropriate location for storing task data or to create the directory and file if they don't exist.

[kazuph]

Thank you @mengjian-github for reporting this issue!

Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/root/Documents/tasks.json'

In our implementation, we don't directly use the /root directory. The code uses os.homedir() to get the user's home directory and then tries to save tasks in Documents/tasks.json under that directory.

I'm curious why the /root directory is being referenced. Is Claude possibly running with root privileges in your environment?

Workaround

You can change the location of the task file by setting the TASK_MANAGER_FILE_PATH environment variable:

{
  "tools": {
    "taskmanager": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@kazuph/mcp-taskmanager"],
      "env": {
        "TASK_MANAGER_FILE_PATH": "/path/to/your/preferred/tasks.json"
      }
    }
  }
}

Please note that we don't plan to add functionality to automatically create directories in unexpected locations (like the /root directory) as we believe this wouldn't be appropriate.

I hope this information helps. Please let me know if you have any further questions or issues.

[btn0s]

@kazuph is there a recommended way to do this with Cursor? I've installed with the command from Smithery

[DaInfernalCoder]

@btn0s the best way is to use mcp.json and update it there

[adamdrzewiecki]

@mengjian-github, assuming you have this issue when trying to build Docker image. os.homedir() returns /root because Docker container starts with root user.

Try this way:

{
  "task-manager": {
    "command": "docker",
    "args": [
      "run",
      "-i",
      "--rm",
      "--mount", "type=bind,src=/Users/your_username/Documents,dst=/host/Documents",
      "-e", "TASK_MANAGER_FILE_PATH=/host/Documents/tasks.json",
      "mcp/task-manager"
    ]
  }
}

[clion007]

Available env like "TASK_MANAGER_FILE_PATH" should show in readme