Task Master AI vs Cua Driver

A side-by-side comparison of two Productivity servers — tools, transport, auth, maintenance, and copy-paste config for each.

	Task Master AI AI-powered task-management system for AI-driven development that drops into Cursor, Windsurf, Claude Code, and more. Unverified stdio (local) API key JavaScript	Cua Driver Background computer-use MCP server that drives native macOS, Windows, and Linux desktop apps without stealing focus. Unverified stdio (local) No auth Rust
Category	Productivity	Productivity
Language	JavaScript	Rust
Transport	stdio (local)	stdio (local)
Auth	API key	None
GitHub stars	28k	19k
Last commit	2 months ago	12 hours ago
Verified
Actively maintained
Install	`npx -y task-master-ai`	`/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/trycua/cua/main/libs/cua-driver/scripts/install.sh)"`
Repo	Open	Open

Verdict

Pick Task Master AI if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option.

Pick Cua Driver if you want zero-setup with no API key, and you need the broadest set of tools.

Add Task Master AI

Install / run

npx -y task-master-ai

Paste into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "task-master-ai": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "task-master-ai"
      ],
      "env": {
        "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "YOUR_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY_HERE",
        "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY": "YOUR_PERPLEXITY_API_KEY_HERE",
        "OPENAI_API_KEY": "YOUR_OPENAI_KEY_HERE",
        "GOOGLE_API_KEY": "YOUR_GOOGLE_KEY_HERE",
        "MISTRAL_API_KEY": "YOUR_MISTRAL_KEY_HERE",
        "GROQ_API_KEY": "YOUR_GROQ_KEY_HERE",
        "OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "YOUR_OPENROUTER_KEY_HERE",
        "XAI_API_KEY": "YOUR_XAI_KEY_HERE",
        "AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY": "YOUR_AZURE_KEY_HERE",
        "OLLAMA_API_KEY": "YOUR_OLLAMA_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Add Cua Driver

Install / run

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/trycua/cua/main/libs/cua-driver/scripts/install.sh)"

Paste into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cua-driver": {
      "command": "cua-driver",
      "args": [
        "mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

FAQ

Task Master AI or Cua Driver — which is better?

Pick Task Master AI if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option. Pick Cua Driver if you want zero-setup with no API key, and you need the broadest set of tools.

Can I use both Task Master AI and Cua Driver?

Yes — MCP clients let you enable multiple servers at once. Add both configs to your client's mcpServers and use whichever tool fits the task.

Do Task Master AI and Cua Driver work with Claude, Cursor and Windsurf?

Both do. Copy the per-client config below into Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Windsurf.

View Task Master AI →View Cua Driver →More comparisons →