Karea Task Manager

Karea is a keyboard-first task manager for solo developers. This skill teaches Claude Code how to use the Karea MCP server to manage tasks naturally during a coding session.

When to use

• User says "log this as a task", "create a task", "add to my todo", "I'm starting on X", "I'm done with Y", "what's next", "show me my tasks", "give me a recap of last week"
• User mentions a Karea task by short ID (e.g. KA37, KPL12) or by name
• User asks Claude to open / answer questions on a task while working
• User wants to link the current work to a Jira issue or a resource file

Core flow

1. Start work -> karea_doing("task title or ID") to set status to in_progress
2. Add open questions as they arise -> karea_create_question(task, "what should X behave like when Y?")
3. Add closing requisites that must be true before close -> karea_add_requisite(task, "tests pass")
4. Append investigation notes to long-form markdown -> karea_set_markdown(task, "..." ) or karea_add_note(task, "...")
5. Finish -> karea_toggle_requisite to tick each closing requisite, then karea_done(task) or karea_close_task(task)

Common patterns

• Quick capture during conversation: karea_quick_task("fix the bug we just found")
• Detailed task with structure: karea_create_task with title, description, priority (1=critical), category, tags, closingRequisites array, markdown body
• Subtasks for breakdown: karea_create_subtask(parent, "step 1"), repeat
• Productivity recap across a date range: karea_recap(from, to)
• Link to Jira: karea_link_jira(task, "PROJ-123")
• Attach a file or URL: karea_create_resource then karea_link_resource_to_task

Conventions

• Always prefer the user's existing task IDs (e.g. KA37) over creating duplicates
• When closing a task, write a 2-3 sentence note about what changed and any technically notable detail
• Default status on finish is review, not done (unless user says done explicitly)
• Never run destructive actions (karea_delete_*) without explicit user confirmation

Setup

The Karea MCP server is configured via .mcp.json in this plugin. Users need an API key from <https://karea.app/dashboard/settings/api-keys> exposed as KAREA_API_KEY. The full tool catalogue (44 tools) is in the plugin README.