feat: Support custom response language (#510)

* feat: Support custom response language

* fix: Add default values for response language in config-manager.js

* chore: Update configuration file and add default response language settings

* feat: Support MCP/CLI custom response language

* chore: Update test comments to English for consistency

* docs: Auto-update and format models.md

* chore: fix format

---------

Co-authored-by: github-actions[bot] <github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Ralph Khreish <35776126+Crunchyman-ralph@users.noreply.github.com>

.changeset/tidy-meals-enter.md

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'task-master-ai': patch
+---
+
+Support custom response language

.taskmaster/config.json

@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 		"bedrockBaseURL": "https://bedrock.us-east-1.amazonaws.com",
 		"userId": "1234567890",
 		"azureBaseURL": "https://your-endpoint.azure.com/",
-		"defaultTag": "master"
+		"defaultTag": "master",
+		"responseLanguage": "English"
 	}
 }

assets/config.json

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 		"main": {
 			"provider": "anthropic",
 			"modelId": "claude-3-7-sonnet-20250219",
-			"maxTokens": 120000,
+			"maxTokens": 100000,
 			"temperature": 0.2
 		},
 		"research": {
@@ -14,9 +14,9 @@
 		},
 		"fallback": {
 			"provider": "anthropic",
-			"modelId": "claude-3-5-sonnet-20240620",
+			"modelId": "claude-3-7-sonnet-20250219",
 			"maxTokens": 8192,
-			"temperature": 0.1
+			"temperature": 0.2
 		}
 	},
 	"global": {
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 		"defaultTag": "master",
 		"ollamaBaseURL": "http://localhost:11434/api",
 		"azureOpenaiBaseURL": "https://your-endpoint.openai.azure.com/",
-		"bedrockBaseURL": "https://bedrock.us-east-1.amazonaws.com"
+		"bedrockBaseURL": "https://bedrock.us-east-1.amazonaws.com",
+		"responseLanguage": "English"
 	}
 }

docs/configuration.md

@@ -44,7 +44,8 @@ Taskmaster uses two primary methods for configuration:
           "ollamaBaseURL": "http://localhost:11434/api",
           "azureBaseURL": "https://your-endpoint.azure.com/openai/deployments",
           "vertexProjectId": "your-gcp-project-id",
-          "vertexLocation": "us-central1"
+          "vertexLocation": "us-central1",
+		      "responseLanguage": "English"
         }
       }
       ```

mcp-server/src/core/direct-functions/response-language.js

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+/**
+ * response-language.js
+ * Direct function for managing response language via MCP
+ */
+
+import { setResponseLanguage } from '../../../../scripts/modules/task-manager.js';
+import {
+	enableSilentMode,
+	disableSilentMode
+} from '../../../../scripts/modules/utils.js';
+import { createLogWrapper } from '../../tools/utils.js';
+
+export async function responseLanguageDirect(args, log, context = {}) {
+	const { projectRoot, language } = args;
+	const mcpLog = createLogWrapper(log);
+
+	log.info(
+		`Executing response-language_direct with args: ${JSON.stringify(args)}`
+	);
+	log.info(`Using project root: ${projectRoot}`);
+
+	try {
+		enableSilentMode();
+		return setResponseLanguage(language, {
+			mcpLog,
+			projectRoot
+		});
+	} catch (error) {
+		return {
+			success: false,
+			error: {
+				code: 'DIRECT_FUNCTION_ERROR',
+				message: error.message,
+				details: error.stack
+			}
+		};
+	} finally {
+		disableSilentMode();
+	}
+}

mcp-server/src/tools/index.js

@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import { registerRemoveTaskTool } from './remove-task.js';
 import { registerInitializeProjectTool } from './initialize-project.js';
 import { registerModelsTool } from './models.js';
 import { registerMoveTaskTool } from './move-task.js';
+import { registerResponseLanguageTool } from './response-language.js';
 import { registerAddTagTool } from './add-tag.js';
 import { registerDeleteTagTool } from './delete-tag.js';
 import { registerListTagsTool } from './list-tags.js';
@@ -83,6 +84,7 @@ export function registerTaskMasterTools(server) {
 		registerRemoveDependencyTool(server);
 		registerValidateDependenciesTool(server);
 		registerFixDependenciesTool(server);
+		registerResponseLanguageTool(server);
 
 		// Group 7: Tag Management
 		registerListTagsTool(server);

mcp-server/src/tools/response-language.js

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+import { z } from 'zod';
+import {
+	createErrorResponse,
+	handleApiResult,
+	withNormalizedProjectRoot
+} from './utils.js';
+import { responseLanguageDirect } from '../core/direct-functions/response-language.js';
+
+export function registerResponseLanguageTool(server) {
+	server.addTool({
+		name: 'response-language',
+		description: 'Get or set the response language for the project',
+		parameters: z.object({
+			projectRoot: z
+				.string()
+				.describe(
+					'The root directory for the project. ALWAYS SET THIS TO THE PROJECT ROOT DIRECTORY. IF NOT SET, THE TOOL WILL NOT WORK.'
+				),
+			language: z
+				.string()
+				.describe(
+					'The new response language to set. like "中文" "English" or "español".'
+				)
+		}),
+		execute: withNormalizedProjectRoot(async (args, { log, session }) => {
+			try {
+				log.info(
+					`Executing response-language tool with args: ${JSON.stringify(args)}`
+				);
+
+				const result = await responseLanguageDirect(
+					{
+						...args,
+						projectRoot: args.projectRoot
+					},
+					log,
+					{ session }
+				);
+				return handleApiResult(result, log, 'Error setting response language');
+			} catch (error) {
+				log.error(`Error in response-language tool: ${error.message}`);
+				return createErrorResponse(error.message);
+			}
+		})
+	});
+}

scripts/init.js

@@ -766,6 +766,44 @@ function createProjectStructure(
 	}
 	// =====================================
 
+	// === Add Response Language Step ===
+	if (!isSilentMode() && !dryRun && !options?.yes) {
+		console.log(
+			boxen(chalk.cyan('Configuring Response Language...'), {
+				padding: 0.5,
+				margin: { top: 1, bottom: 0.5 },
+				borderStyle: 'round',
+				borderColor: 'blue'
+			})
+		);
+		log(
+			'info',
+			'Running interactive response language setup. Please input your preferred language.'
+		);
+		try {
+			execSync('npx task-master lang --setup', {
+				stdio: 'inherit',
+				cwd: targetDir
+			});
+			log('success', 'Response Language configured.');
+		} catch (error) {
+			log('error', 'Failed to configure response language:', error.message);
+			log('warn', 'You may need to run "task-master lang --setup" manually.');
+		}
+	} else if (isSilentMode() && !dryRun) {
+		log(
+			'info',
+			'Skipping interactive response language setup in silent (MCP) mode.'
+		);
+		log(
+			'warn',
+			'Please configure response language using "task-master models --set-response-language" or the "models" MCP tool.'
+		);
+	} else if (dryRun) {
+		log('info', 'DRY RUN: Skipping interactive response language setup.');
+	}
+	// =====================================
+
 	// === Add Model Configuration Step ===
 	if (!isSilentMode() && !dryRun && !options?.yes) {
 		console.log(

scripts/modules/ai-services-unified.js

@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import {
 	getFallbackProvider,
 	getFallbackModelId,
 	getParametersForRole,
+	getResponseLanguage,
 	getUserId,
 	MODEL_MAP,
 	getDebugFlag,
@@ -551,9 +552,12 @@ async function _unifiedServiceRunner(serviceType, params) {
 			}
 
 			const messages = [];
-			if (systemPrompt) {
+			const responseLanguage = getResponseLanguage(effectiveProjectRoot);
-				messages.push({ role: 'system', content: systemPrompt });
+			const systemPromptWithLanguage = `${systemPrompt} \n\n Always respond in ${responseLanguage}.`;
-			}
+			messages.push({
+				role: 'system',
+				content: systemPromptWithLanguage.trim()
+			});
 
 			// IN THE FUTURE WHEN DOING CONTEXT IMPROVEMENTS
 			// {

scripts/modules/commands.js

@@ -42,7 +42,8 @@ import {
 	findTaskById,
 	taskExists,
 	moveTask,
-	migrateProject
+	migrateProject,
+	setResponseLanguage
 } from './task-manager.js';
 
 import {
@@ -3661,6 +3662,63 @@ Examples:
 			return; // Stop execution here
 		});
 
+	// response-language command
+	programInstance
+		.command('lang')
+		.description('Manage response language settings')
+		.option('--response <response_language>', 'Set the response language')
+		.option('--setup', 'Run interactive setup to configure response language')
+		.action(async (options) => {
+			const projectRoot = findProjectRoot(); // Find project root for context
+			const { response, setup } = options;
+			console.log(
+				chalk.blue('Response language set to:', JSON.stringify(options))
+			);
+			let responseLanguage = response || 'English';
+			if (setup) {
+				console.log(
+					chalk.blue('Starting interactive response language setup...')
+				);
+				try {
+					const userResponse = await inquirer.prompt([
+						{
+							type: 'input',
+							name: 'responseLanguage',
+							message: 'Input your preferred response language',
+							default: 'English'
+						}
+					]);
+
+					console.log(
+						chalk.blue(
+							'Response language set to:',
+							userResponse.responseLanguage
+						)
+					);
+					responseLanguage = userResponse.responseLanguage;
+				} catch (setupError) {
+					console.error(
+						chalk.red('\\nInteractive setup failed unexpectedly:'),
+						setupError.message
+					);
+				}
+			}
+
+			const result = setResponseLanguage(responseLanguage, {
+				projectRoot
+			});
+
+			if (result.success) {
+				console.log(chalk.green(`✅ ${result.data.message}`));
+			} else {
+				console.error(
+					chalk.red(
+						`❌ Error setting response language: ${result.error.message}`
+					)
+				);
+			}
+		});
+
 	// move-task command
 	programInstance
 		.command('move')

scripts/modules/config-manager.js

@@ -66,7 +66,8 @@ const DEFAULTS = {
 		defaultPriority: 'medium',
 		projectName: 'Task Master',
 		ollamaBaseURL: 'http://localhost:11434/api',
-		bedrockBaseURL: 'https://bedrock.us-east-1.amazonaws.com'
+		bedrockBaseURL: 'https://bedrock.us-east-1.amazonaws.com',
+		responseLanguage: 'English'
 	}
 };
 
@@ -425,6 +426,11 @@ function getVertexLocation(explicitRoot = null) {
 	return getGlobalConfig(explicitRoot).vertexLocation || 'us-central1';
 }
 
+function getResponseLanguage(explicitRoot = null) {
+	// Directly return value from config
+	return getGlobalConfig(explicitRoot).responseLanguage;
+}
+
 /**
  * Gets model parameters (maxTokens, temperature) for a specific role,
  * considering model-specific overrides from supported-models.json.
@@ -841,6 +847,7 @@ export {
 	getOllamaBaseURL,
 	getAzureBaseURL,
 	getBedrockBaseURL,
+	getResponseLanguage,
 	getParametersForRole,
 	getUserId,
 	// API Key Checkers (still relevant)

scripts/modules/task-manager.js

@@ -23,10 +23,12 @@ import updateSubtaskById from './task-manager/update-subtask-by-id.js';
 import removeTask from './task-manager/remove-task.js';
 import taskExists from './task-manager/task-exists.js';
 import isTaskDependentOn from './task-manager/is-task-dependent.js';
+import setResponseLanguage from './task-manager/response-language.js';
 import moveTask from './task-manager/move-task.js';
 import { migrateProject } from './task-manager/migrate.js';
 import { performResearch } from './task-manager/research.js';
 import { readComplexityReport } from './utils.js';
+
 // Export task manager functions
 export {
 	parsePRD,
@@ -49,6 +51,7 @@ export {
 	findTaskById,
 	taskExists,
 	isTaskDependentOn,
+	setResponseLanguage,
 	moveTask,
 	readComplexityReport,
 	migrateProject,

scripts/modules/task-manager/response-language.js

@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+import path from 'path';
+import fs from 'fs';
+import {
+	getConfig,
+	isConfigFilePresent,
+	writeConfig
+} from '../config-manager.js';
+
+function setResponseLanguage(lang, options = {}) {
+	const { mcpLog, projectRoot } = options;
+
+	const report = (level, ...args) => {
+		if (mcpLog && typeof mcpLog[level] === 'function') {
+			mcpLog[level](...args);
+		}
+	};
+
+	let configPath;
+	let configExists = false;
+
+	if (projectRoot) {
+		configPath = path.join(projectRoot, '.taskmasterconfig');
+		configExists = fs.existsSync(configPath);
+		report(
+			'info',
+			`Checking for .taskmasterconfig at: ${configPath}, exists: ${configExists}`
+		);
+	} else {
+		configExists = isConfigFilePresent();
+		report(
+			'info',
+			`Checking for .taskmasterconfig using isConfigFilePresent(), exists: ${configExists}`
+		);
+	}
+
+	if (!configExists) {
+		return {
+			success: false,
+			error: {
+				code: 'CONFIG_MISSING',
+				message:
+					'The .taskmasterconfig file is missing. Run "task-master models --setup" to create it.'
+			}
+		};
+	}
+
+	// Validate response language
+	if (typeof lang !== 'string' || lang.trim() === '') {
+		return {
+			success: false,
+			error: {
+				code: 'INVALID_RESPONSE_LANGUAGE',
+				message: `Invalid response language: ${lang}. Must be a non-empty string.`
+			}
+		};
+	}
+
+	try {
+		const currentConfig = getConfig(projectRoot);
+		currentConfig.global.responseLanguage = lang;
+		const writeResult = writeConfig(currentConfig, projectRoot);
+
+		if (!writeResult) {
+			return {
+				success: false,
+				error: {
+					code: 'WRITE_ERROR',
+					message: 'Error writing updated configuration to .taskmasterconfig'
+				}
+			};
+		}
+
+		const successMessage = `Successfully set response language to: ${lang}`;
+		report('info', successMessage);
+		return {
+			success: true,
+			data: {
+				responseLanguage: lang,
+				message: successMessage
+			}
+		};
+	} catch (error) {
+		report('error', `Error setting response language: ${error.message}`);
+		return {
+			success: false,
+			error: {
+				code: 'SET_RESPONSE_LANGUAGE_ERROR',
+				message: error.message
+			}
+		};
+	}
+}
+
+export default setResponseLanguage;

tests/unit/ai-services-unified.test.js

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ const mockGetResearchModelId = jest.fn();
 const mockGetFallbackProvider = jest.fn();
 const mockGetFallbackModelId = jest.fn();
 const mockGetParametersForRole = jest.fn();
+const mockGetResponseLanguage = jest.fn();
 const mockGetUserId = jest.fn();
 const mockGetDebugFlag = jest.fn();
 const mockIsApiKeySet = jest.fn();
@@ -98,6 +99,7 @@ jest.unstable_mockModule('../../scripts/modules/config-manager.js', () => ({
 	getFallbackMaxTokens: mockGetFallbackMaxTokens,
 	getFallbackTemperature: mockGetFallbackTemperature,
 	getParametersForRole: mockGetParametersForRole,
+	getResponseLanguage: mockGetResponseLanguage,
 	getUserId: mockGetUserId,
 	getDebugFlag: mockGetDebugFlag,
 	getBaseUrlForRole: mockGetBaseUrlForRole,
@@ -277,6 +279,7 @@ describe('Unified AI Services', () => {
 			if (role === 'fallback') return { maxTokens: 150, temperature: 0.6 };
 			return { maxTokens: 100, temperature: 0.5 }; // Default
 		});
+		mockGetResponseLanguage.mockReturnValue('English');
 		mockResolveEnvVariable.mockImplementation((key) => {
 			if (key === 'ANTHROPIC_API_KEY') return 'mock-anthropic-key';
 			if (key === 'PERPLEXITY_API_KEY') return 'mock-perplexity-key';
@@ -463,6 +466,68 @@ describe('Unified AI Services', () => {
 			expect(mockAnthropicProvider.generateText).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
 		});
 
+		test('should use configured responseLanguage in system prompt', async () => {
+			mockGetResponseLanguage.mockReturnValue('中文');
+			mockAnthropicProvider.generateText.mockResolvedValue('中文回复');
+
+			const params = {
+				role: 'main',
+				systemPrompt: 'You are an assistant',
+				prompt: 'Hello'
+			};
+			await generateTextService(params);
+
+			expect(mockAnthropicProvider.generateText).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+				expect.objectContaining({
+					messages: [
+						{
+							role: 'system',
+							content: expect.stringContaining('Always respond in 中文')
+						},
+						{ role: 'user', content: 'Hello' }
+					]
+				})
+			);
+			expect(mockGetResponseLanguage).toHaveBeenCalledWith(fakeProjectRoot);
+		});
+
+		test('should pass custom projectRoot to getResponseLanguage', async () => {
+			const customRoot = '/custom/project/root';
+			mockGetResponseLanguage.mockReturnValue('Español');
+			mockAnthropicProvider.generateText.mockResolvedValue(
+				'Respuesta en Español'
+			);
+
+			const params = {
+				role: 'main',
+				systemPrompt: 'You are an assistant',
+				prompt: 'Hello',
+				projectRoot: customRoot
+			};
+			await generateTextService(params);
+
+			expect(mockGetResponseLanguage).toHaveBeenCalledWith(customRoot);
+			expect(mockAnthropicProvider.generateText).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+				expect.objectContaining({
+					messages: [
+						{
+							role: 'system',
+							content: expect.stringContaining('Always respond in Español')
+						},
+						{ role: 'user', content: 'Hello' }
+					]
+				})
+			);
+		});
+
+		// Add more tests for edge cases:
+		// - Missing API keys (should throw from _resolveApiKey)
+		// - Unsupported provider configured (should skip and log)
+		// - Missing provider/model config for a role (should skip and log)
+		// - Missing prompt
+		// - Different initial roles (research, fallback)
+		// - generateObjectService (mock schema, check object result)
+		// - streamTextService (more complex to test, might need stream helpers)
 		test('should skip provider with missing API key and try next in fallback sequence', async () => {
 			// Setup isApiKeySet to return false for anthropic but true for perplexity
 			mockIsApiKeySet.mockImplementation((provider, session, root) => {

tests/unit/config-manager.test.js

@@ -141,7 +141,8 @@ const DEFAULT_CONFIG = {
 		defaultPriority: 'medium',
 		projectName: 'Task Master',
 		ollamaBaseURL: 'http://localhost:11434/api',
-		bedrockBaseURL: 'https://bedrock.us-east-1.amazonaws.com'
+		bedrockBaseURL: 'https://bedrock.us-east-1.amazonaws.com',
+		responseLanguage: 'English'
 	}
 };
 
@@ -685,6 +686,82 @@ describe('Getter Functions', () => {
 		expect(logLevel).toBe(VALID_CUSTOM_CONFIG.global.logLevel);
 	});
 
+	test('getResponseLanguage should return responseLanguage from config', () => {
+		// Arrange
+		// Prepare a config object with responseLanguage property for this test
+		const configWithLanguage = JSON.stringify({
+			models: {
+				main: { provider: 'openai', modelId: 'gpt-4-turbo' }
+			},
+			global: {
+				projectName: 'Test Project',
+				responseLanguage: '中文'
+			}
+		});
+
+		// Set up fs.readFileSync to return our test config
+		fsReadFileSyncSpy.mockImplementation((filePath) => {
+			if (filePath === MOCK_CONFIG_PATH) {
+				return configWithLanguage;
+			}
+			if (path.basename(filePath) === 'supported-models.json') {
+				return JSON.stringify({
+					openai: [{ id: 'gpt-4-turbo' }]
+				});
+			}
+			throw new Error(`Unexpected fs.readFileSync call: ${filePath}`);
+		});
+
+		fsExistsSyncSpy.mockReturnValue(true);
+
+		// Ensure getConfig returns new values instead of cached ones
+		configManager.getConfig(MOCK_PROJECT_ROOT, true);
+
+		// Act
+		const responseLanguage =
+			configManager.getResponseLanguage(MOCK_PROJECT_ROOT);
+
+		// Assert
+		expect(responseLanguage).toBe('中文');
+	});
+
+	test('getResponseLanguage should return undefined when responseLanguage is not in config', () => {
+		// Arrange
+		const configWithoutLanguage = JSON.stringify({
+			models: {
+				main: { provider: 'openai', modelId: 'gpt-4-turbo' }
+			},
+			global: {
+				projectName: 'Test Project'
+				// No responseLanguage property
+			}
+		});
+
+		fsReadFileSyncSpy.mockImplementation((filePath) => {
+			if (filePath === MOCK_CONFIG_PATH) {
+				return configWithoutLanguage;
+			}
+			if (path.basename(filePath) === 'supported-models.json') {
+				return JSON.stringify({
+					openai: [{ id: 'gpt-4-turbo' }]
+				});
+			}
+			throw new Error(`Unexpected fs.readFileSync call: ${filePath}`);
+		});
+
+		fsExistsSyncSpy.mockReturnValue(true);
+
+		// Ensure getConfig returns new values instead of cached ones
+		configManager.getConfig(MOCK_PROJECT_ROOT, true);
+
+		// Act
+		const responseLanguage =
+			configManager.getResponseLanguage(MOCK_PROJECT_ROOT);
+
+		// Assert
+		expect(responseLanguage).toBe('English');
+	});
+
 	// Add more tests for other getters (getResearchProvider, getProjectName, etc.)
 });