refactor: Improve update-subtask, consolidate utils, update config

This commit introduces several improvements and refactorings across MCP tools, core logic, and configuration.

**Major Changes:**

1.  **Refactor updateSubtaskById:**
    - Switched from generateTextService to generateObjectService for structured AI responses, using a Zod schema (subtaskSchema) for validation.
    - Revised prompts to have the AI generate relevant content based on user request and context (parent/sibling tasks), while explicitly preventing AI from handling timestamp/tag formatting.
    - Implemented **local timestamp generation (new Date().toISOString()) and formatting** (using <info added on ...> tags) within the function *after* receiving the AI response. This ensures reliable and correctly formatted details are appended.
    - Corrected logic to append only the locally formatted, AI-generated content block to the existing subtask.details.

2.  **Consolidate MCP Utilities:**
    - Moved/consolidated the withNormalizedProjectRoot HOF into mcp-server/src/tools/utils.js.
    - Updated MCP tools (like update-subtask.js) to import withNormalizedProjectRoot from the new location.

3.  **Refactor Project Initialization:**
    - Deleted the redundant mcp-server/src/core/direct-functions/initialize-project-direct.js file.
    - Updated mcp-server/src/core/task-master-core.js to import initializeProjectDirect from its correct location (./direct-functions/initialize-project.js).

**Other Changes:**

-   Updated .taskmasterconfig fallback model to claude-3-7-sonnet-20250219.
-   Clarified model cost representation in the models tool description (taskmaster.mdc and mcp-server/src/tools/models.js).

mcp-server/src/core/direct-functions/initialize-project.js

@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import {
 	disableSilentMode
 	// isSilentMode // Not used directly here
 } from '../../../../scripts/modules/utils.js';
-import { getProjectRootFromSession } from '../../tools/utils.js'; // Adjust path if necessary
 import os from 'os'; // Import os module for home directory check
 
 /**
@@ -16,60 +15,32 @@ import os from 'os'; // Import os module for home directory check
  * @returns {Promise<{success: boolean, data?: any, error?: {code: string, message: string}}>} - Standard result object.
  */
 export async function initializeProjectDirect(args, log, context = {}) {
-	const { session } = context;
+	const { session } = context; // Keep session if core logic needs it
 	const homeDir = os.homedir();
-	let targetDirectory = null;
 
-	log.info(
-		`CONTEXT received in direct function: ${context ? JSON.stringify(Object.keys(context)) : 'MISSING or Falsy'}`
-	);
-	log.info(
-		`SESSION extracted in direct function: ${session ? 'Exists' : 'MISSING or Falsy'}`
-	);
 	log.info(`Args received in direct function: ${JSON.stringify(args)}`);
 
 	// --- Determine Target Directory ---
-	// 1. Prioritize projectRoot passed directly in args
-	// Ensure it's not null, '/', or the home directory
-	if (
-		args.projectRoot &&
-		args.projectRoot !== '/' &&
-		args.projectRoot !== homeDir
-	) {
-		log.info(`Using projectRoot directly from args: ${args.projectRoot}`);
-		targetDirectory = args.projectRoot;
-	} else {
-		// 2. If args.projectRoot is missing or invalid, THEN try session (as a fallback)
-		log.warn(
-			`args.projectRoot ('${args.projectRoot}') is missing or invalid. Attempting to derive from session.`
-		);
-		const sessionDerivedPath = getProjectRootFromSession(session, log);
-		// Validate the session-derived path as well
-		if (
-			sessionDerivedPath &&
-			sessionDerivedPath !== '/' &&
-			sessionDerivedPath !== homeDir
-		) {
-			log.info(
-				`Using project root derived from session: ${sessionDerivedPath}`
-			);
-			targetDirectory = sessionDerivedPath;
-		} else {
-			log.error(
-				`Could not determine a valid project root. args.projectRoot='${args.projectRoot}', sessionDerivedPath='${sessionDerivedPath}'`
-			);
-		}
-	}
+	// TRUST the projectRoot passed from the tool layer via args
+	// The HOF in the tool layer already normalized and validated it came from a reliable source (args or session)
+	const targetDirectory = args.projectRoot;
 
-	// 3. Validate the final targetDirectory
-	if (!targetDirectory) {
-		// This error now covers cases where neither args.projectRoot nor session provided a valid path
+	// --- Validate the targetDirectory (basic sanity checks) ---
+	if (
+		!targetDirectory ||
+		typeof targetDirectory !== 'string' || // Ensure it's a string
+		targetDirectory === '/' ||
+		targetDirectory === homeDir
+	) {
+		log.error(
+			`Invalid target directory received from tool layer: '${targetDirectory}'`
+		);
 		return {
 			success: false,
 			error: {
 				code: 'INVALID_TARGET_DIRECTORY',
-				message: `Cannot initialize project: Could not determine a valid target directory. Please ensure a workspace/folder is open or specify projectRoot.`,
-				details: `Attempted args.projectRoot: ${args.projectRoot}`
+				message: `Cannot initialize project: Invalid target directory '${targetDirectory}' received. Please ensure a valid workspace/folder is open or specified.`,
+				details: `Received args.projectRoot: ${args.projectRoot}` // Show what was received
 			},
 			fromCache: false
 		};
@@ -86,11 +57,12 @@ export async function initializeProjectDirect(args, log, context = {}) {
 	log.info(
 		`Temporarily changing CWD to ${targetDirectory} for initialization.`
 	);
-	process.chdir(targetDirectory); // Change CWD to the *validated* targetDirectory
+	process.chdir(targetDirectory); // Change CWD to the HOF-provided root
 
-	enableSilentMode(); // Enable silent mode BEFORE calling the core function
+	enableSilentMode();
 	try {
-		// Always force yes: true when called via MCP to avoid interactive prompts
+		// Construct options ONLY from the relevant flags in args
+		// The core initializeProject operates in the current CWD, which we just set
 		const options = {
 			aliases: args.addAliases,
 			skipInstall: args.skipInstall,
@@ -100,12 +72,11 @@ export async function initializeProjectDirect(args, log, context = {}) {
 		log.info(`Initializing project with options: ${JSON.stringify(options)}`);
 		const result = await initializeProject(options); // Call core logic
 
-		// Format success result for handleApiResult
 		resultData = {
 			message: 'Project initialized successfully.',
 			next_step:
 				'Now that the project is initialized, the next step is to create the tasks by parsing a PRD. This will create the tasks folder and the initial task files (tasks folder will be created when parse-prd is run). The parse-prd tool will require a prd.txt file as input (typically found in the project root directory, scripts/ directory). You can create a prd.txt file by asking the user about their idea, and then using the scripts/example_prd.txt file as a template to genrate a prd.txt file in scripts/. You may skip all of this if the user already has a prd.txt file. You can THEN use the parse-prd tool to create the tasks. So: step 1 after initialization is to create a prd.txt file in scripts/prd.txt or confirm the user already has one. Step 2 is to use the parse-prd tool to create the tasks. Do not bother looking for tasks after initialization, just use the parse-prd tool to create the tasks after creating a prd.txt from which to parse the tasks. You do NOT need to reinitialize the project to parse-prd.',
-			...result // Include details returned by initializeProject
+			...result
 		};
 		success = true;
 		log.info(
@@ -120,12 +91,11 @@ export async function initializeProjectDirect(args, log, context = {}) {
 		};
 		success = false;
 	} finally {
-		disableSilentMode(); // ALWAYS disable silent mode in finally
+		disableSilentMode();
 		log.info(`Restoring original CWD: ${originalCwd}`);
-		process.chdir(originalCwd); // Change back to original CWD
+		process.chdir(originalCwd);
 	}
 
-	// Return in format expected by handleApiResult
 	if (success) {
 		return { success: true, data: resultData, fromCache: false };
 	} else {

mcp-server/src/core/task-master-core.js

@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ import { fixDependenciesDirect } from './direct-functions/fix-dependencies.js';
 import { complexityReportDirect } from './direct-functions/complexity-report.js';
 import { addDependencyDirect } from './direct-functions/add-dependency.js';
 import { removeTaskDirect } from './direct-functions/remove-task.js';
-import { initializeProjectDirect } from './direct-functions/initialize-project-direct.js';
+import { initializeProjectDirect } from './direct-functions/initialize-project.js';
 import { modelsDirect } from './direct-functions/models.js';
 
 // Re-export utility functions

mcp-server/src/tools/models.js

@@ -42,7 +42,9 @@ export function registerModelsTool(server) {
 			listAvailableModels: z
 				.boolean()
 				.optional()
-				.describe('List all available models not currently in use.'),
+				.describe(
+					'List all available models not currently in use. Input/output costs values are in dollars (3 is $3.00).'
+				),
 			projectRoot: z
 				.string()
 				.optional()

mcp-server/src/tools/update-subtask.js

@@ -4,11 +4,13 @@
  */
 
 import { z } from 'zod';
-import { handleApiResult, createErrorResponse } from './utils.js';
+import {
+	handleApiResult,
+	createErrorResponse,
+	withNormalizedProjectRoot
+} from './utils.js';
 import { updateSubtaskByIdDirect } from '../core/task-master-core.js';
 import { findTasksJsonPath } from '../core/utils/path-utils.js';
-import path from 'path';
-import { withNormalizedProjectRoot } from '../core/utils/project-utils.js';
 
 /**
  * Register the update-subtask tool with the MCP server