Feature Request: Intelligent Handling of New Feature Requests via AI IDE (Incremental Task Generation)

[DevSuyashA]

Hi @eyaltoledano and contributors,

I'd like to request a new feature to enhance how Claude Task Master integrates with an AI IDE for handling user-initiated feature requests. Currently, editing the PRD and re-parsing it regenerates the entire task list, which can disrupt existing workflows. The update command allows some targeted additions, but it requires manual prompting and doesn't automatically detect or classify new requests.

Proposed Feature:

When a user prompts the AI IDE with a new feature request (e.g., "Add support for X functionality"), the system should:

1. Analyze Existing Artifacts: Automatically check the current PRD.txt and/or existing task list to determine if the request is:
   • Already documented/covered (e.g., via semantic comparison or keyword matching).
   • A new/undocumented feature.
2. Intelligent Response:
   • If it's new/undocumented: Either append the request directly to the PRD.txt (as a new section or bullet) or generate only the relevant new tasks/subtasks for that specific request.
   • Avoid regenerating the full task list—focus on incremental additions to preserve completed tasks and maintain workflow continuity.
   • Optionally, suggest or auto-create subtasks that would be helpful for implementing the request (e.g., based on best practices like "Design UI", "Implement Backend", "Test Edge Cases").
3. Integration Points:
   • This could tie into the update command or a new command like task-master add-feature --prompt="<user request>".
   • Use diffing on PRD.txt changes (as discussed in related conversations) to identify what's new and generate tasks accordingly.
   • Leverage Claude's capabilities for natural language understanding to parse the user's prompt and map it to tasks.

Use Case Example:

• User prompts: "Add a notification system for task completions."
• System checks PRD/tasks: Detects it's undocumented.
• Response: Appends to PRD or generates new tasks like:
  • Task 15: Design notification API.
  • Subtask 15.1: Define endpoints.
  • Subtask 15.2: Integrate with existing task completion hooks.
• Existing tasks remain unchanged.

This would make the tool more dynamic and user-friendly for iterative development. I'm happy to provide more details or discuss implementation ideas!

Thanks!