Use Taskhold with Zed

What you get with Zed and Taskhold

• Zed's agent takes tasks from your list and marks them in progress as "Zed in <repo>".
• Steps and progress on the live board while it works, and its question under Needs you when it is stuck.
• A finished task carries a summary you can read without opening the thread.

Connect Zed to Taskhold

1. Start the 7-day trial, open Settings > API keys and create a key for this machine. It starts with atd_sk_. One key per tool and machine lets you revoke each one on its own.
2. Open settings.json (zed: open settings) or go to Settings > AI > MCP Servers > Add Server > Add Remote Server.
3. Add the entry below. With an Authorization header set, Zed skips its OAuth prompt.

{
  "context_servers": {
    "taskhold": {
      "url": "https://taskhold.com/api/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer <your atd_sk_ key>" }
    }
  }
}

Tell Zed how to use the list

Zed loads the first instruction file it finds at the project root, in this order: .rules, .cursorrules, .windsurfrules, .clinerules, .github/copilot-instructions.md, AGENT.md, AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, GEMINI.md. Add the workflow to whichever of those your repo already has:

## Tasks (Taskhold)

The person and I share a task list through the taskhold MCP tools. They watch a live board while I work.
- Session start: taskhold_get_current, then taskhold_updates for replies. Nothing in progress? taskhold_list status:todo and take the highest priority.
- taskhold_start before working on a task (agent: "Zed in <repo>").
- More than a couple of steps: taskhold_plan, then taskhold_start and taskhold_complete each step.
- taskhold_progress at milestones (N of M, or a percent) with a short message. Every few minutes at most.
- Need a decision: taskhold_block with one specific question, then check taskhold_updates.
- Done: taskhold_complete with what changed and how I checked it.
- A TODO or bug I'm not fixing now: taskhold_create (or taskhold_create_from_todo with file and line).

One limit to know

Zed doesn't document environment variable interpolation for context servers, so the key sits in plain text in settings.json. Use the user settings file, not a project .zed/settings.json you commit, and revoke the key in Taskhold if the file is ever shared.

What leaves your machine, and how to disconnect

Taskhold receives task titles, steps, progress messages, questions and summaries, whatever the agent or script sends. Taskhold never sends code or commands to your machine, and it doesn't read your repository.

To cut a tool off, open Settings > API keys and revoke its key. The next call fails with 401. Then remove the Taskhold entry from the tool's config so it stops trying.