Taskhold vs Claude Code's built-in task list
Claude Code has its own task tools. Tasks persist across context compactions, and setting CLAUDE_CODE_TASK_LIST_ID lets several sessions share one list stored under ~/.claude/tasks/. It's free and needs no setup. For many people that is enough, and you should use it.
Taskhold is for the cases it doesn't cover: other agents, other machines, and a person who wants to add and review tasks without a terminal.
Side by side
| Claude Code tasks | Taskhold | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Included with Claude Code | $12/month or $120/year per person, 7-day trial |
| Where tasks live | Local files in ~/.claude/tasks/ | Hosted list, reachable from any machine |
| Agents | Claude Code | Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Windsurf, any MCP client with remote server support |
| How you see it | Ctrl+T in the terminal | Web app on desktop or phone, plus Agent Activity |
| Sharing between sessions | Yes, with CLAUDE_CODE_TASK_LIST_ID on one machine | Yes, every session and every agent you connect |
| History | Not listed in the docs | Every change kept, marked human or agent |
| Dependencies between tasks | Yes | No |
| Setup | None (on supported models) | Paste one setup URL into the agent |
Claude Code facts from code.claude.com docs (interactive mode, tools reference), checked 2026-10-08.
Pick Claude Code's tasks if
- You only use Claude Code, on one machine.
- You don't need to add or read tasks away from the terminal.
- You want task dependencies and zero setup.
One thing to know: the docs say the task tools are on by default only for certain models (Opus 4 through 4.7, Sonnet 4 through 4.6, Haiku 4.5, and Claude 3.x); other models need CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_TODO_TOOLS=1.
Pick Taskhold if
- You run Claude Code next to Cursor, Codex or Windsurf and want one list for all of them.
- You work from more than one machine, or want to queue tasks from your phone.
- You want a record of what each task went through, with agent changes marked as agent changes.
- You want blocked tasks, with the agent's reason, collected in one place.
Using both
They don't conflict. Claude Code can keep its own short checklist for the steps of a task while Taskhold holds the backlog: start a Taskhold task, plan the steps with the built-in tools, complete the Taskhold task with a summary.
Give your agents a list you can both see.
$12 a month or $120 a year per person, every agent included. 7-day trial with a card; cancel before it ends and nothing is charged.
Start your 7-day trialQuestions
- Is TodoWrite the same thing?
- TodoWrite was the earlier tool. The docs describe it as disabled by default in favor of the newer task tools.
- Does Taskhold replace CLAUDE.md?
- No. CLAUDE.md tells the agent how to use the list; Taskhold holds the list.
Related
Updated 2026-10-08