Hatchlog: a Task Master alternative with a native board

Looking for a Task Master alternative with a real board you can see? This is an honest comparison from the person who makes Hatchlog. Task Master is a good tool, and for some people it’s the better pick — the goal here is to help you choose, not to win.

What Task Master does well

Task Master is an open-source task manager for AI coding agents. It lives in your project, breaks a request into tasks, and hands them to your agent through MCP. As we read its repository, it’s free, it runs anywhere Node runs, and it works across editors — Claude Code, Cursor and other MCP clients.

That buys you three real things. It costs nothing, so there’s no reason not to try it. It’s cross-platform, so Windows and Linux are first-class, not an afterthought. And it’s open source, so you can read exactly what it does and change it. If those matter most to you, Task Master is a strong choice and you can stop reading here.

Where Hatchlog is different

Hatchlog takes the same idea — give the agent a task list it can read and update. It puts that in a native Mac app with a visual board. The difference is where the work lives and who keeps it current.

You see the board. Task Master’s tasks are files you read in the editor. Hatchlog shows a board with Todo, In progress, In review and Done, and the agent moves the cards itself as it works. The state of the project is a glance, not a file to open.

The agent keeps it up to date. With a file-based list, you often end up editing it by hand. On the Hatchlog board, the agent writes back what changed, so the list doesn’t drift while you’re busy.

It shows what the work cost. Hatchlog measures the Claude Code tokens each task spent, and what that would cost at API prices. Task Master doesn’t track per-task cost. If you want to know which feature was expensive to build, that’s a Hatchlog-only answer. Cursor and Codex aren’t measured.

Setup is one click. You connect each agent from the app — no file to edit. For the exact clicks, see Connect Claude Code.

screenshot A Hatchlog board showing tasks the agent planned, with one card in progress.

Honest trade-offs

Hatchlog is a paid, Mac-only app. Task Master is free and runs everywhere. If you’re on Windows or Linux, Task Master is the one that fits. If you love living in files and the terminal, you may not want a separate window at all. And a one-time price is still a price, where Task Master asks for nothing.

Hatchlog’s bet is that a board the agent maintains, plus a clear read on token cost, is worth paying once for — if you’re on a Mac.

Choose Task Master if…

• You want a free, open-source tool.
• You work on Windows or Linux, or across several machines.
• You’re happy reading tasks as files in your editor.
• You don’t need per-task token cost.

Choose Hatchlog if…

• You’re on a Mac and want a board you can see.
• You’d rather the agent keep the task list current than do it yourself.
• You want to know what each feature cost in Claude Code tokens.
• You like one-click setup over editing anything by hand.

If keeping an agent on track across sessions is the real problem, start with the free ways in Keep Claude Code on track across sessions. Then decide whether the board is worth it.