---
url: /docs/deprecations/template.md
description: Template for documenting deprecated features in Task
---

# {Name of Deprecated Feature} (#{Issue})

::: danger

This deprecation breaks the following functionality:

* {list any existing functionality that will be broken by this deprecation}
* {if there are no breaking changes, remove this admonition}

:::

{Short description of the feature/behavior and why it is being deprecated}

{Short explanation of any replacement features/behaviors and how users should
migrate to it}

---

---
url: /docs/experiments/template.md
---

# {Name of Experiment} (#{Issue})

::: warning

All experimental features are subject to breaking changes and/or removal *at any
time*. We strongly recommend that you do not use these features in a production
environment. They are intended for testing and feedback only.

:::

::: warning

This experiment breaks the following functionality:

* {list any existing functionality that will be broken by this experiment}
* {if there are no breaking changes, remove this admonition}

:::

:::info

To enable this experiment, set the environment variable: `TASK_X_{feature}=1`.
Check out [our guide to enabling experiments ][enabling-experiments] for more
information.

:::

{Short description of the feature}

{Short explanation of how users should migrate to the new behavior}

[enabling-experiments]: /docs/experiments/#enabling-experiments

---

---
url: /docs/reference/cli.md
description: 'Complete reference for Task CLI commands, flags, and exit codes'
---

# Command Line Interface Reference

Task has multiple ways of being configured. These methods are parsed, in
sequence, in the following order with the highest priority last:

* [Environment variables](./environment.md)
* [Configuration files](./config.md)
* *Command-line flags*

In this document, we will look at the last of the three options, command-line
flags. All CLI commands override their configuration file and environment
variable equivalents.

## Format

Task commands have the following syntax:

```bash
task [options] [tasks...] [-- CLI_ARGS...]
```

::: tip

If `--` is given, all remaining arguments will be assigned to a special
`CLI_ARGS` variable.

:::

## Commands

### `task [tasks...]`

Run one or more tasks defined in your Taskfile.

```bash
task build
task test lint
task deploy --force
```

### `task --list`

List all available tasks with their descriptions.

```bash
task --list
task -l
```

### `task --list-all`

List all tasks, including those without descriptions.

```bash
task --list-all
task -a
```

### `task --init`

Create a new Taskfile.yml in the current directory.

```bash
task --init
task -i
```

::: tip

Combine `--list` or `--list-all` with `--silent` (`-ls` or `-as` for shortants)
to list only the task names in each line. Useful for scripting with `grep` or
similar.

:::

## Options

### General

#### `-h, --help`

Show help information.

```bash
task --help
```

#### `--version`

Show Task version.

```bash
task --version
```

#### `-v, --verbose`

Enable verbose mode for detailed output.

```bash
task build --verbose
```

#### `-s, --silent`

Disable command echoing.

```bash
task deploy --silent
```

#### `--disable-fuzzy`

Disable fuzzy matching for task names. When enabled, Task will not suggest
similar task names when you mistype a task name.

```bash
task buidl --disable-fuzzy
# Output: Task "buidl" does not exist
# (without "Did you mean 'build'?" suggestion)
```

### Execution Control

#### `-F, --failfast`

Stop executing dependencies as soon as one of them fails.

```bash
task build --failfast
```

#### `-f, --force`

Force execution even when the task is up-to-date.

```bash
task build --force
```

#### `-n, --dry`

Compile and print tasks without executing them.

```bash
task deploy --dry
```

#### `-p, --parallel`

Execute multiple tasks in parallel.

```bash
task test lint --parallel
```

#### `-C, --concurrency <number>`

Limit the number of concurrent tasks. Zero means unlimited.

```bash
task test --concurrency 4
```

#### `-x, --exit-code`

Pass through the exit code of failed commands.

```bash
task test --exit-code
```

### File and Directory

#### `-d, --dir <path>`

Set the directory where Task will run and look for Taskfiles.

```bash
task build --dir ./backend
```

#### `-t, --taskfile <file>`

Specify a custom Taskfile path.

```bash
task build --taskfile ./custom/Taskfile.yml
```

#### `-g, --global`

Run the global Taskfile from `$HOME/Taskfile.{yml,yaml}`.

```bash
task backup --global
```

### Output Control

#### `-o, --output <mode>`

Set output style. Available modes: `interleaved`, `group`, `prefixed`.

```bash
task test --output group
```

#### `--output-group-begin <template>`

Message template to print before grouped output.

```bash
task test --output group --output-group-begin "::group::{{.TASK}}"
```

#### `--output-group-end <template>`

Message template to print after grouped output.

```bash
task test --output group --output-group-end "::endgroup::"
```

#### `--output-group-error-only`

Only show command output on non-zero exit codes.

```bash
task test --output group --output-group-error-only
```

#### `-c, --color`

Control colored output. Enabled by default.

```bash
task build --color=false
# or use environment variable
NO_COLOR=1 task build
```

### Task Information

#### `--status`

Check if tasks are up-to-date without running them.

```bash
task build --status
```

#### `--summary`

Show detailed information about a task.

```bash
task build --summary
```

#### `--json`

Output task information in JSON format (use with `--list` or `--list-all`).

```bash
task --list --json
```

#### `--sort <mode>`

Change task listing order. Available modes:

* `default` - Sorts tasks alphabetically by name, but ensures that root tasks
  (tasks without a namespace) are listed before namespaced tasks.
* `alphanumeric` - Sort tasks alphabetically by name.
* `none` - No sorting. Uses the order as defined in the Taskfile.

```bash
task --list --sort alphanumeric
```

### Watch Mode

#### `-w, --watch`

Watch for file changes and re-run tasks automatically.

```bash
task build --watch
```

#### `-I, --interval <duration>`

Set watch interval (default: `5s`). Must be a valid
[Go duration](https://pkg.go.dev/time#ParseDuration).

```bash
task build --watch --interval 1s
```

### Interactive

#### `-y, --yes`

Automatically answer "yes" to all prompts.

```bash
task deploy --yes
```

#### `--interactive`

Enable interactive prompts for missing required variables. When a required
variable is not provided, Task will prompt for input instead of failing.

Task automatically detects non-TTY environments (like CI pipelines) and skips
prompts. This flag can also be set in `.taskrc.yml` to enable prompts by
default.

```bash
task deploy --interactive
```

## Exit Codes

Task uses specific exit codes to indicate different types of errors:

### Success

* **0** - Success

### General Errors (1-99)

* **1** - Unknown error occurred

### Taskfile Errors (100-199)

* **100** - No Taskfile found
* **101** - Taskfile already exists (when using `--init`)
* **102** - Invalid or unparseable Taskfile
* **103** - Remote Taskfile download failed
* **104** - Remote Taskfile not trusted
* **105** - Remote Taskfile fetch not secure
* **106** - No cache for remote Taskfile in offline mode
* **107** - No schema version defined in Taskfile

### Task Errors (200-255)

* **200** - Task not found
* **201** - Command execution error
* **202** - Attempted to run internal task
* **203** - Multiple tasks with same name/alias
* **204** - Task called too many times (recursion limit)
* **205** - Task cancelled by user
* **206** - Missing required variables
* **207** - Variable has incorrect value

::: info

When using `-x/--exit-code`, failed command exit codes are passed through
instead of the above codes.

:::

::: tip

The complete list of exit codes is available in the repository at
[`errors/errors.go`](https://github.com/go-task/task/blob/main/errors/errors.go).

:::

## JSON Output Format

When using `--json` with `--list` or `--list-all`:

```json
{
  "tasks": [
    {
      "name": "build",
      "task": "build",
      "desc": "Build the application",
      "summary": "Compiles the source code and generates binaries",
      "up_to_date": false,
      "location": {
        "line": 12,
        "column": 3,
        "taskfile": "/path/to/Taskfile.yml"
      }
    }
  ],
  "location": "/path/to/Taskfile.yml"
}
```

---

---
url: /docs/community.md
description: >-
  Task community contributions, installation methods, and integrations
  maintained by third parties
---

# Community

Some of the work to improve the Task ecosystem is done by the community, be it
installation methods or integrations with code editor. I (the author) am
thankful for everyone that helps me to improve the overall experience.

## Integrations

Many of our integrations are contributed and maintained by the community. You
can view the full list of community integrations
[here](./integrations.md#community-integrations).

## Installation methods

Some installation methods are maintained by third party:

* [Arch Linux](https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/go-task/)
* [AUR](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/go-task-git) by @C0rn3j
* [Scoop](https://github.com/ScoopInstaller/Main/blob/master/bucket/task.json)
* [Fedora](https://packages.fedoraproject.org/pkgs/golang-github-task/go-task/)
* [Nix](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/by-name/go/go-task/package.nix)
* [Conda](https://github.com/conda-forge/go-task-feedstock/)

## More

Also, thanks for all the
[code contributors](https://github.com/go-task/task/graphs/contributors),
[financial contributors](https://opencollective.com/task), all those who
[reported bugs](https://github.com/go-task/task/issues?q=is%3Aissue) and
[answered questions](https://github.com/go-task/task/discussions).

If you know something that is missing in this document, please submit a pull
request.

---

---
url: /docs/deprecations/completion-scripts.md
description: Deprecation of direct completion scripts in Task’s Git directory
---

# Completion Scripts

::: danger

This deprecation breaks the following functionality:

* Any direct references to the completion scripts in the Task git repository

:::

Direct use of the completion scripts in the `completion/*` directory of the
[github.com/go-task/task][task] Git repository is deprecated. Any shell
configuration that directly refers to these scripts will potentially break in
the future as the scripts may be moved or deleted entirely. Any configuration
should be updated to use the [new method for generating shell
completions][completions] instead.

[completions]: /docs/installation#setup-completions

[task]: https://github.com/go-task/task

---

---
url: /docs/reference/config.md
description: Complete reference for the Task config files and env vars
---

# Configuration Reference

Task has multiple ways of being configured. These methods are parsed, in
sequence, in the following order with the highest priority last:

* [Environment variables](./environment.md)
* *Configuration files*
* [Command-line flags](./cli.md)

In this document, we will look at the second of the three options, configuration
files.

## File Precedence

Task will automatically look for directories containing configuration files in
the following order with the highest priority first:

* Current directory (or the one specified by the `--taskfile`/`--entrypoint`
  flags).
* Each directory walking up the file tree from the current directory (or the one
  specified by the `--taskfile`/`--entrypoint` flags) until we reach the user's
  home directory or the root directory of that drive.
* The users `$HOME` directory.
* The `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/task` directory.

Config files in the current directory, its parent folders or home directory
should be called `.taskrc.yml` or `.taskrc.yaml`. Config files in the
`$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/task` directory are named the same way, but should not contain
the `.` prefix.

All config files will be merged together into a unified config, starting with
the lowest priority file in `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/task` with each subsequent file
overwriting the previous one if values are set.

For example, given the following files:

```yaml [$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/task/taskrc.yml]
# lowest priority global config
option_1: foo
option_2: foo
option_3: foo
```

```yaml [$HOME/.taskrc.yml]
option_1: bar
option_2: bar
```

```yaml [$HOME/path/to/project/.taskrc.yml]
# highest priority project config
option_1: baz
```

You would end up with the following configuration:

```yaml
option_1: baz # Taken from $HOME/path/to/project/.taskrc.yml
option_2: bar # Taken from $HOME/.taskrc.yml
option_3: foo # Taken from $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/task/.taskrc.yml
```

## Configuration Options

### `experiments`

The experiments section allows you to enable Task's experimental features. These
options are not enumerated here. Instead, please refer to our
[experiments documentation](../experiments/index.md) for more information.

```yaml
experiments:
  feature_name: 1
  another_feature: 2
```

### `verbose`

* **Type**: `boolean`
* **Default**: `false`
* **Description**: Enable verbose output for all tasks
* **CLI equivalent**: [`-v, --verbose`](./cli.md#-v---verbose)

```yaml
verbose: true
```

### `color`

* **Type**: `boolean`
* **Default**: `true`
* **Description**: Enable colored output. Colors are automatically enabled in CI environments (`CI=true`).
* **CLI equivalent**: [`-c, --color`](./cli.md#-c---color)

```yaml
color: false
```

### `disable-fuzzy`

* **Type**: `boolean`
* **Default**: `false`
* **Description**: Disable fuzzy matching for task names. When enabled, Task will not suggest similar task names when you mistype a task name.
* **CLI equivalent**: [`--disable-fuzzy`](./cli.md#--disable-fuzzy)

```yaml
disable-fuzzy: true
```

### `concurrency`

* **Type**: `integer`
* **Minimum**: `1`
* **Description**: Number of concurrent tasks to run
* **CLI equivalent**: [`-C, --concurrency`](./cli.md#-c---concurrency-number)

```yaml
concurrency: 4
```

### `failfast`

* **Type**: `boolean`
* **Default**: `false`
* **Description**: Stop executing dependencies as soon as one of them fail
* **CLI equivalent**: [`-F, --failfast`](./cli.md#f-failfast)

```yaml
failfast: true
```

### `interactive`

* **Type**: `boolean`
* **Default**: `false`
* **Description**: Prompt for missing required variables instead of failing.
  When enabled, Task will display an interactive prompt for any missing required
  variable. Requires a TTY. Task automatically detects non-TTY environments
  (CI pipelines, etc.) and skips prompts.
* **CLI equivalent**: [`--interactive`](./cli.md#--interactive)

```yaml
interactive: true
```

## Example Configuration

Here's a complete example of a `.taskrc.yml` file with all available options:

```yaml
# Global settings
verbose: true
color: true
disable-fuzzy: false
concurrency: 2

# Enable experimental features
experiments:
  REMOTE_TASKFILES: 1
```

---

---
url: /docs/deprecations.md
description: >-
  Guide to deprecated features in Task and how to migrate to the new
  alternatives
---

# Deprecations

As Task evolves, it occasionally outgrows some of its functionality. This can be
because they are no longer useful, because another feature has replaced it or
because of a change in the way that Task works internally.

When this happens, we mark the functionality as deprecated. This means that it
will be removed in a future version of Task. This functionality will continue to
work until that time, but we strongly recommend that you do not implement this
functionality in new Taskfiles and make a plan to migrate away from it as soon
as possible.

You can view a full list of active deprecations in the "Deprecations" section of
the sidebar.

---

---
url: /docs/experiments/env-precedence.md
description: Experiment to change the precedence of environment variables in Task
---

# Env Precedence (#1038)

::: warning

All experimental features are subject to breaking changes and/or removal *at any
time*. We strongly recommend that you do not use these features in a production
environment. They are intended for testing and feedback only.

:::

::: danger

This experiment breaks the following functionality:

* environment variable will take precedence over OS environment variables

:::

::: info

To enable this experiment, set the environment variable:
`TASK_X_ENV_PRECEDENCE=1`. Check out
[our guide to enabling experiments](./index.md#enabling-experiments) for more
information.

:::

Before this experiment, the OS variable took precedence over the task
environment variable. This experiment changes the precedence to make the task
environment variable take precedence over the OS variable.

Consider the following example:

```yml
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    env:
      KEY: 'other'
    cmds:
      - echo "$KEY"
```

Running `KEY=some task` before this experiment, the output would be `some`, but
after this experiment, the output would be `other`.

If you still want to get the OS variable, you can use the template function env
like follow : `{{env "OS_VAR"}}`.

```yml
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    env:
      KEY: 'other'
    cmds:
      - echo "$KEY"
      - echo {{env "KEY"}}
```

Running `KEY=some task`, the output would be `other` and `some`.

Like other variables/envs, you can also fall back to a given value using the
default template function:

```yml
MY_ENV: '{{.MY_ENV | default "fallback"}}'
```

---

---
url: /docs/reference/environment.md
description: A reference for the Taskfile environment variables
---

# Environment Reference

Task has multiple ways of being configured. These methods are parsed, in
sequence, in the following order with the highest priority last:

* *Environment variables*
* [Configuration files](./config.md)
* [Command-line flags](./cli.md)

In this document, we will look at the first of the three options, environment
variables. All Task-specific variables are prefixed with `TASK_` and override
their configuration file equivalents.

## Variables

### `TASK_TEMP_DIR`

Defines the location of Task's temporary directory which is used for storing
checksums and temporary metadata. Can be relative like `tmp/task` or absolute
like `/tmp/.task` or `~/.task`. Relative paths are relative to the root
Taskfile, not the working directory. Defaults to: `./.task`.

### `TASK_CORE_UTILS`

This env controls whether the Bash interpreter will use its own
core utilities implemented in Go, or the ones available in the system.
Valid values are `true` (`1`) or `false` (`0`). By default, this is `true` on
Windows and `false` on other operating systems. We might consider making this
enabled by default on all platforms in the future.

### `TASK_REMOTE_DIR`

Defines the location of Task's remote temporary directory which is used for
caching remote files. Can be relative like `tmp/task` or absolute like
`/tmp/.task` or `~/.task`. Relative paths are relative to the root Taskfile, not
the working directory. Defaults to: `./.task`.

### `TASK_OFFLINE`

Set the `--offline` flag through the environment variable. Only for remote
experiment. CLI flag `--offline` takes precedence over the env variable.

### `FORCE_COLOR`

Force color output usage.

### Custom Colors

All color variables are [ANSI color codes][ansi]. You can specify multiple codes
separated by a semicolon. For example: `31;1` will make the text bold and red.
Task also supports 8-bit color (256 colors). You can specify these colors by
using the sequence `38;2;R:G:B` for foreground colors and `48;2;R:G:B` for
background colors where `R`, `G` and `B` should be replaced with values between
0 and 255.

For convenience, we allow foreground colors to be specified using shorthand,
comma-separated syntax: `R,G,B`. For example, `255,0,0` is equivalent to
`38;2;255:0:0`.

A table of variables and their defaults can be found below:

| ENV                         | Default |
| --------------------------- | ------- |
| `TASK_COLOR_RESET`          | `0`     |
| `TASK_COLOR_RED`            | `31`    |
| `TASK_COLOR_GREEN`          | `32`    |
| `TASK_COLOR_YELLOW`         | `33`    |
| `TASK_COLOR_BLUE`           | `34`    |
| `TASK_COLOR_MAGENTA`        | `35`    |
| `TASK_COLOR_CYAN`           | `36`    |
| `TASK_COLOR_BRIGHT_RED`     | `91`    |
| `TASK_COLOR_BRIGHT_GREEN`   | `92`    |
| `TASK_COLOR_BRIGHT_YELLOW`  | `93`    |
| `TASK_COLOR_BRIGHT_BLUE`    | `94`    |
| `TASK_COLOR_BRIGHT_MAGENTA` | `95`    |
| `TASK_COLOR_BRIGHT_CYAN`    | `96`    |

[ansi]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code

---

---
url: /docs/experiments.md
description: Guide to Task’s experimental features and how to use them
---

# Experiments

::: warning

All experimental features are subject to breaking changes and/or removal *at any
time*. We strongly recommend that you do not use these features in a production
environment. They are intended for testing and feedback only.

:::

In order to allow Task to evolve quickly, we sometimes roll out breaking changes
to minor versions behind experimental flags. This allows us to gather feedback
on breaking changes before committing to a major release. This process can also
be used to gather feedback on important non-breaking features before their
design is completed. This document describes the
[experiment workflow](#workflow) and how you can get involved.

You can view the full list of active experiments in the sidebar submenu to the
left of the page and click on each one to find out more about it.

## Enabling Experiments

Task uses environment variables to detect whether or not an experiment is
enabled. All of the experiment variables will begin with the same `TASK_X_`
prefix followed by the name of the experiment. You can find the exact name for
each experiment on their respective pages in the sidebar. If the variable is set
`=1` then it will be enabled. Some experiments may have multiple proposals, in
which case, you will need to set the variable equal to the number of the
proposal that you want to enable (`=2`, `=3` etc).

There are three main ways to set the environment variables for an experiment.
Which method you use depends on how you intend to use the experiment:

1. Prefixing your task commands with the relevant environment variable(s). For
   example, `TASK_X_{FEATURE}=1 task {my-task}`. This is intended for one-off
   invocations of Task to test out experimental features.

2. Adding the relevant environment variable(s) in your "dotfiles" (e.g.
   `.bashrc`, `.zshrc` etc.). This will permanently enable experimental features
   for your personal environment.

   ```shell
   # ~/.bashrc
   export TASK_X_FEATURE=1
   ```

3. Creating a `.env` or a `.taskrc.yml` file in the same directory as your root
   Taskfile.\
   The `.env` file should contain the relevant environment variable(s), while
   the `.taskrc.yml` file should use a YAML format where each experiment is
   defined as a key with a corresponding value.

   This allows you to enable an experimental feature at a project level. If you
   commit this file to source control, then other users of your project will
   also have these experiments enabled.

   If both files are present, the values in the `.taskrc.yml` file will take
   precedence.

::: code-group

```yaml [.taskrc.yml]
experiments:
  FEATURE: 1
```

```shell [.env]
TASK_X_FEATURE=1
```

:::

## Workflow

Experiments are a way for us to test out new features in Task before committing
to them in a major release. Because this concept is built around the idea of
feedback from our community, we have built a workflow for the process of
introducing these changes. This ensures that experiments are given the attention
and time that they need and that we are getting the best possible results out of
them.

The sections below describe the various stages that an experiment must go
through from its proposal all the way to being released in a major version of
Task.

### 1. Proposal

All experimental features start with a proposal in the form of a GitHub issue.
If the maintainers decide that an issue has enough support and is a breaking
change or is complex/controversial enough to require user feedback, then the
issue will be marked with the `status: proposal` label. At this point, the issue
becomes a proposal and a period of consultation begins. During this period, we
request that users provide feedback on the proposal and how it might effect
their use of Task. It is up to the discretion of the maintainers to decide how
long this period lasts.

### 2. Draft

Once a proposal's consultation ends, a contributor may pick up the work and
begin the initial implementation. Once a PR is opened, the maintainers will
ensure that it meets the requirements for an experimental feature (i.e. flags
are in the right format etc) and merge the feature. Once this code is released,
the status will be updated via the `status: draft` label. This indicates that an
implementation is now available for use in a release and the experiment is open
for feedback.

::: info

During the draft period, major changes to the implementation may be made based
on the feedback received from users. There are *no stability guarantees* and
experimental features may be abandoned *at any time*.

:::

### 3. Candidate

Once an acceptable level of consensus has been reached by the community and
feedback/changes are less frequent/significant, the status may be updated via
the `status: candidate` label. This indicates that a proposal is *likely* to
accepted and will enter a period for final comments and minor changes.

### 4. Stable

Once a suitable amount of time has passed with no changes or feedback, an
experiment will be given the `status: stable` label. At this point, the
functionality will be treated like any other feature in Task and any changes
*must* be backward compatible. This allows users to migrate to the new
functionality without having to worry about anything breaking in future
releases. This provides the best experience for users migrating to a new major
version.

### 5. Released

When making a new major release of Task, all experiments marked as
`status: stable` will move to `status: released` and their behaviors will become
the new default in Task. Experiments in an earlier stage (i.e. not stable)
cannot be released and so will continue to be experiments in the new version.

### Abandoned / Superseded

If an experiment is unsuccessful at any point then it will be given the
`status: abandoned` or `status: superseded` labels depending on which is more
suitable. These experiments will be removed from Task.

---

---
url: /docs/faq.md
description: >-
  Frequently asked questions about Task, including ETAs, shell limitations, and
  Windows compatibility
---

# FAQ

This page contains a list of frequently asked questions about Task.

## When will \<feature> be released? / ETAs

Task is *free* and *open source* project maintained by a small group of
volunteers with full time jobs and lives outside of the project. Because of
this, it is difficult to predict how much time we will be able to dedicate to
the project in advance and we don't want to make any promises that we can't
keep. For this reason, we are unable to provide ETAs for new features or
releases. We make a "best effort" to provide regular releases and fix bugs in a
timely fashion, but sometimes our personal lives must take priority.

ETAs are probably the number one question we (and maintainers of other open
source projects) get asked. We understand that you are passionate about the
project, but it can be overwhelming to be asked this question so often. Please
be patient and avoid asking for ETAs.

The best way to speed things up is to contribute to the project yourself. We
always appreciate new contributors. If you are interested in contributing, check
out the [contributing guide](./contributing.md).

## Why won't my task update my shell environment?

This is a limitation of how shells work. Task runs as a subprocess of your
current shell, so it can't change the environment of the shell that started it.
This limitation is shared by other task runners and build tools too.

A common way to work around this is to create a task that will generate output
that can be parsed by your shell. For example, to set an environment variable on
your shell you can write a task like this:

```yaml
my-shell-env:
  cmds:
    - echo "export FOO=foo"
    - echo "export BAR=bar"
```

Now run `eval $(task my-shell-env)` and the variables `$FOO` and `$BAR` will be
available in your shell.

## I can't reuse my shell in a task's commands

Task runs each command as a separate shell process, so something you do in one
command won't effect any future commands. For example, this won't work:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  foo:
    cmds:
      - a=foo
      - echo $a
      # outputs ""
```

To work around this you can either use a multiline command:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  foo:
    cmds:
      - |
        a=foo
        echo $a
      # outputs "foo"
```

Or for more complex multi-line commands it is recommended to move your code into
a separate file and call that instead:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  foo:
    cmds:
      - ./foo-printer.bash
```

```shell
#!/bin/bash
a=foo
echo $a
```

## Are shell core utilities available on Windows?

The most common ones, yes. And we might add more in the future.
This is possible because Task compiles a small set of core utilities in Go and
enables them by default on Windows for greater compatibility.

It's possible to control whether these builtin core utilities are used or not
with the [`TASK_CORE_UTILS`](/docs/reference/environment#task-core-utils)
environment variable:

```bash
# Enable, even on non-Windows platforms
env TASK_CORE_UTILS=1 task ...

# Disable, even on Windows
env TASK_CORE_UTILS=0 task ...
```

This is the list of core utils that are currently available:

* `base64`
* `cat`
* `chmod`
* `cp`
* `find`
* `gzip`
* `ls`
* `mkdir`
* `mktemp`
* `mv`
* `rm`
* `shasum`
* `tar`
* `touch`
* `xargs`
* (more might be added in the future)

---

---
url: /docs/experiments/gentle-force.md
description: Experiment to modify the behavior of the --force flag in Task
---

# Gentle Force (#1200)

::: warning

All experimental features are subject to breaking changes and/or removal *at any
time*. We strongly recommend that you do not use these features in a production
environment. They are intended for testing and feedback only.

:::

::: danger

This experiment breaks the following functionality:

* The `--force` flag

:::

::: info

To enable this experiment, set the environment variable:
`TASK_X_GENTLE_FORCE=1`. Check out
[our guide to enabling experiments](./index.md#enabling-experiments) for more
information.

:::

The `--force` flag currently forces *all* tasks to run regardless of the status
checks. This can be useful, but we have found that most of the time users only
expect the direct task they are calling to be forced and *not* all of its
dependant tasks.

This experiment changes the `--force` flag to only force the directly called
task. All dependant tasks will have their statuses checked as normal and will
only run if Task considers them to be out of date. A new `--force-all` flag will
also be added to maintain the current behavior for users that need this
functionality.

If you want to migrate, but continue to force all dependant tasks to run, you
should replace all uses of the `--force` flag with `--force-all`. Alternatively,
if you want to adopt the new behavior, you can continue to use the `--force`
flag as you do now!

---

---
url: /docs/getting-started.md
description: Guide for getting started with Task
---

# Getting Started

The following guide will help introduce you to the basics of Task. We'll cover
how to create a Taskfile, how to write a basic task and how to call it. If you
haven't installed Task yet, head over to our [installation guide](installation).

## Creating your first Taskfile

Once Task is installed, you can create your first Taskfile by running:

```shell
task --init
```

This will create a file called `Taskfile.yml` in the current directory. If you
want to create the file in another directory, you can pass an absolute or
relative path to the directory into the command:

```shell
task --init ./subdirectory
```

Or if you want the Taskfile to have a specific name, you can pass in the name of
the file:

```shell
task --init Custom.yml
```

This will create a Taskfile that looks something like this:

```yaml [Taskfile.yml]
version: '3'

vars:
  GREETING: Hello, World!

tasks:
  default:
    desc: Print a greeting message
    cmds:
      - echo "{{.GREETING}}"
    silent: true
```

As you can see, all Taskfiles are written in [YAML format](https://yaml.org/).
The `version` attribute specifies the minimum version of Task that can be used
to run this file. The `vars` attribute is used to define variables that can be
used in tasks. In this case, we are creating a string variable called `GREETING`
with a value of `Hello, World!`.

Finally, the `tasks` attribute is used to define the tasks that can be run. In
this case, we have a task called `default` that echoes the value of the
`GREETING` variable. The `silent` attribute is set to `true`, which means that
the task metadata will not be printed when the task is run - only the output of
the commands.

## Calling a task

To call the task, invoke `task` followed by the name of the task you want to
run. In this case, the name of the task is `default`, so you should run:

```shell
task default
```

Note that we don't have to specify the name of the Taskfile. Task will
automatically look for a file called `Taskfile.yml` (or any of Task's
[supported file names](/docs/guide#supported-file-names)) in the current
directory. Additionally, tasks with the name `default` are special. They can
also be run without specifying the task name.

If you created a Taskfile in a different directory, you can run it by passing
the absolute or relative path to the directory as an argument using the `--dir`
flag:

```shell
task --dir ./subdirectory
```

Or if you created a Taskfile with a different name, you can run it by passing
the name of the Taskfile as an argument using the `--taskfile` flag:

```shell
task --taskfile Custom.yml
```

## Adding a build task

Let's create a task to build a program in Go. Start by adding a new task called
`build` below the existing `default` task. We can then add a `cmds` attribute
with a single command to build the program.

Task uses [mvdan/sh](https://github.com/mvdan/sh), a native Go sh interpreter.
So you can write sh/bash-like commands - even in environments where `sh` or
`bash` are usually not available (like Windows). Just remember any executables
called must be available as a built-in or in the system's `PATH`.

When you're done, it should look something like this:

```yaml
version: '3'

vars:
  GREETING: Hello, World!

tasks:
  default:
    desc: Print a greeting message
    cmds:
      - echo "{{.GREETING}}"
    silent: true

  build:
    cmds:
      - go build ./cmd/main.go
```

Call the task by running:

```shell
task build
```

That's about it for the basics, but there's *so much* more that you can do with
Task. Check out the rest of the documentation to learn more about all the
features Task has to offer! We recommend taking a look at the
[usage guide](/docs/guide) next. Alternatively, you can check out our reference
docs for the [Taskfile schema](reference/schema) and [CLI](reference/cli).

---

---
url: /docs/guide.md
---

# Guide

## Running Taskfiles

Specific Taskfiles can be called by specifying the `--taskfile` flag. If you
don't specify a Taskfile, Task will automatically look for a file with one of
the [supported file names](#supported-file-names) in the current directory. If
you want to search in a different directory, you can use the `--dir` flag.

### Supported file names

Task looks for files with the following names, in order of priority:

* `Taskfile.yml`
* `taskfile.yml`
* `Taskfile.yaml`
* `taskfile.yaml`
* `Taskfile.dist.yml`
* `taskfile.dist.yml`
* `Taskfile.dist.yaml`
* `taskfile.dist.yaml`

The `.dist` variants allow projects to have one committed file (`.dist`) while
still allowing individual users to override the Taskfile by adding an additional
`Taskfile.yml` (which would be in your `.gitignore`).

### Running a Taskfile from a subdirectory

If a Taskfile cannot be found in the current working directory, it will walk up
the file tree until it finds one (similar to how `git` works). When running Task
from a subdirectory like this, it will behave as if you ran it from the
directory containing the Taskfile.

You can use this functionality along with the special
`{{.USER_WORKING_DIR}}` variable to create some very useful
reusable tasks. For example, if you have a monorepo with directories for each
microservice, you can `cd` into a microservice directory and run a task command
to bring it up without having to create multiple tasks or Taskfiles with
identical content. For example:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  up:
    dir: '{{.USER_WORKING_DIR}}'
    preconditions:
      - test -f docker-compose.yml
    cmds:
      - docker-compose up -d
```

In this example, we can run `cd <service>` and `task up` and as long as the
`<service>` directory contains a `docker-compose.yml`, the Docker composition
will be brought up.

### Running a global Taskfile

If you call Task with the `--global` (alias `-g`) flag, it will look for your
home directory instead of your working directory. In short, Task will look for a
Taskfile that matches `$HOME/{T,t}askfile.{yml,yaml}` .

This is useful to have automation that you can run from anywhere in your system!

::: info

When running your global Taskfile with `-g`, tasks will run on `$HOME` by
default, and not on your working directory!

As mentioned in the previous section, the
`{{.USER_WORKING_DIR}}` special variable can be very handy
here to run stuff on the directory you're calling `task -g` from.

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  from-home:
    cmds:
      - pwd

  from-working-directory:
    dir: '{{.USER_WORKING_DIR}}'
    cmds:
      - pwd
```

:::

### Reading a Taskfile from stdin

Taskfile also supports reading from stdin. This is useful if you are generating
Taskfiles dynamically and don't want write them to disk. To tell task to read
from stdin, you must specify the `-t/--taskfile` flag with the special `-`
value. You may then pipe into Task as you would any other program:

```shell
task -t - <(cat ./Taskfile.yml)
# OR
cat ./Taskfile.yml | task -t -
```

## Environment variables

### Task

You can use `env` to set custom environment variables for a specific task:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  greet:
    cmds:
      - echo $GREETING
    env:
      GREETING: Hey, there!
```

Additionally, you can set global environment variables that will be available to
all tasks:

```yaml
version: '3'

env:
  GREETING: Hey, there!

tasks:
  greet:
    cmds:
      - echo $GREETING
```

::: info

`env` supports expansion and retrieving output from a shell command just like
variables, as you can see in the [Variables](#variables) section.

:::

### .env files

You can also ask Task to include `.env` like files by using the `dotenv:`
setting:

::: code-group

```shell [.env]
KEYNAME=VALUE
```

```shell [testing/.env]
ENDPOINT=testing.com
```

:::

```yaml
version: '3'

env:
  ENV: testing

dotenv: ['.env', '{{.ENV}}/.env', '{{.HOME}}/.env']

tasks:
  greet:
    cmds:
      - echo "Using $KEYNAME and endpoint $ENDPOINT"
```

When the same variable is defined in multiple dotenv files, the **first file in
the list takes precedence**. This allows you to set up override patterns by
placing higher-priority files first:

```yaml
version: '3'

dotenv:
  - .env.local # Highest priority - local developer overrides
  - .env.{{.ENV}} # Environment-specific settings
  - .env # Base defaults (lowest priority)
```

Dotenv files can also be specified at the task level:

```yaml
version: '3'

env:
  ENV: testing

tasks:
  greet:
    dotenv: ['.env', '{{.ENV}}/.env', '{{.HOME}}/.env']
    cmds:
      - echo "Using $KEYNAME and endpoint $ENDPOINT"
```

Environment variables specified explicitly at the task-level will override
variables defined in dotfiles:

```yaml
version: '3'

env:
  ENV: testing

tasks:
  greet:
    dotenv: ['.env', '{{.ENV}}/.env', '{{.HOME}}/.env']
    env:
      KEYNAME: DIFFERENT_VALUE
    cmds:
      - echo "Using $KEYNAME and endpoint $ENDPOINT"
```

::: info

Please note that you are not currently able to use the `dotenv` key inside
included Taskfiles.

:::

## Including other Taskfiles

If you want to share tasks between different projects (Taskfiles), you can use
the importing mechanism to include other Taskfiles using the `includes` keyword:

```yaml
version: '3'

includes:
  docs: ./documentation # will look for ./documentation/Taskfile.yml
  docker: ./DockerTasks.yml
```

The tasks described in the given Taskfiles will be available with the informed
namespace. So, you'd call `task docs:serve` to run the `serve` task from
`documentation/Taskfile.yml` or `task docker:build` to run the `build` task from
the `DockerTasks.yml` file.

Relative paths are resolved relative to the directory containing the including
Taskfile.

### OS-specific Taskfiles

You can include OS-specific Taskfiles by using a templating function:

```yaml
version: '3'

includes:
  build: ./Taskfile_{{OS}}.yml
```

### Directory of included Taskfile

By default, included Taskfile's tasks are run in the current directory, even if
the Taskfile is in another directory, but you can force its tasks to run in
another directory by using this alternative syntax:

```yaml
version: '3'

includes:
  docs:
    taskfile: ./docs/Taskfile.yml
    dir: ./docs
```

::: info

The included Taskfiles must be using the same schema version as the main
Taskfile uses.

:::

### Optional includes

Includes marked as optional will allow Task to continue execution as normal if
the included file is missing.

```yaml
version: '3'

includes:
  tests:
    taskfile: ./tests/Taskfile.yml
    optional: true

tasks:
  greet:
    cmds:
      - echo "This command can still be successfully executed if
        ./tests/Taskfile.yml does not exist"
```

### Internal includes

Includes marked as internal will set all the tasks of the included file to be
internal as well (see the [Internal tasks](#internal-tasks) section below). This
is useful when including utility tasks that are not intended to be used directly
by the user.

```yaml
version: '3'

includes:
  tests:
    taskfile: ./taskfiles/Utils.yml
    internal: true
```

### Flatten includes

You can flatten the included Taskfile tasks into the main Taskfile by using the
`flatten` option. It means that the included Taskfile tasks will be available
without the namespace.

::: code-group

```yaml [Taskfile.yml]
version: '3'

includes:
  lib:
    taskfile: ./Included.yml
    flatten: true

tasks:
  greet:
    cmds:
      - echo "Greet"
      - task: foo
```

```yaml [Included.yml]
version: '3'

tasks:
  foo:
    cmds:
      - echo "Foo"
```

:::

If you run `task -a` it will print :

```sh
task: Available tasks for this project:
* greet:
* foo
```

You can run `task foo` directly without the namespace.

You can also reference the task in other tasks without the namespace. So if you
run `task greet` it will run `greet` and `foo` tasks and the output will be :

```text
Greet
Foo
```

If multiple tasks have the same name, an error will be thrown:

::: code-group

```yaml [Taskfile.yml]
version: '3'
includes:
  lib:
    taskfile: ./Included.yml
    flatten: true

tasks:
  greet:
    cmds:
      - echo "Greet"
      - task: foo
```

```yaml [Included.yml]
version: '3'

tasks:
  greet:
    cmds:
      - echo "Foo"
```

:::

If you run `task -a` it will print:

```text
task: Found multiple tasks (greet) included by "lib"
```

If the included Taskfile has a task with the same name as a task in the main
Taskfile, you may want to exclude it from the flattened tasks.

You can do this by using the
[`excludes` option](#exclude-tasks-from-being-included).

### Exclude tasks from being included

You can exclude tasks from being included by using the `excludes` option. This
option takes the list of tasks to be excluded from this include.

::: code-group

```yaml [Taskfile.yml]
version: '3'

includes:
  included:
    taskfile: ./Included.yml
    excludes: [foo]
```

```yaml [Included.yml]
version: '3'

tasks:
  foo: echo "Foo"
  bar: echo "Bar"
```

:::

`task included:foo` will throw an error because the `foo` task is excluded but
`task included:bar` will work and display `Bar`.

It's compatible with the `flatten` option.

### Vars of included Taskfiles

You can also specify variables when including a Taskfile. This may be useful for
having a reusable Taskfile that can be tweaked or even included more than once:

```yaml
version: '3'

includes:
  backend:
    taskfile: ./taskfiles/Docker.yml
    vars:
      DOCKER_IMAGE: backend_image

  frontend:
    taskfile: ./taskfiles/Docker.yml
    vars:
      DOCKER_IMAGE: frontend_image
```

### Namespace aliases

When including a Taskfile, you can give the namespace a list of `aliases`. This
works in the same way as [task aliases](#task-aliases) and can be used together
to create shorter and easier-to-type commands.

```yaml
version: '3'

includes:
  generate:
    taskfile: ./taskfiles/Generate.yml
    aliases: [gen]
```

::: info

Vars declared in the included Taskfile have preference over the variables in the
including Taskfile! If you want a variable in an included Taskfile to be
overridable, use the
[default function](https://sprig.taskfile.dev/defaults.html):
`MY_VAR: '{{.MY_VAR | default "my-default-value"}}'`.

:::

## Internal tasks

Internal tasks are tasks that cannot be called directly by the user. They will
not appear in the output when running `task --list|--list-all`. Other tasks may
call internal tasks in the usual way. This is useful for creating reusable,
function-like tasks that have no useful purpose on the command line.

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  build-image-1:
    cmds:
      - task: build-image
        vars:
          DOCKER_IMAGE: image-1

  build-image:
    internal: true
    cmds:
      - docker build -t {{.DOCKER_IMAGE}} .
```

## Task directory

By default, tasks will be executed in the directory where the Taskfile is
located. But you can easily make the task run in another folder, informing
`dir`:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  serve:
    dir: public/www
    cmds:
      # run http server
      - caddy
```

If the directory does not exist, `task` creates it.

## Task dependencies

> Dependencies run in parallel, so dependencies of a task should not depend one
> another. If you want to force tasks to run serially, take a look at the
> [Calling Another Task](#calling-another-task) section below.

You may have tasks that depend on others. Just pointing them on `deps` will make
them run automatically before running the parent task:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  build:
    deps: [assets]
    cmds:
      - go build -v -i main.go

  assets:
    cmds:
      - esbuild --bundle --minify css/index.css > public/bundle.css
```

In the above example, `assets` will always run right before `build` if you run
`task build`.

A task can have only dependencies and no commands to group tasks together:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  assets:
    deps: [js, css]

  js:
    cmds:
      - esbuild --bundle --minify js/index.js > public/bundle.js

  css:
    cmds:
      - esbuild --bundle --minify css/index.css > public/bundle.css
```

If there is more than one dependency, they always run in parallel for better
performance.

::: tip

You can also make the tasks given by the command line run in parallel by using
the `--parallel` flag (alias `-p`). Example: `task --parallel js css`.

:::

If you want to pass information to dependencies, you can do that the same manner
as you would to [call another task](#calling-another-task):

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    deps:
      - task: echo_sth
        vars: { TEXT: 'before 1' }
      - task: echo_sth
        vars: { TEXT: 'before 2' }
        silent: true
    cmds:
      - echo "after"

  echo_sth:
    cmds:
      - echo {{.TEXT}}
```

### Fail-fast dependencies

By default, Task waits for all dependencies to finish running before continuing.
If you want Task to stop executing further dependencies as soon as one fails,
you can set `failfast: true` on your [`.taskrc.yml`][config] or for a specific
task:

```yaml
# .taskrc.yml
failfast: true # applies to all tasks
```

```yaml
# Taskfile.yml
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    deps: [task1, task2, task3]
    failfast: true # applies only to this task
```

Alternatively, you can use `--failfast`, which also work for `--parallel`.

## Platform specific tasks and commands

If you want to restrict the running of tasks to explicit platforms, this can be
achieved using the `platforms:` key. Tasks can be restricted to a specific OS,
architecture or a combination of both. On a mismatch, the task or command will
be skipped, and no error will be thrown.

The values allowed as OS or Arch are valid `GOOS` and `GOARCH` values, as
defined by the Go language
[here](https://github.com/golang/go/blob/master/src/internal/syslist/syslist.go).

The `build-windows` task below will run only on Windows, and on any
architecture:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  build-windows:
    platforms: [windows]
    cmds:
      - echo 'Running command on Windows'
```

This can be restricted to a specific architecture as follows:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  build-windows-amd64:
    platforms: [windows/amd64]
    cmds:
      - echo 'Running command on Windows (amd64)'
```

It is also possible to restrict the task to specific architectures:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  build-amd64:
    platforms: [amd64]
    cmds:
      - echo 'Running command on amd64'
```

Multiple platforms can be specified as follows:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  build:
    platforms: [windows/amd64, darwin]
    cmds:
      - echo 'Running command on Windows (amd64) and macOS'
```

Individual commands can also be restricted to specific platforms:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  build:
    cmds:
      - cmd: echo 'Running command on Windows (amd64) and macOS'
        platforms: [windows/amd64, darwin]
      - cmd: echo 'Running on all platforms'
```

## Calling another task

When a task has many dependencies, they are executed concurrently. This will
often result in a faster build pipeline. However, in some situations, you may
need to call other tasks serially. In this case, use the following syntax:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  main-task:
    cmds:
      - task: task-to-be-called
      - task: another-task
      - echo "Both done"

  task-to-be-called:
    cmds:
      - echo "Task to be called"

  another-task:
    cmds:
      - echo "Another task"
```

Using the `vars` and `silent` attributes you can choose to pass variables and
toggle [silent mode](#silent-mode) on a call-by-call basis:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  greet:
    vars:
      RECIPIENT: '{{default "World" .RECIPIENT}}'
    cmds:
      - echo "Hello, {{.RECIPIENT}}!"

  greet-pessimistically:
    cmds:
      - task: greet
        vars: { RECIPIENT: 'Cruel World' }
        silent: true
```

The above syntax is also supported in `deps`.

::: tip

NOTE: If you want to call a task declared in the root Taskfile from within an
[included Taskfile](#including-other-taskfiles), add a leading `:` like this:
`task: :task-name`.

:::

## Prevent unnecessary work

### By fingerprinting locally generated files and their sources

If a task generates something, you can inform Task the source and generated
files, so Task will prevent running them if not necessary.

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  build:
    deps: [js, css]
    cmds:
      - go build -v -i main.go

  js:
    cmds:
      - esbuild --bundle --minify js/index.js > public/bundle.js
    sources:
      - src/js/**/*.js
    generates:
      - public/bundle.js

  css:
    cmds:
      - esbuild --bundle --minify css/index.css > public/bundle.css
    sources:
      - src/css/**/*.css
    generates:
      - public/bundle.css
```

`sources` and `generates` can be files or glob patterns. When given, Task will
compare the checksum of the source files to determine if it's necessary to run
the task. If not, it will just print a message like `Task "js" is up to date`.

`exclude:` can also be used to exclude files from fingerprinting. Sources are
evaluated in order, so `exclude:` must come after the positive glob it is
negating.

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  css:
    sources:
      - mysources/**/*.css
      - exclude: mysources/ignoreme.css
    generates:
      - public/bundle.css
```

If you prefer these check to be made by the modification timestamp of the files,
instead of its checksum (content), just set the `method` property to
`timestamp`. This can be done at two levels:

At the task level for a specific task:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  build:
    cmds:
      - go build .
    sources:
      - ./*.go
    generates:
      - app{{exeExt}}
    method: timestamp
```

At the root level of the Taskfile to apply it globally to all tasks:

```yaml
version: '3'

method: timestamp # Will be the default for all tasks

tasks:
  build:
    cmds:
      - go build .
    sources:
      - ./*.go
    generates:
      - app{{exeExt}}
```

In situations where you need more flexibility the `status` keyword can be used.
You can even combine the two. See the documentation for
[status](#using-programmatic-checks-to-indicate-a-task-is-up-to-date) for an
example.

::: info

By default, task stores checksums on a local `.task` directory in the project's
directory. Most of the time, you'll want to have this directory on `.gitignore`
(or equivalent) so it isn't committed. (If you have a task for code generation
that is committed it may make sense to commit the checksum of that task as well,
though).

If you want these files to be stored in another directory, you can set a
`TASK_TEMP_DIR` environment variable in your machine. It can contain a relative
path like `tmp/task` that will be interpreted as relative to the project
directory, or an absolute or home path like `/tmp/.task` or `~/.task`
(subdirectories will be created for each project).

```shell
export TASK_TEMP_DIR='~/.task'
```

:::

::: info

Each task has only one checksum stored for its `sources`. If you want to
distinguish a task by any of its input variables, you can add those variables as
part of the task's label, and it will be considered a different task.

This is useful if you want to run a task once for each distinct set of inputs
until the sources actually change. For example, if the sources depend on the
value of a variable, or you if you want the task to rerun if some arguments
change even if the source has not.

:::

::: tip

The method `none` skips any validation and always runs the task.

:::

::: info

For the `checksum` (default) or `timestamp` method to work, it is only necessary
to inform the source files. When the `timestamp` method is used, the last time
of the running the task is considered as a generate.

:::

### Using programmatic checks to indicate a task is up to date

Alternatively, you can inform a sequence of tests as `status`. If no error is
returned (exit status 0), the task is considered up-to-date:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  generate-files:
    cmds:
      - mkdir directory
      - touch directory/file1.txt
      - touch directory/file2.txt
    # test existence of files
    status:
      - test -d directory
      - test -f directory/file1.txt
      - test -f directory/file2.txt
```

Normally, you would use `sources` in combination with `generates` - but for
tasks that generate remote artifacts (Docker images, deploys, CD releases) the
checksum source and timestamps require either access to the artifact or for an
out-of-band refresh of the `.checksum` fingerprint file.

Two special variables `{{.CHECKSUM}}` and
`{{.TIMESTAMP}}` are available for interpolation within
`cmds` and `status` commands, depending on the method assigned to fingerprint
the sources. Only `source` globs are fingerprinted.

Note that the `{{.TIMESTAMP}}` variable is a "live" Go
`time.Time` struct, and can be formatted using any of the methods that
`time.Time` responds to.

See [the Go Time documentation](https://golang.org/pkg/time/) for more
information.

You can use `--force` or `-f` if you want to force a task to run even when
up-to-date.

Also, `task --status [tasks]...` will exit with a non-zero
[exit code](/docs/reference/cli#exit-codes) if any of the tasks are not up-to-date.

`status` can be combined with the
[fingerprinting](#by-fingerprinting-locally-generated-files-and-their-sources)
to have a task run if either the the source/generated artifacts changes, or the
programmatic check fails:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  build:prod:
    desc: Build for production usage.
    cmds:
      - composer install
    # Run this task if source files changes.
    sources:
      - composer.json
      - composer.lock
    generates:
      - ./vendor/composer/installed.json
      - ./vendor/autoload.php
    # But also run the task if the last build was not a production build.
    status:
      - grep -q '"dev"{{:}} false' ./vendor/composer/installed.json
```

### Using programmatic checks to cancel the execution of a task and its dependencies

In addition to `status` checks, `preconditions` checks are the logical inverse
of `status` checks. That is, if you need a certain set of conditions to be
*true* you can use the `preconditions` stanza. `preconditions` are similar to
`status` lines, except they support `sh` expansion, and they SHOULD all
return 0.

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  generate-files:
    cmds:
      - mkdir directory
      - touch directory/file1.txt
      - touch directory/file2.txt
    # test existence of files
    preconditions:
      - test -f .env
      - sh: '[ 1 = 0 ]'
        msg: "One doesn't equal Zero, Halting"
```

Preconditions can set specific failure messages that can tell a user what steps
to take using the `msg` field.

If a task has a dependency on a sub-task with a precondition, and that
precondition is not met - the calling task will fail. Note that a task executed
with a failing precondition will not run unless `--force` is given.

Unlike `status`, which will skip a task if it is up to date and continue
executing tasks that depend on it, a `precondition` will fail a task, along with
any other tasks that depend on it.

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  task-will-fail:
    preconditions:
      - sh: 'exit 1'

  task-will-also-fail:
    deps:
      - task-will-fail

  task-will-still-fail:
    cmds:
      - task: task-will-fail
      - echo "I will not run"
```

### Conditional execution with `if`

The `if` attribute allows you to conditionally skip tasks or commands based on a
shell command's exit code. Unlike `preconditions` which fail and stop execution,
`if` simply skips the task or command when the condition is not met and continues
with the rest of the Taskfile.

#### Task-level `if`

When `if` is set on a task, the entire task is skipped if the condition fails:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  deploy:
    if: '[ "$CI" = "true" ]'
    cmds:
      - echo "Deploying..."
      - ./deploy.sh
```

#### Command-level `if`

When `if` is set on a command, only that specific command is skipped:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  build:
    cmds:
      - cmd: echo "Building for production"
        if: '[ "$ENV" = "production" ]'
      - cmd: echo "Building for development"
        if: '[ "$ENV" = "development" ]'
      - go build ./...
```

#### Using templates in `if` conditions

You can use Go template expressions in `if` conditions. Template expressions like
`{{eq .VAR "value"}}` evaluate to `true` or `false`, which are valid shell
commands (`true` exits with 0, `false` exits with 1):

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  conditional:
    vars:
      ENABLE_FEATURE: "true"
    cmds:
      - cmd: echo "Feature is enabled"
        if: '{{eq .ENABLE_FEATURE "true"}}'
      - cmd: echo "Feature is disabled"
        if: '{{ne .ENABLE_FEATURE "true"}}'
```

#### Using `if` with `for` loops

When used inside a `for` loop, the `if` condition is evaluated for each iteration:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  process-items:
    cmds:
      - for: ['a', 'b', 'c']
        cmd: echo "processing {{.ITEM}}"
        if: '[ "{{.ITEM}}" != "b" ]'
```

This will output:

```
processing a
processing c
```

#### `if` vs `preconditions`

| Aspect | `if` | `preconditions` |
|--------|------|-----------------|
| On failure | Skips (continues) | Fails (stops) |
| Message | Only in verbose mode | Always shown |
| Use case | "Run if possible" | "Must be true" |

Use `if` when you want optional conditional execution that shouldn't stop the
workflow. Use `preconditions` when the condition must be met for the task to
make sense.

### Limiting when tasks run

If a task executed by multiple `cmds` or multiple `deps` you can control when it
is executed using `run`. `run` can also be set at the root of the Taskfile to
change the behavior of all the tasks unless explicitly overridden.

Supported values for `run`:

* `always` (default) always attempt to invoke the task regardless of the number
  of previous executions
* `once` only invoke this task once regardless of the number of references
* `when_changed` only invokes the task once for each unique set of variables
  passed into the task

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    cmds:
      - task: generate-file
        vars: { CONTENT: '1' }
      - task: generate-file
        vars: { CONTENT: '2' }
      - task: generate-file
        vars: { CONTENT: '2' }

  generate-file:
    run: when_changed
    deps:
      - install-deps
    cmds:
      - echo {{.CONTENT}}

  install-deps:
    run: once
    cmds:
      - sleep 5 # long operation like installing packages
```

### Ensuring required variables are set

If you want to check that certain variables are set before running a task then
you can use `requires`. This is useful when might not be clear to users which
variables are needed, or if you want clear message about what is required. Also
some tasks could have dangerous side effects if run with un-set variables.

Using `requires` you specify an array of strings in the `vars` sub-section under
`requires`, these strings are variable names which are checked prior to running
the task. If any variables are un-set then the task will error and not run.

Environmental variables are also checked.

Syntax:

```yaml
requires:
  vars: [] # Array of strings
```

::: info

Variables set to empty zero length strings, will pass the `requires` check.

:::

Example of using `requires`:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  docker-build:
    cmds:
      - 'docker build . -t {{.IMAGE_NAME}}:{{.IMAGE_TAG}}'

    # Make sure these variables are set before running
    requires:
      vars: [IMAGE_NAME, IMAGE_TAG]
```

### Ensuring required variables have allowed values

If you want to ensure that a variable is set to one of a predefined set of valid
values before executing a task, you can use requires. This is particularly
useful when there are strict requirements for what values a variable can take,
and you want to provide clear feedback to the user when an invalid value is
detected.

To use `requires`, you specify an array of allowed values in the vars
sub-section under requires. Task will check if the variable is set to one of the
allowed values. If the variable does not match any of these values, the task
will raise an error and stop execution.

This check applies both to user-defined variables and environment variables.

Example of using `requires`:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  deploy:
    cmds:
      - echo "deploying to {{.ENV}}"

    requires:
      vars:
        - name: ENV
          enum: [dev, beta, prod]
```

If `ENV` is not one of 'dev', 'beta' or 'prod' an error will be raised.

::: info

This is supported only for string variables.

:::

### Prompting for missing variables interactively

If you want Task to prompt users for missing required variables instead of
failing, you can enable interactive mode in your `.taskrc.yml`:

```yaml
# ~/.taskrc.yml
interactive: true
```

When enabled, Task will display an interactive prompt for any missing required
variable. For variables with an `enum`, a selection menu is shown. For variables
without an enum, a text input is displayed.

```yaml
# Taskfile.yml
version: '3'

tasks:
  deploy:
    requires:
      vars:
        - name: ENVIRONMENT
          enum: [dev, staging, prod]
        - VERSION
    cmds:
      - echo "Deploying {{.VERSION}} to {{.ENVIRONMENT}}"
```

```shell
$ task deploy
? Select value for ENVIRONMENT:
❯ dev
  staging
  prod
? Enter value for VERSION: 1.0.0
Deploying 1.0.0 to prod
```

If the variable is already set (via CLI, environment, or Taskfile), no prompt
is shown:

```shell
$ task deploy ENVIRONMENT=prod VERSION=1.0.0
Deploying 1.0.0 to prod
```

::: info

Interactive prompts require a TTY (terminal). Task automatically detects
non-interactive environments like GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, and other CI
pipelines where stdin/stdout are not connected to a terminal. In these cases,
prompts are skipped and missing variables will cause an error as usual.

You can enable prompts from the command line with `--interactive` or by setting
`interactive: true` in your `.taskrc.yml`.

:::

## Variables

Task allows you to set variables using the `vars` keyword. The following
variable types are supported:

* `string`
* `bool`
* `int`
* `float`
* `array`
* `map`

::: info

Defining a map requires that you use a special `map` subkey (see example below).

:::

```yaml
version: 3

tasks:
  foo:
    vars:
      STRING: 'Hello, World!'
      BOOL: true
      INT: 42
      FLOAT: 3.14
      ARRAY: [1, 2, 3]
      MAP:
        map: { A: 1, B: 2, C: 3 }
    cmds:
      - 'echo {{.STRING}}' # Hello, World!
      - 'echo {{.BOOL}}' # true
      - 'echo {{.INT}}' # 42
      - 'echo {{.FLOAT}}' # 3.14
      - 'echo {{.ARRAY}}' # [1 2 3]
      - 'echo {{index .ARRAY 0}}' # 1
      - 'echo {{.MAP}}' # map[A:1 B:2 C:3]
      - 'echo {{.MAP.A}}' # 1
```

Variables can be set in many places in a Taskfile. When executing
[templates][templating-reference], Task will look for variables in the order
listed below (most important first):

* Variables declared in the task definition
* Variables given while calling a task from another (See
  [Calling another task](#calling-another-task) above)
* Variables of the [included Taskfile](#including-other-taskfiles) (when the
  task is included)
* Variables of the [inclusion of the Taskfile](#vars-of-included-taskfiles)
  (when the task is included)
* Global variables (those declared in the `vars:` option in the Taskfile)
* Environment variables

Example of sending parameters with environment variables:

```shell
$ TASK_VARIABLE=a-value task do-something
```

::: tip

A special variable `.TASK` is always available containing the task name.

:::

Since some shells do not support the above syntax to set environment variables
(Windows) tasks also accept a similar style when not at the beginning of the
command.

```shell
$ task write-file FILE=file.txt "CONTENT=Hello, World!" print "MESSAGE=All done!"
```

Example of locally declared vars:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  print-var:
    cmds:
      - echo "{{.VAR}}"
    vars:
      VAR: Hello!
```

Example of global vars in a `Taskfile.yml`:

```yaml
version: '3'

vars:
  GREETING: Hello from Taskfile!

tasks:
  greet:
    cmds:
      - echo "{{.GREETING}}"
```

Example of a `default` value to be overridden from CLI:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  greet_user:
    desc: 'Greet the user with a name.'
    vars:
      USER_NAME: '{{.USER_NAME| default "DefaultUser"}}'
    cmds:
      - echo "Hello, {{.USER_NAME}}!"
```

```shell
$ task greet_user
task: [greet_user] echo "Hello, DefaultUser!"
Hello, DefaultUser!
$ task greet_user USER_NAME="Bob"
task: [greet_user] echo "Hello, Bob!"
Hello, Bob!
```

### Dynamic variables

The below syntax (`sh:` prop in a variable) is considered a dynamic variable.
The value will be treated as a command and the output assigned. If there are one
or more trailing newlines, the last newline will be trimmed.

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  build:
    cmds:
      - go build -ldflags="-X main.Version={{.GIT_COMMIT}}" main.go
    vars:
      GIT_COMMIT:
        sh: git log -n 1 --format=%h
```

This works for all types of variables.

### Referencing other variables

Templating is great for referencing string values if you want to pass a value
from one task to another. However, the templating engine is only able to output
strings. If you want to pass something other than a string to another task then
you will need to use a reference (`ref`) instead.

::: code-group

```yaml [Templating Engine]
version: 3

tasks:
  foo:
    vars:
      FOO: [A, B, C] # <-- FOO is defined as an array
    cmds:
      - task: bar
        vars:
          FOO: '{{.FOO}}' # <-- FOO gets converted to a string when passed to bar
  bar:
    cmds:
      - 'echo {{index .FOO 0}}' # <-- FOO is a string so the task outputs '91' which is the ASCII code for '[' instead of the expected 'A'
```

```yaml [Reference]
version: 3

tasks:
  foo:
    vars:
      FOO: [A, B, C] # <-- FOO is defined as an array
    cmds:
      - task: bar
        vars:
          FOO:
            ref: .FOO # <-- FOO gets passed by reference to bar and maintains its type
  bar:
    cmds:
      - 'echo {{index .FOO 0}}' # <-- FOO is still a map so the task outputs 'A' as expected
```

:::

This also works the same way when calling `deps` and when defining a variable
and can be used in any combination:

```yaml
version: 3

tasks:
  foo:
    vars:
      FOO: [A, B, C] # <-- FOO is defined as an array
      BAR:
        ref: .FOO # <-- BAR is defined as a reference to FOO
    deps:
      - task: bar
        vars:
          BAR:
            ref: .BAR # <-- BAR gets passed by reference to bar and maintains its type
  bar:
    cmds:
      - 'echo {{index .BAR 0}}' # <-- BAR still refers to FOO so the task outputs 'A'
```

All references use the same templating syntax as regular templates, so in
addition to calling `.FOO`, you can also pass subkeys (`.FOO.BAR`) or indexes
(`index .FOO 0`) and use functions (`len .FOO`) as described in the
[templating-reference][templating-reference]:

```yaml
version: 3

tasks:
  foo:
    vars:
      FOO: [A, B, C] # <-- FOO is defined as an array
    cmds:
      - task: bar
        vars:
          FOO:
            ref: index .FOO 0 # <-- The element at index 0 is passed by reference to bar
  bar:
    cmds:
      - 'echo {{.FOO}}' # <-- FOO is just the letter 'A'
```

### Parsing JSON/YAML into map variables

If you have a raw JSON or YAML string that you want to process in Task, you can
use a combination of the `ref` keyword and the `fromJson` or `fromYaml`
templating functions to parse the string into a map variable. For example:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  task-with-map:
    vars:
      JSON: '{"a": 1, "b": 2, "c": 3}'
      FOO:
        ref: 'fromJson .JSON'
    cmds:
      - echo {{.FOO}}
```

```txt
map[a:1 b:2 c:3]
```

## Looping over values

Task allows you to loop over certain values and execute a command for each.
There are a number of ways to do this depending on the type of value you want to
loop over.

### Looping over a static list

The simplest kind of loop is an explicit one. This is useful when you want to
loop over a set of values that are known ahead of time.

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    cmds:
      - for: ['foo.txt', 'bar.txt']
        cmd: cat {{ .ITEM }}
```

### Looping over a matrix

If you need to loop over all permutations of multiple lists, you can use the
`matrix` property. This should be familiar to anyone who has used a matrix in a
CI/CD pipeline.

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    silent: true
    cmds:
      - for:
          matrix:
            OS: ['windows', 'linux', 'darwin']
            ARCH: ['amd64', 'arm64']
        cmd:
          echo "{{.ITEM.OS}}/{{.ITEM.ARCH}}"
```

This will output:

```txt
windows/amd64
windows/arm64
linux/amd64
linux/arm64
darwin/amd64
darwin/arm64
```

You can also use references to other variables as long as they are also lists:

```yaml
version: '3'

vars:
  OS_VAR: ['windows', 'linux', 'darwin']
  ARCH_VAR: ['amd64', 'arm64']

tasks:
  default:
    cmds:
      - for:
          matrix:
            OS:
              ref: .OS_VAR
            ARCH:
              ref: .ARCH_VAR
        cmd:
          echo "{{.ITEM.OS}}/{{.ITEM.ARCH}}"
```

### Looping over your task's sources or generated files

You are also able to loop over the sources of your task or the files it
generates:

::: code-group

```yaml [Sources]
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    sources:
      - foo.txt
      - bar.txt
    cmds:
      - for: sources
        cmd: cat {{ .ITEM }}
```

```yaml [Generates]
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    generates:
      - foo.txt
      - bar.txt
    cmds:
      - for: generates
        cmd: cat {{ .ITEM }}
```

:::

This will also work if you use globbing syntax in `sources` or `generates`. For
example, if you specify a source for `*.txt`, the loop will iterate over all
files that match that glob.

Paths will always be returned as paths relative to the task directory. If you
need to convert this to an absolute path, you can use the built-in `joinPath`
function. There are some
[special variables](/docs/reference/templating#special-variables) that you may find
useful for this.

::: code-group

```yaml [Sources]
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    vars:
      MY_DIR: /path/to/dir
    dir: '{{.MY_DIR}}'
    sources:
      - foo.txt
      - bar.txt
    cmds:
      - for: sources
        cmd: cat {{joinPath .MY_DIR .ITEM}}
```

```yaml [Generates]
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    vars:
      MY_DIR: /path/to/dir
    dir: '{{.MY_DIR}}'
    generates:
      - foo.txt
      - bar.txt
    cmds:
      - for: generates
        cmd: cat {{joinPath .MY_DIR .ITEM}}
```

:::

### Looping over variables

To loop over the contents of a variable, use the `var` key followed by the name
of the variable you want to loop over. By default, string variables will be
split on any whitespace characters.

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    vars:
      MY_VAR: foo.txt bar.txt
    cmds:
      - for: { var: MY_VAR }
        cmd: cat {{.ITEM}}
```

If you need to split a string on a different character, you can do this by
specifying the `split` property:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    vars:
      MY_VAR: foo.txt,bar.txt
    cmds:
      - for: { var: MY_VAR, split: ',' }
        cmd: cat {{.ITEM}}
```

You can also loop over arrays and maps directly:

```yaml
version: 3

tasks:
  foo:
    vars:
      LIST: [foo, bar, baz]
    cmds:
      - for:
          var: LIST
        cmd: echo {{.ITEM}}
```

When looping over a map we also make an additional `{{.KEY}}`
variable available that holds the string value of the map key. Remember that
maps are unordered, so the order in which the items are looped over is random.

All of this also works with dynamic variables!

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    vars:
      MY_VAR:
        sh: find -type f -name '*.txt'
    cmds:
      - for: { var: MY_VAR }
        cmd: cat {{.ITEM}}
```

### Renaming variables

If you want to rename the iterator variable to make it clearer what the value
contains, you can do so by specifying the `as` property:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    vars:
      MY_VAR: foo.txt bar.txt
    cmds:
      - for: { var: MY_VAR, as: FILE }
        cmd: cat {{.FILE}}
```

### Looping over tasks

Because the `for` property is defined at the `cmds` level, you can also use it
alongside the `task` keyword to run tasks multiple times with different
variables.

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    cmds:
      - for: [foo, bar]
        task: my-task
        vars:
          FILE: '{{.ITEM}}'

  my-task:
    cmds:
      - echo '{{.FILE}}'
```

Or if you want to run different tasks depending on the value of the loop:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    cmds:
      - for: [foo, bar]
        task: task-{{.ITEM}}

  task-foo:
    cmds:
      - echo 'foo'

  task-bar:
    cmds:
      - echo 'bar'
```

### Looping over dependencies

All of the above looping techniques can also be applied to the `deps` property.
This allows you to combine loops with concurrency:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    deps:
      - for: [foo, bar]
        task: my-task
        vars:
          FILE: '{{.ITEM}}'

  my-task:
    cmds:
      - echo '{{.FILE}}'
```

It is important to note that as `deps` are run in parallel, the order in which
the iterations are run is not guaranteed and the output may vary. For example,
the output of the above example may be either:

```shell
foo
bar
```

or

```shell
bar
foo
```

## Forwarding CLI arguments to commands

If `--` is given in the CLI, all following parameters are added to a special
`.CLI_ARGS` variable. This is useful to forward arguments to another command.

The below example will run `yarn install`.

```shell
$ task yarn -- install
```

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  yarn:
    cmds:
      - yarn {{.CLI_ARGS}}
```

## Wildcard arguments

Another way to parse arguments into a task is to use a wildcard in your task's
name. Wildcards are denoted by an asterisk (`*`) and can be used multiple times
in a task's name to pass in multiple arguments.

Matching arguments will be captured and stored in the `.MATCH` variable and can
then be used in your task's commands like any other variable. This variable is
an array of strings and so will need to be indexed to access the individual
arguments. We suggest creating a named variable for each argument to make it
clear what they contain:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  start:*:*:
    vars:
      SERVICE: '{{index .MATCH 0}}'
      REPLICAS: '{{index .MATCH 1}}'
    cmds:
      - echo "Starting {{.SERVICE}} with {{.REPLICAS}} replicas"

  start:*:
    vars:
      SERVICE: '{{index .MATCH 0}}'
    cmds:
      - echo "Starting {{.SERVICE}}"
```

This call matches the `start:*` task and the string "foo" is captured by the
wildcard and stored in the `.MATCH` variable. We then index the `.MATCH` array
and store the result in the `.SERVICE` variable which is then echoed out in the
cmds:

```shell
$ task start:foo
Starting foo
```

You can use whitespace in your arguments as long as you quote the task name:

```shell
$ task "start:foo bar"
Starting foo bar
```

If multiple matching tasks are found, the first one listed in the Taskfile will
be used. If you are using included Taskfiles, tasks in parent files will be
considered first.

```shell
$ task start:foo:3
Starting foo with 3 replicas
```

Using wildcards with aliases
Wildcards also work with aliases. If a task has an alias, you can use the alias name with wildcards to capture arguments. For example:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  start:*:
    aliases: [run:*]
    vars:
      SERVICE: "{{index .MATCH 0}}"
    cmds:
      - echo "Running {{.SERVICE}}"
```

In this example, you can call the task using the alias run:\*:

```shell
$ task run:foo
Running foo
```

## Doing task cleanup with `defer`

With the `defer` keyword, it's possible to schedule cleanup to be run once the
task finishes. The difference with just putting it as the last command is that
this command will run even when the task fails.

In the example below, `rm -rf tmpdir/` will run even if the third command fails:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    cmds:
      - mkdir -p tmpdir/
      - defer: rm -rf tmpdir/
      - echo 'Do work on tmpdir/'
```

If you want to move the cleanup command into another task, that is possible as
well:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    cmds:
      - mkdir -p tmpdir/
      - defer: { task: cleanup }
      - echo 'Do work on tmpdir/'

  cleanup: rm -rf tmpdir/
```

::: info

Due to the nature of how the
[Go's own `defer` work](https://go.dev/tour/flowcontrol/13), the deferred
commands are executed in the reverse order if you schedule multiple of them.

:::

A special variable `.EXIT_CODE` is exposed when a command exited with a non-zero
[exit code](/docs/reference/cli#exit-codes). You can check its presence to know if
the task completed successfully or not:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    cmds:
      - defer:
          echo '{{if .EXIT_CODE}}Failed with {{.EXIT_CODE}}!{{else}}Success!{{end}}'
      - exit 1
```

## Help

Running `task --list` (or `task -l`) lists all tasks with a description. The
following Taskfile:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  build:
    desc: Build the go binary.
    cmds:
      - go build -v -i main.go

  test:
    desc: Run all the go tests.
    cmds:
      - go test -race ./...

  js:
    cmds:
      - esbuild --bundle --minify js/index.js > public/bundle.js

  css:
    cmds:
      - esbuild --bundle --minify css/index.css > public/bundle.css
```

would print the following output:

```shell
* build:   Build the go binary.
* test:    Run all the go tests.
```

If you want to see all tasks, there's a `--list-all` (alias `-a`) flag as well.

## Display summary of task

Running `task --summary task-name` will show a summary of a task. The following
Taskfile:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  release:
    deps: [build]
    summary: |
      Release your project to github

      It will build your project before starting the release.
      Please make sure that you have set GITHUB_TOKEN before starting.
    cmds:
      - your-release-tool

  build:
    cmds:
      - your-build-tool
```

with running `task --summary release` would print the following output:

```
task: release

Release your project to github

It will build your project before starting the release.
Please make sure that you have set GITHUB_TOKEN before starting.

dependencies:
 - build

commands:
 - your-release-tool
```

If a summary is missing, the description will be printed. If the task does not
have a summary or a description, a warning is printed.

Please note: *showing the summary will not execute the command*.

## Task aliases

Aliases are alternative names for tasks. They can be used to make it easier and
quicker to run tasks with long or hard-to-type names. You can use them on the
command line, when [calling sub-tasks](#calling-another-task) in your Taskfile
and when [including tasks](#including-other-taskfiles) with aliases from another
Taskfile. They can also be used together with
[namespace aliases](#namespace-aliases).

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  generate:
    aliases: [gen]
    cmds:
      - task: gen-mocks

  generate-mocks:
    aliases: [gen-mocks]
    cmds:
      - echo "generating..."
```

## Overriding task name

Sometimes you may want to override the task name printed on the summary,
up-to-date messages to STDOUT, etc. In this case, you can just set `label:`,
which can also be interpolated with variables:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    cmds:
      - task: print
        vars:
          MESSAGE: hello
      - task: print
        vars:
          MESSAGE: world

  print:
    label: 'print-{{.MESSAGE}}'
    cmds:
      - echo "{{.MESSAGE}}"
```

## Warning Prompts

Warning Prompts are used to prompt a user for confirmation before a task is
executed.

Below is an example using `prompt` with a dangerous command, that is called
between two safe commands:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  example:
    cmds:
      - task: not-dangerous
      - task: dangerous
      - task: another-not-dangerous

  not-dangerous:
    cmds:
      - echo 'not dangerous command'

  another-not-dangerous:
    cmds:
      - echo 'another not dangerous command'

  dangerous:
    prompt: This is a dangerous command... Do you want to continue?
    cmds:
      - echo 'dangerous command'
```

```shell
❯ task dangerous
task: "This is a dangerous command... Do you want to continue?" [y/N]
```

Prompts can be a single value or a list of prompts, like below:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  example:
    cmds:
      - task: dangerous

  dangerous:
    prompt:
      - This is a dangerous command... Do you want to continue?
      - Are you sure?
    cmds:
      - echo 'dangerous command'
```

Warning prompts are called before executing a task. If a prompt is denied Task
will exit with [exit code](/docs/reference/cli#exit-codes) 205. If approved, Task
will continue as normal.

```shell
❯ task example
not dangerous command
task: "This is a dangerous command. Do you want to continue?" [y/N]
y
dangerous command
another not dangerous command
```

To skip warning prompts automatically, you can use the `--yes` (alias `-y`)
option when calling the task. By including this option, all warnings, will be
automatically confirmed, and no prompts will be shown.

::: warning

Tasks with prompts always fail by default on non-terminal environments, like a
CI, where an `stdin` won't be available for the user to answer. In those cases,
use `--yes` (`-y`) to force all tasks with a prompt to run.

:::

## Silent mode

Silent mode disables the echoing of commands before Task runs it. For the
following Taskfile:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  echo:
    cmds:
      - echo "Print something"
```

Normally this will be printed:

```shell
echo "Print something"
Print something
```

With silent mode on, the below will be printed instead:

```shell
Print something
```

There are four ways to enable silent mode:

* At command level:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  echo:
    cmds:
      - cmd: echo "Print something"
        silent: true
```

* At task level:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  echo:
    cmds:
      - echo "Print something"
    silent: true
```

* Globally at Taskfile level:

```yaml
version: '3'

silent: true

tasks:
  echo:
    cmds:
      - echo "Print something"
```

* Or globally with `--silent` or `-s` flag

If you want to suppress STDOUT instead, just redirect a command to `/dev/null`:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  echo:
    cmds:
      - echo "This will print nothing" > /dev/null
```

## Dry run mode

Dry run mode (`--dry`) compiles and steps through each task, printing the
commands that would be run without executing them. This is useful for debugging
your Taskfiles.

## Ignore errors

You have the option to ignore errors during command execution. Given the
following Taskfile:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  echo:
    cmds:
      - exit 1
      - echo "Hello World"
```

Task will abort the execution after running `exit 1` because the status code `1`
stands for `EXIT_FAILURE`. However, it is possible to continue with execution
using `ignore_error`:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  echo:
    cmds:
      - cmd: exit 1
        ignore_error: true
      - echo "Hello World"
```

`ignore_error` can also be set for a task, which means errors will be suppressed
for all commands. Nevertheless, keep in mind that this option will not propagate
to other tasks called either by `deps` or `cmds`!

## Output syntax

By default, Task just redirects the STDOUT and STDERR of the running commands to
the shell in real-time. This is good for having live feedback for logging
printed by commands, but the output can become messy if you have multiple
commands running simultaneously and printing lots of stuff.

To make this more customizable, there are currently three different output
options you can choose:

* `interleaved` (default)
* `group`
* `prefixed`

To choose another one, just set it to root in the Taskfile:

```yaml
version: '3'

output: 'group'

tasks:
  # ...
```

The `group` output will print the entire output of a command once after it
finishes, so you will not have live feedback for commands that take a long time
to run.

When using the `group` output, you can optionally provide a templated message to
print at the start and end of the group. This can be useful for instructing CI
systems to group all of the output for a given task, such as with
[GitHub Actions' `::group::` command](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/learn-github-actions/workflow-commands-for-github-actions#grouping-log-lines)
or
[Azure Pipelines](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/scripts/logging-commands?expand=1\&view=azure-devops\&tabs=bash#formatting-commands).

```yaml
version: '3'

output:
  group:
    begin: '::group::{{.TASK}}'
    end: '::endgroup::'

tasks:
  default:
    cmds:
      - echo 'Hello, World!'
    silent: true
```

```shell
$ task default
::group::default
Hello, World!
::endgroup::
```

When using the `group` output, you may swallow the output of the executed
command on standard output and standard error if it does not fail (zero exit
code).

```yaml
version: '3'

silent: true

output:
  group:
    error_only: true

tasks:
  passes: echo 'output-of-passes'
  errors: echo 'output-of-errors' && exit 1
```

```shell
$ task passes
$ task errors
output-of-errors
task: Failed to run task "errors": exit status 1
```

The `prefix` output will prefix every line printed by a command with
`[task-name] ` as the prefix, but you can customize the prefix for a command
with the `prefix:` attribute:

```yaml
version: '3'

output: prefixed

tasks:
  default:
    deps:
      - task: print
        vars: { TEXT: foo }
      - task: print
        vars: { TEXT: bar }
      - task: print
        vars: { TEXT: baz }

  print:
    cmds:
      - echo "{{.TEXT}}"
    prefix: 'print-{{.TEXT}}'
    silent: true
```

```shell
$ task default
[print-foo] foo
[print-bar] bar
[print-baz] baz
```

::: tip

The `output` option can also be specified by the `--output` or `-o` flags.

:::

## CI Integration

### Colored output

Task automatically enables colored output when running in CI environments
(`CI=true`). Most CI providers set this variable automatically.

You can also force colored output with `FORCE_COLOR=1` or disable it with
`NO_COLOR=1`.

### Error annotations

When running in GitHub Actions (`GITHUB_ACTIONS=true`), Task automatically emits
error annotations when a task fails. These annotations appear in the workflow
summary, making it easier to spot failures without scrolling through logs.

```shell
::error title=Task 'build' failed::exit status 1
```

This feature requires no configuration and works automatically.

## Interactive CLI application

When running interactive CLI applications inside Task they can sometimes behave
weirdly, especially when the [output mode](#output-syntax) is set to something
other than `interleaved` (the default), or when interactive apps are run in
parallel with other tasks.

The `interactive: true` tells Task this is an interactive application and Task
will try to optimize for it:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    cmds:
      - vim my-file.txt
    interactive: true
```

If you still have problems running an interactive app through Task, please open
an issue about it.

## Short task syntax

Starting on Task v3, you can now write tasks with a shorter syntax if they have
the default settings (e.g. no custom `env:`, `vars:`, `desc:`, `silent:` , etc):

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  build: go build -v -o ./app{{exeExt}} .

  run:
    - task: build
    - ./app{{exeExt}} -h localhost -p 8080
```

## `set` and `shopt`

It's possible to specify options to the
[`set`](https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/The-Set-Builtin.html)
and
[`shopt`](https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/The-Shopt-Builtin.html)
builtins. This can be added at global, task or command level.

```yaml
version: '3'

set: [pipefail]
shopt: [globstar]

tasks:
  # `globstar` required for double star globs to work
  default: echo **/*.go
```

::: info

Keep in mind that not all options are available in the
[shell interpreter library](https://github.com/mvdan/sh) that Task uses.

:::

## Watch tasks

With the flags `--watch` or `-w` task will watch for file changes and run the
task again. This requires the `sources` attribute to be given, so task knows
which files to watch.

The default watch interval is 100 milliseconds, but it's possible to change it
by either setting `interval: '500ms'` in the root of the Taskfile or by passing
it as an argument like `--interval=500ms`. This interval is the time Task will
wait for duplicated events. It will only run the task again once, even if
multiple changes happen within the interval.

Also, it's possible to set `watch: true` in a given task and it'll automatically
run in watch mode:

```yaml
version: '3'

interval: 500ms

tasks:
  build:
    desc: Builds the Go application
    watch: true
    sources:
      - '**/*.go'
    cmds:
      - go build # ...
```

::: info

Note that when setting `watch: true` to a task, it'll only run in watch mode
when running from the CLI via `task my-watch-task`, but won't run in watch mode
if called by another task, either directly or as a dependency.

:::

::: warning

The watcher can misbehave in certain scenarios, in particular for long-running
servers. There is a [known bug](https://github.com/go-task/task/issues/160)
where child processes of the running might not be killed appropriately. It's
advised to avoid running commands as `go run` and prefer `go build [...] &&
./binary` instead.

If you are having issues, you might want to try tools specifically designed for
live-reloading, like [Air](https://github.com/air-verse/air/). Also, be sure to
[report any issues](https://github.com/go-task/task/issues/new?template=bug_report.yml)
to us.

:::

[config]: /docs/reference/config

[gotemplate]: https://golang.org/pkg/text/template/

[templating-reference]: /docs/reference/templating

---

---
url: /docs/installation.md
description: Installation methods for Task
---

# Installation

Task offers many installation methods. Check out the available methods below.

## Official Package Managers

These installation methods are maintained by the Task team and are always
up-to-date.

### [dnf](https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/dnf) ![Fedora](https://img.shields.io/badge/Fedora-51A2DA?logo=fedora\&logoColor=fff) ![CentOS](https://img.shields.io/badge/CentOS-002260?logo=centos\&logoColor=F0F0F0) ![Fedora](https://img.shields.io/badge/Red_Hat-EE0000?logo=redhat\&logoColor=white) {#dnf}

\[[package](https://cloudsmith.io/~task/repos/task/packages/?sort=-format\&q=format%3Arpm)]

If you Set up the repository by running :

```shell
curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/task/task/setup.rpm.sh' | sudo -E bash
```

Then you can install Task with:

```shell
dnf install task
```

### [apt](https://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/apt) ![Ubuntu](https://img.shields.io/badge/Ubuntu-E95420?logo=Ubuntu\&logoColor=white) ![Debian](https://img.shields.io/badge/debian-red?logo=debian\&logoColor=orange\&color=darkred) ![Linux Mint](https://img.shields.io/badge/Linux%20Mint-87CF3E?logo=linuxmint\&logoColor=fff) {#apt}

\[[package](https://cloudsmith.io/~task/repos/task/packages/?sort=-format\&q=format%3Adeb)]

If you Set up the repository by running:

```shell
curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/task/task/setup.deb.sh' | sudo -E bash
```

Then you can install Task with:

```shell
apt install task
```

:::info Package Repository Hosting

[![Hosted By: Cloudsmith](https://img.shields.io/badge/OSS%20hosting%20by-cloudsmith-blue?logo=cloudsmith\&style=for-the-badge)](https://cloudsmith.com)

Package repository hosting for deb/rpm is graciously provided by [Cloudsmith](https://cloudsmith.com).
Cloudsmith is the only fully hosted, cloud-native, universal package management solution, that
enables your organization to create, store and share packages in any format, to any place, with total
confidence.

:::

### [Homebrew](https://brew.sh) ![macOS](https://img.shields.io/badge/MacOS-000000?logo=apple\&logoColor=F0F0F0) ![Linux](https://img.shields.io/badge/Linux-FCC624?logo=linux\&logoColor=black) {#homebrew}

Task is available via our official Homebrew tap
\[[source](https://github.com/go-task/homebrew-tap/blob/main/Formula/go-task.rb)]:

```shell
brew install go-task/tap/go-task
```

Alternatively it can be installed from the official Homebrew repository
\[[package](https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/go-task)]
\[[source](https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/master/Formula/g/go-task.rb)]
by running:

```shell
brew install go-task
```

### [Snap](https://snapcraft.io/task) ![macOS](https://img.shields.io/badge/MacOS-000000?logo=apple\&logoColor=F0F0F0) ![Linux](https://img.shields.io/badge/Linux-FCC624?logo=linux\&logoColor=black) {#snap}

Task is available on [Snapcraft](https://snapcraft.io/task)
\[[source](https://github.com/go-task/snap/blob/main/snap/snapcraft.yaml)], but
keep in mind that your Linux distribution should allow classic confinement for
Snaps to Task work correctly:

```shell
sudo snap install task --classic
```

### [npm](https://www.npmjs.com) ![macOS](https://img.shields.io/badge/MacOS-000000?logo=apple\&logoColor=F0F0F0) ![Linux](https://img.shields.io/badge/Linux-FCC624?logo=linux\&logoColor=black) ![Windows](https://custom-icon-badges.demolab.com/badge/Windows-0078D6?logo=windows11\&logoColor=white) {#npm}

Npm can be used as cross-platform way to install Task globally or as a
dependency of your project
\[[package](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@go-task/cli)]
\[[source](https://github.com/go-task/task/blob/main/package.json)]:

```shell
npm install -g @go-task/cli
```

### [WinGet](https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli) ![Windows](https://custom-icon-badges.demolab.com/badge/Windows-0078D6?logo=windows11\&logoColor=white) {#winget}

Task is available via the
[community repository](https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs)
\[[source](https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs/tree/master/manifests/t/Task/Task)]:

```shell
winget install Task.Task
```

## Community-Maintained Package Managers

::: warning Community Maintained

These installation methods are maintained by the community and may not always be
up-to-date with the latest Task version. The Task team does not directly control
these packages.

:::

### [Mise](https://mise.jdx.dev/) ![macOS](https://img.shields.io/badge/MacOS-000000?logo=apple\&logoColor=F0F0F0) ![Linux](https://img.shields.io/badge/Linux-FCC624?logo=linux\&logoColor=black) ![Windows](https://custom-icon-badges.demolab.com/badge/Windows-0078D6?logo=windows11\&logoColor=white) {#mise}

Mise is a cross-platform package manager that acts as a "frontend" to a variety
of other package managers "backends" such as `asdf`, `aqua` and `ubi`.

If using Mise, we recommend using the `aqua` or `ubi` backends to install Task
as these install directly from our GitHub releases.

::: code-group

```shell [aqua]
mise use -g aqua:go-task/task@latest
mise install
```

```shell [ubi]
mise use -g ubi:go-task/task
mise install
```

:::

### [Macports](https://macports.org) ![macOS](https://img.shields.io/badge/MacOS-000000?logo=apple\&logoColor=F0F0F0) {#macports}

Task repository is tracked by Macports
\[[package](https://ports.macports.org/port/go-task/details/)]
\[[source](https://github.com/macports/macports-ports/blob/master/devel/go-task/Portfile)]:

```shell
port install go-task
```

### [pip](https://pip.pypa.io) ![macOS](https://img.shields.io/badge/MacOS-000000?logo=apple\&logoColor=F0F0F0) ![Linux](https://img.shields.io/badge/Linux-FCC624?logo=linux\&logoColor=black) ![Windows](https://custom-icon-badges.demolab.com/badge/Windows-0078D6?logo=windows11\&logoColor=white) {#pip}

Like npm, pip can be used as a cross-platform way to install Task
\[[package](https://pypi.org/project/go-task-bin)]
\[[source](https://github.com/Bing-su/pip-binary-factory/tree/main/task)]:

```shell
pip install go-task-bin
```

### [Chocolatey](https://chocolatey.org) ![Windows](https://custom-icon-badges.demolab.com/badge/Windows-0078D6?logo=windows11\&logoColor=white) {#chocolatey}

\[[package](https://community.chocolatey.org/packages/go-task)]
\[[source](https://github.com/Starz0r/ChocolateyPackagingScripts/blob/master/src/go-task_gh_build.py)]

```shell
choco install go-task
```

### [Scoop](https://scoop.sh) ![Windows](https://custom-icon-badges.demolab.com/badge/Windows-0078D6?logo=windows11\&logoColor=white) {#scoop}

\[[source](https://github.com/ScoopInstaller/Main/blob/master/bucket/task.json)]

```shell
scoop install task
```

### Arch ([pacman](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman)) ![Arch Linux](https://img.shields.io/badge/Arch%20Linux-1793D1?logo=arch-linux\&logoColor=fff) {#arch}

\[[package](https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/go-task/)]
\[[source](https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/packaging/packages/go-task)]

```shell
pacman -S go-task
```

### Fedora ([dnf](https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/dnf)) ![Fedora](https://img.shields.io/badge/Fedora-51A2DA?logo=fedora\&logoColor=fff) {#fedora-community}

\[[package](https://packages.fedoraproject.org/pkgs/golang-github-task/go-task/)]
\[[source](https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/golang-github-task)]

```shell
dnf install go-task
```

### FreeBSD ([Ports](https://ports.freebsd.org/cgi/ports.cgi)) ![FreeBSD](https://img.shields.io/badge/FreeBSD-990000?logo=freebsd\&logoColor=fff) {#freebsd}

\[[package](https://cgit.freebsd.org/ports/tree/devel/task)]
\[[source](https://cgit.freebsd.org/ports/tree/devel/task/Makefile)]

```shell
pkg install task
```

### [Nix](https://nixos.org) ![Nix](https://img.shields.io/badge/Nix-5277C3?logo=nixos\&logoColor=fff) ![NixOS](https://img.shields.io/badge/NixOS-5277C3?logo=nixos\&logoColor=fff) ![Linux](https://img.shields.io/badge/Linux-FCC624?logo=linux\&logoColor=black) ![macOS](https://img.shields.io/badge/MacOS-000000?logo=apple\&logoColor=F0F0F0) {#nix}

\[[source](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/by-name/go/go-task/package.nix)]

```shell
nix-env -iA nixpkgs.go-task
```

### [pacstall](https://github.com/pacstall/pacstall) ![Debian](https://img.shields.io/badge/Debian-A81D33?logo=debian\&logoColor=fff) ![Ubuntu](https://img.shields.io/badge/Ubuntu-E95420?logo=ubuntu\&logoColor=fff) {#pacstall}

\[[package](https://pacstall.dev/packages/go-task-deb)]
\[[source](https://github.com/pacstall/pacstall-programs/blob/master/packages/go-task-deb/go-task-deb.pacscript)]

```shell
pacstall -I go-task-deb
```

### [pkgx](https://pkgx.sh) ![macOS](https://img.shields.io/badge/MacOS-000000?logo=apple\&logoColor=F0F0F0) ![Linux](https://img.shields.io/badge/Linux-FCC624?logo=linux\&logoColor=black) {#pkgx}

\[[package](https://pkgx.dev/pkgs/taskfile.dev)]
\[[source](https://github.com/pkgxdev/pantry/blob/main/projects/taskfile.dev/package.yml)]

```shell
pkgx task
```

or, if you have pkgx integration enabled:

```shell
task
```

## Get The Binary

### Binary

You can download the binary from the
[releases page on GitHub](https://github.com/go-task/task/releases) and add to
your `$PATH`.

DEB and RPM packages are also available.

The `task_checksums.txt` file contains the SHA-256 checksum for each file.

### Install Script

We also have an
[install script](https://github.com/go-task/task/blob/main/install-task.sh)
which is very useful in scenarios like CI. Many thanks to
[GoDownloader](https://github.com/goreleaser/godownloader) for enabling the easy
generation of this script.

By default, it installs on the `./bin` directory relative to the working
directory:

```shell
sh -c "$(curl --location https://taskfile.dev/install.sh)" -- -d
```

It is possible to override the installation directory with the `-b` parameter.
On Linux, common choices are `~/.local/bin` and `~/bin` to install for the
current user or `/usr/local/bin` to install for all users:

```shell
sh -c "$(curl --location https://taskfile.dev/install.sh)" -- -d -b ~/.local/bin
```

::: warning

On macOS and Windows, `~/.local/bin` and `~/bin` are not added to `$PATH` by
default.

:::

By default, it installs the latest version available. You can also specify a tag
(available in [releases](https://github.com/go-task/task/releases)) to install a
specific version:

```shell
sh -c "$(curl --location https://taskfile.dev/install.sh)" -- -d v3.36.0
```

Parameters are order specific, to set both installation directory and version:

```shell
sh -c "$(curl --location https://taskfile.dev/install.sh)" -- -d -b ~/.local/bin v3.42.1
```

### GitHub Actions

We have an [official GitHub Action](https://github.com/go-task/setup-task) to
install Task in your GitHub workflows. This repository is forked from the
fantastic project by the Arduino team. Check out the repository for more
examples and configuration.

```yaml
- name: Install Task
  uses: go-task/setup-task@v1
```

## Build From Source

### Go Modules

Ensure that you have a supported version of [Go](https://golang.org) properly
installed and setup. You can find the minimum required version of Go in the
[go.mod](https://github.com/go-task/task/blob/main/go.mod#L3) file.

You can then install the latest release globally by running:

```shell
go install github.com/go-task/task/v3/cmd/task@latest
```

Or you can install into another directory:

```shell
env GOBIN=/bin go install github.com/go-task/task/v3/cmd/task@latest
```

::: tip

For CI environments we recommend using the [install script](#install-script)
instead, which is faster and more stable, since it'll just download the latest
released binary.

:::

## Setup completions

Some installation methods will automatically install completions too, but if
this isn't working for you or your chosen method doesn't include them, you can
run `task --completion <shell>` to output a completion script for any supported
shell. There are a couple of ways these completions can be added to your shell
config:

### Option 1. Load the completions in your shell's startup config (Recommended)

This method loads the completion script from the currently installed version of
task every time you create a new shell. This ensures that your completions are
always up-to-date.
If your executable isn’t named task, set the `TASK_EXE` environment variable before running eval.

::: code-group

```shell [bash]
# ~/.bashrc

# export TASK_EXE='go-task' if needed
eval "$(task --completion bash)"
```

```shell [zsh]
# ~/.zshrc

# export TASK_EXE='go-task' if needed
eval "$(task --completion zsh)"
```

```shell [fish]
# ~/.config/fish/config.fish

# export TASK_EXE='go-task' if needed
task --completion fish | source
```

```powershell [powershell]
# $PROFILE\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1
Invoke-Expression  (&task --completion powershell | Out-String)
```

:::

### Option 2. Copy the script to your shell's completions directory

This method requires you to manually update the completions whenever Task is
updated. However, it is useful if you want to modify the completions yourself.

::: code-group

```shell [bash]
task --completion bash > /etc/bash_completion.d/task
```

```shell [zsh]
task --completion zsh  > /usr/local/share/zsh/site-functions/_task
```

```shell [fish]
task --completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/task.fish
```

:::

### Zsh customization

The Zsh completion supports the standard `verbose` zstyle to control whether task
descriptions are shown. By default, descriptions are displayed. To show only task
names without descriptions, add this to your `~/.zshrc` (after the completion is loaded):

```shell
zstyle ':completion:*:*:task:*' verbose false
```

---

---
url: /docs/integrations.md
description: >-
  Official and community integrations for Task, including VS Code, JSON schemas,
  and other tools
---

# Integrations

## Visual Studio Code Extension

Task has an
[official extension for Visual Studio Code](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=task.vscode-task).
The code for this project can be found in
[our GitHub repository](https://github.com/go-task/vscode-task). To use this
extension, you must have Task v3.45.3+ installed on your system.

This extension provides the following features (and more):

* View tasks in the sidebar.
* Run tasks from the sidebar and command palette.
* Go to definition from the sidebar and command palette.
* Run last task command.
* Multi-root workspace support.
* Initialize a Taskfile in the current workspace.

To get autocompletion and validation for your Taskfile, see the
[Schema](#schema) section below.

![Task for Visual Studio Code](https://github.com/go-task/vscode-task/blob/main/res/preview.png?raw=true)

### Configuration namespace change

In v1.0.0 of the extension, the configuration namespace was changed from `task`
to `taskfile` in order to fix
[an issue](https://github.com/go-task/vscode-task/issues/56).

![Configuration namespace change warning](/assets/config-namespace-change.qQjacj1R.png)

If you receive a warning like the one above, you will need to update your
settings to use the new `taskfile` namespace instead:

![Configuration namespace diff](/assets/config-namespace-diff.DtsXcdlf.png)

## Schema

This was initially created by @KROSF in
[this Gist](https://gist.github.com/KROSF/c5435acf590acd632f71bb720f685895) and
is now officially maintained in
[this file](https://github.com/go-task/task/blob/main/website/src/public/schema.json)
and made available at https://taskfile.dev/schema.json. This schema can be used
to validate Taskfiles and provide autocompletion in many code editors:

### Visual Studio Code

To integrate the schema into VS Code, you need to install the
[YAML extension](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=redhat.vscode-yaml)
by Red Hat. Any `Taskfile.yml` in your project should automatically be detected
and validation/autocompletion should work. If this doesn't work or you want to
manually configure it for files with a different name, you can add the following
to your `settings.json`:

```json
// settings.json
{
  "yaml.schemas": {
    "https://taskfile.dev/schema.json": [
      "**/Taskfile.yml",
      "./path/to/any/other/taskfile.yml"
    ]
  }
}
```

You can also configure the schema directly inside of a Taskfile by adding the
following comment to the top of the file:

```yaml
# yaml-language-server: $schema=https://taskfile.dev/schema.json
version: '3'
```

You can find more information on this in the
[YAML language server project](https://github.com/redhat-developer/yaml-language-server).

## AI/LLM Assistants

Task documentation is optimized for AI assistants like Claude Code, Cursor, and
other LLM-powered development tools through the
[VitePress LLMs plugin](https://github.com/okineadev/vitepress-plugin-llms).

This integration provides:

* Structured documentation in LLM-friendly formats
* Context-optimized content for AI assistants
* Automatic generation of `llms.txt` and `llms-full.txt` files
* Enhanced discoverability of Task features for AI tools

AI assistants can access Task documentation through:

* **[llms.txt](https://taskfile.dev/llms.txt)**: Lightweight overview of Task documentation
* **[llms-full.txt](https://taskfile.dev/llms-full.txt)**: Complete documentation with all content

These files are automatically generated and kept in sync with the documentation,
ensuring AI assistants always have access to the latest Task features and usage
patterns.

## Community Integrations

In addition to our official integrations, there is an amazing community of
developers who have created their own integrations for Task:

* [Sublime Text Plugin](https://packagecontrol.io/packages/Taskfile)
  \[[source](https://github.com/biozz/sublime-taskfile)] by @biozz
* [IntelliJ Plugin](https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/17058-taskfile)
  \[[source](https://github.com/lechuckroh/task-intellij-plugin)] by @lechuckroh
* [mk](https://github.com/pycontribs/mk) command line tool recognizes Taskfiles
  natively.
* [fzf-make](https://github.com/kyu08/fzf-make) fuzzy finder with preview window
  for make, pnpm, yarn, just & task.

If you have made something that integrates with Task, please feel free to open a
PR to add it to this list.

---

---
url: /docs/reference/package.md
description: A reference for Task's Golang package API
---

# Package API Reference

::: warning

***Task's package API is still experimental and subject to breaking changes.***

This means that unlike our CLI, we may make breaking changes to the package API
in minor (or even patch) releases. We try to avoid this when possible, but it
may be necessary in order to improve the overall design of the package API.

In the future we may stabilize the package API. However, this is not currently
planned. For now, if you need to use Task as a Go package, we recommend pinning
the version in your `go.mod` file. Where possible we will try to include a
changelog entry for breaking changes to the package API.

:::

Task is primarily a CLI tool that is agnostic of any programming language.
However, it is written in Go and therefore can also be used as a Go package too.
This can be useful if you are already using Go in your project and you need to
extend Task's functionality in some way. In this document, we describe the
public API surface of Task and how to use it. This may also be useful if you
want to contribute to Task or understand how it works in more detail.

## Key packages

The following packages make up the most important parts of Task's package API.
Below we have listed what they are for and some of the key types available:

### [`github.com/go-task/task/v3`]

The core task package provides most of the main functionality for Task including
fetching and executing tasks from a Taskfile. At this time, the vast majority of
the this package's functionality is exposed via the [`task.Executor`] which
allows the user to fetch and execute tasks from a Taskfile.

::: info

This is the package which is most likely to be the subject of breaking changes
as we refine the API.

:::

### [`github.com/go-task/task/v3/taskfile`]

The `taskfile` package provides utilities for *reading* Taskfiles from various
sources. These sources can be local files, remote files, or even in-memory
strings (via stdin).

* [`taskfile.Node`] - A reference to the location of a Taskfile. A `Node` is an
  interface that has several implementations:
  * [`taskfile.FileNode`] - Local files
  * [`taskfile.HTTPNode`] - Remote files via HTTP/HTTPS
  * [`taskfile.GitNode`] - Remote files via Git
  * [`taskfile.StdinNode`] - In-memory strings (via stdin)
* [`taskfile.Reader`] - Accepts a `Node` and reads the Taskfile from it.
* [`taskfile.Snippet`] - Mostly used for rendering Taskfile errors. A snippet
  stores a small part of a taskfile around a given line number and column. The
  output can be syntax highlighted for CLIs and include line/column indicators.

### [`github.com/go-task/task/v3/taskfile/ast`]

AST stands for ["Abstract Syntax Tree"][ast]. An AST allows us to easily
represent the Taskfile syntax in Go. This package provides a way to parse
Taskfile YAML into an AST and store them in memory.

* [`ast.TaskfileGraph`] - Represents a set of Taskfiles and their dependencies
  between one another.
* [`ast.Taskfile`] - Represents a single Taskfile or a set of merged Taskfiles.
  The `Taskfile` type contains all of the subtypes for the Taskfile syntax, such
  as `tasks`, `includes`, `vars`, etc. These are not listed here for brevity.

### [`github.com/go-task/task/v3/errors`]

Contains all of the error types used in Task. All of these types implement the
[`errors.TaskError`] interface which wraps Go's standard [`error`] interface.
This allows you to call the `Code` method on the error to obtain the unique exit
code for any error.

## Reading Taskfiles

Start by importing the `github.com/go-task/task/v3/taskfile` package. This
provides all of the functions you need to read a Taskfile into memory:

```go
import (
    "github.com/go-task/task/v3/taskfile"
)
```

Reading Taskfiles is done by using a [`taskfile.Reader`] and an implementation
of [`taskfile.Node`]. In this example we will read a local file by using the
[`taskfile.FileNode`] type. You can create this by calling the
[`taskfile.NewFileNode`] function:

```go
node := taskfile.NewFileNode("Taskfile.yml", "./path/to/dir")
```

and then create a your reader by calling the [`taskfile.NewReader`] function and
passing any functional options you want to use. For example, you could pass a
debug function to the reader which will be called with debug messages:

```go
reader := taskfile.NewReader(
  taskfile.WithDebugFunc(func(s string) {
    slog.Debug(s)
  }),
)
```

Now that everything is set up, you can read the Taskfile (and any included
Taskfiles) by calling the `Read` method on the reader and pass the `Node` as an
argument:

```go
ctx := context.Background()
tfg, err := reader.Read(ctx, node)
// handle error
```

This returns an instance of [`ast.TaskfileGraph`] which is a "Directed Acyclic
Graph" (DAG) of all the parsed Taskfiles. We use this graph to store and resolve
the `includes` directives in Taskfiles. However most of the time, you will want
a merged Taskfile. To do this, simply call the `Merge` method on the Taskfile
graph:

```go
tf, err := tfg.Merge()
// handle error
```

This compiles the DAG into a single [`ast.Taskfile`] containing all the
namespaces and tasks from all the Taskfiles we read.

::: info

We plan to remove AST merging in the future as it is unnecessarily complex and
causes lots of issues with scoping.

:::

[`github.com/go-task/task/v3`]: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/go-task/task/v3

[`github.com/go-task/task/v3/taskfile`]: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/go-task/task/v3/taskfile

[`github.com/go-task/task/v3/taskfile/ast`]: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/go-task/task/v3/taskfile/ast

[`github.com/go-task/task/v3/errors`]: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/go-task/task/v3/errors

[`ast.TaskfileGraph`]: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/go-task/task/v3/taskfile/ast#TaskfileGraph

[`ast.Taskfile`]: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/go-task/task/v3/taskfile/ast#Taskfile

[`taskfile.Node`]: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/go-task/task/v3/taskfile#Node

[`taskfile.FileNode`]: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/go-task/task/v3/taskfile#FileNode

[`taskfile.HTTPNode`]: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/go-task/task/v3/taskfile#HTTPNode

[`taskfile.GitNode`]: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/go-task/task/v3/taskfile#GitNode

[`taskfile.StdinNode`]: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/go-task/task/v3/taskfile#StdinNode

[`taskfile.NewFileNode`]: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/go-task/task/v3/taskfile#NewFileNode

[`taskfile.Reader`]: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/go-task/task/v3/taskfile#Reader

[`taskfile.NewReader`]: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/go-task/task/v3/taskfile#NewReader

[`taskfile.Snippet`]: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/go-task/task/v3/taskfile#Snippet

[`task.Executor`]: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/go-task/task/v3#Executor

[`task.Formatter`]: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/go-task/task/v3#Formatter

[`errors.TaskError`]: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/go-task/task/v3/errors#TaskError

[`error`]: https://pkg.go.dev/builtin#error

[ast]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_syntax_tree

---

---
url: /docs/experiments/remote-taskfiles.md
description: Experimentation for using Taskfiles stored in remote locations
---

# Remote Taskfiles (#1317)

::: warning

All experimental features are subject to breaking changes and/or removal *at any
time*. We strongly recommend that you do not use these features in a production
environment. They are intended for testing and feedback only.

:::

::: info

To enable this experiment, set the environment variable:
`TASK_X_REMOTE_TASKFILES=1`. Check out
[our guide to enabling experiments](./index.md#enabling-experiments) for more
information.

:::

::: danger

Never run remote Taskfiles from sources that you do not trust.

:::

This experiment allows you to use Taskfiles which are stored in remote
locations. This applies to both the root Taskfile (aka. Entrypoint) and also
when including Taskfiles.

Task uses "nodes" to reference remote Taskfiles. There are a few different types
of node which you can use:

::: code-group

```text [HTTP/HTTPS]
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/go-task/task/main/website/src/public/Taskfile.yml
```

```text [Git over HTTP]
https://github.com/go-task/task.git//website/src/public/Taskfile.yml?ref=main
```

```text [Git over SSH]
git@github.com/go-task/task.git//website/src/public/Taskfile.yml?ref=main
```

:::

## Node Types

### HTTP/HTTPS

`https://raw.githubusercontent.com/go-task/task/main/website/src/public/Taskfile.yml`

This is the most basic type of remote node and works by downloading the file
from the specified URL. The file must be a valid Taskfile and can be of any
name. If a file is not found at the specified URL, Task will append each of the
supported file names in turn until it finds a valid file. If it still does not
find a valid Taskfile, an error is returned.

### Git over HTTP

`https://github.com/go-task/task.git//website/src/public/Taskfile.yml?ref=main`

This type of node works by downloading the file from a Git repository over
HTTP/HTTPS. The first part of the URL is the base URL of the Git repository.
This is the same URL that you would use to clone the repo over HTTP.

* You can optionally add the path to the Taskfile in the repository by appending
  `//<path>` to the URL.
* You can also optionally specify a branch or tag to use by appending
  `?ref=<ref>` to the end of the URL. If you omit a reference, the default
  branch will be used.

### Git over SSH

`git@github.com/go-task/task.git//website/src/public/Taskfile.yml?ref=main`

This type of node works by downloading the file from a Git repository over SSH.
The first part of the URL is the user and base URL of the Git repository. This
is the same URL that you would use to clone the repo over SSH.

To use Git over SSH, you need to make sure that your SSH agent has your private
SSH keys added so that they can be used during authentication.

* You can optionally add the path to the Taskfile in the repository by appending
  `//<path>` to the URL.
* You can also optionally specify a branch or tag to use by appending
  `?ref=<ref>` to the end of the URL. If you omit a reference, the default
  branch will be used.

Task has an example remote Taskfile in our repository that you can use for
testing and that we will use throughout this document:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  default:
    cmds:
      - task: hello

  hello:
    cmds:
      - echo "Hello Task!"
```

## Specifying a remote entrypoint

By default, Task will look for one of the supported file names on your local
filesystem. If you want to use a remote file instead, you can pass its URI into
the `--taskfile`/`-t` flag just like you would to specify a different local
file. For example:

::: code-group

```shell [HTTP/HTTPS]
$ task --taskfile https://raw.githubusercontent.com/go-task/task/main/website/src/public/Taskfile.yml
task: [hello] echo "Hello Task!"
Hello Task!
```

```shell [Git over HTTP]
$ task --taskfile https://github.com/go-task/task.git//website/src/public/Taskfile.yml?ref=main
task: [hello] echo "Hello Task!"
Hello Task!
```

```shell [Git over SSH]
$ task --taskfile git@github.com/go-task/task.git//website/src/public/Taskfile.yml?ref=main
task: [hello] echo "Hello Task!"
Hello Task!
```

:::

## Including remote Taskfiles

Including a remote file works exactly the same way that including a local file
does. You just need to replace the local path with a remote URI. Any tasks in
the remote Taskfile will be available to run from your main Taskfile.

::: code-group

```yaml [HTTP/HTTPS]
version: '3'

includes:
  my-remote-namespace: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/go-task/task/main/website/src/public/Taskfile.yml
```

```yaml [Git over HTTP]
version: '3'

includes:
  my-remote-namespace: https://github.com/go-task/task.git//website/src/public/Taskfile.yml?ref=main
```

```yaml [Git over SSH]
version: '3'

includes:
  my-remote-namespace: git@github.com/go-task/task.git//website/src/public/Taskfile.yml?ref=main
```

:::

```shell
$ task my-remote-namespace:hello
task: [hello] echo "Hello Task!"
Hello Task!
```

### Authenticating using environment variables

The Taskfile location is processed by the templating system, so you can
reference environment variables in your URL if you need to add authentication.
For example:

```yaml
version: '3'

includes:
  my-remote-namespace: https://{{.TOKEN}}@raw.githubusercontent.com/my-org/my-repo/main/Taskfile.yml
```

## Security

### Automatic checksums

Running commands from sources that you do not control is always a potential
security risk. For this reason, we have added some automatic checks when using
remote Taskfiles:

1. When running a task from a remote Taskfile for the first time, Task will
   print a warning to the console asking you to check that you are sure that you
   trust the source of the Taskfile. If you do not accept the prompt, then Task
   will exit with code `104` (not trusted) and nothing will run. If you accept
   the prompt, the remote Taskfile will run and further calls to the remote
   Taskfile will not prompt you again.
2. Whenever you run a remote Taskfile, Task will create and store a checksum of
   the file that you are running. If the checksum changes, then Task will print
   another warning to the console to inform you that the contents of the remote
   file has changed. If you do not accept the prompt, then Task will exit with
   code `104` (not trusted) and nothing will run. If you accept the prompt, the
   checksum will be updated and the remote Taskfile will run.

Sometimes you need to run Task in an environment that does not have an
interactive terminal, so you are not able to accept a prompt. In these cases you
are able to tell task to accept these prompts automatically by using the `--yes`
flag or the `--trust` flag. The `--trust` flag allows you to specify trusted
hosts for remote Taskfiles, while `--yes` applies to all prompts in Task. You
can also configure trusted hosts in your [taskrc configuration](#trusted-hosts) using
`remote.trusted-hosts`. Before enabling automatic trust, you should:

1. Be sure that you trust the source and contents of the remote Taskfile.
2. Consider using a pinned version of the remote Taskfile (e.g. A link
   containing a commit hash) to prevent Task from automatically accepting a
   prompt that says a remote Taskfile has changed.

### Manual checksum pinning

Alternatively, if you expect the contents of your remote files to be a constant
value, you can pin the checksum of the included file instead:

```yaml
version: '3'

includes:
  included:
    taskfile: https://taskfile.dev
    checksum: c153e97e0b3a998a7ed2e61064c6ddaddd0de0c525feefd6bba8569827d8efe9
```

This will disable the automatic checksum prompts discussed above. However, if
the checksums do not match, Task will exit immediately with an error. When
setting this up for the first time, you may not know the correct value of the
checksum. There are a couple of ways you can obtain this:

1. Add the include normally without the `checksum` key. The first time you run
   the included Taskfile, a `.task/remote` temporary directory is created. Find
   the correct set of files for your included Taskfile and open the file that
   ends with `.checksum`. You can copy the contents of this file and paste it
   into the `checksum` key of your include. This method is safest as it allows
   you to inspect the downloaded Taskfile before you pin it.
2. Alternatively, add the include with a temporary random value in the
   `checksum` key. When you try to run the Taskfile, you will get an error that
   will report the incorrect expected checksum and the actual checksum. You can
   copy the actual checksum and replace your temporary random value.

### TLS

Task currently supports both `http` and `https` URLs. However, the `http`
requests will not execute by default unless you run the task with the
`--insecure` flag. This is to protect you from accidentally running a remote
Taskfile that is downloaded via an unencrypted connection. Sources that are not
protected by TLS are vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks and should be
avoided unless you know what you are doing.

#### Custom Certificates

If your remote Taskfiles are hosted on a server that uses a custom CA
certificate (e.g., a corporate internal server), you can specify the CA
certificate using the `--cacert` flag:

```shell
task --taskfile https://internal.example.com/Taskfile.yml --cacert /path/to/ca.crt
```

For servers that require client certificate authentication (mTLS), you can
provide a client certificate and key:

```shell
task --taskfile https://secure.example.com/Taskfile.yml \
  --cert /path/to/client.crt \
  --cert-key /path/to/client.key
```

::: warning

Encrypted private keys are not currently supported. If your key is encrypted,
you must decrypt it first:

```shell
openssl rsa -in encrypted.key -out decrypted.key
```

:::

These options can also be configured in the [configuration file](#configuration).

## Caching & Running Offline

Whenever you run a remote Taskfile, the latest copy will be downloaded from the
internet and cached locally. This cached file will be used for all future
invocations of the Taskfile until the cache expires. Once it expires, Task will
download the latest copy of the file and update the cache. By default, the cache
is set to expire immediately. This means that Task will always fetch the latest
version. However, the cache expiry duration can be modified by setting the
`--expiry` flag.

If for any reason you lose access to the internet or you are running Task in
offline mode (via the `--offline` flag or `TASK_OFFLINE` environment variable),
Task will run the any available cached files *even if they are expired*. This
means that you should never be stuck without the ability to run your tasks as
long as you have downloaded a remote Taskfile at least once.

By default, Task will timeout requests to download remote files after 10 seconds
and look for a cached copy instead. This timeout can be configured by setting
the `--timeout` flag and specifying a duration. For example, `--timeout 5s` will
set the timeout to 5 seconds.

By default, the cache is stored in the Task temp directory (`.task`). You can
override the location of the cache by using the `--remote-cache-dir` flag, the
`remote.cache-dir` option in your [configuration file](#cache-dir), or the
`TASK_REMOTE_DIR` environment variable. This way, you can share the cache
between different projects.

You can force Task to ignore the cache and download the latest version by using
the `--download` flag.

You can use the `--clear-cache` flag to clear all cached remote files.

## Configuration

This experiment adds a new `remote` section to the
[configuration file](../reference/config.md).

* **Type**: `object`
* **Description**: Remote configuration settings for handling remote Taskfiles

```yaml
remote:
  insecure: false
  offline: false
  timeout: "30s"
  cache-expiry: "24h"
  cache-dir: ~/.task
  trusted-hosts:
    - github.com
    - gitlab.com
  cacert: ""
  cert: ""
  cert-key: ""
```

#### `insecure`

* **Type**: `boolean`
* **Default**: `false`
* **Description**: Allow insecure connections when fetching remote Taskfiles

```yaml
remote:
  insecure: true
```

#### `offline`

* **Type**: `boolean`
* **Default**: `false`
* **Description**: Work in offline mode, preventing remote Taskfile fetching

```yaml
remote:
  offline: true
```

#### `timeout`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Default**: 10s
* **Pattern**: `^[0-9]+(ns|us|µs|ms|s|m|h)$`
* **Description**: Timeout duration for remote operations (e.g., '30s', '5m')

```yaml
remote:
  timeout: "1m"
```

#### `cache-expiry`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Default**: 0s (no cache)
* **Pattern**: `^[0-9]+(ns|us|µs|ms|s|m|h)$`
* **Description**: Cache expiry duration for remote Taskfiles (e.g., '1h',
  '24h')

```yaml
remote:
  cache-expiry: "6h"
```

#### `cache-dir`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Default**: `.task`
* **Description**: Directory where remote Taskfiles are cached. Can be an
  absolute path (e.g., `/var/cache/task`) or relative to the Taskfile directory.
* **CLI equivalent**: `--remote-cache-dir`
* **Environment variable**: `TASK_REMOTE_DIR` (lowest priority)

```yaml
remote:
  cache-dir: ~/.task
```

#### `trusted-hosts`

* **Type**: `array of strings`
* **Default**: `[]` (empty list)
* **Description**: List of trusted hosts for remote Taskfiles. Hosts in this
  list will not prompt for confirmation when downloading Taskfiles
* **CLI equivalent**: `--trusted-hosts`

```yaml
remote:
  trusted-hosts:
    - github.com
    - gitlab.com
    - raw.githubusercontent.com
    - example.com:8080
```

Hosts in the trusted hosts list will automatically be trusted without prompting for
confirmation when they are first downloaded or when their checksums change. The
host matching includes the port if specified in the URL. Use with caution and
only add hosts you fully trust.

You can also specify trusted hosts via the command line:

```shell
# Trust specific host for this execution
task --trusted-hosts github.com -t https://github.com/user/repo.git//Taskfile.yml

# Trust multiple hosts (comma-separated)
task --trusted-hosts github.com,gitlab.com -t https://github.com/user/repo.git//Taskfile.yml

# Trust a host with a specific port
task --trusted-hosts example.com:8080 -t https://example.com:8080/Taskfile.yml
```

#### `cacert`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Default**: `""`
* **Description**: Path to a custom CA certificate file for TLS verification

```yaml
remote:
  cacert: "/path/to/ca.crt"
```

#### `cert`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Default**: `""`
* **Description**: Path to a client certificate file for mTLS authentication

```yaml
remote:
  cert: "/path/to/client.crt"
```

#### `cert-key`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Default**: `""`
* **Description**: Path to the client certificate private key file

```yaml
remote:
  cert-key: "/path/to/client.key"
```

---

---
url: /docs/reference/schema.md
description: A reference for the Taskfile schema
---

# Taskfile Schema Reference

This page documents all available properties and types for the Taskfile schema
version 3, based on the
[official JSON schema](https://taskfile.dev/schema.json).

## Root Schema

The root Taskfile schema defines the structure of your main `Taskfile.yml`.

### `version`

* **Type**: `string` or `number`
* **Required**: Yes
* **Valid values**: `"3"`, `3`, or any valid semver string
* **Description**: Version of the Taskfile schema

```yaml
version: '3'
```

### `output`

* **Type**: `string` or `object`
* **Default**: `interleaved`
* **Options**: `interleaved`, `group`, `prefixed`
* **Description**: Controls how task output is displayed

```yaml
# Simple string format
output: group

# Advanced object format
output:
  group:
    begin: "::group::{{.TASK}}"
    end: "::endgroup::"
    error_only: false
```

### `method`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Default**: `checksum`
* **Options**: `checksum`, `timestamp`, `none`
* **Description**: Default method for checking if tasks are up-to-date

```yaml
method: timestamp
```

### [`includes`](#include)

* **Type**: `map[string]Include`
* **Description**: Include other Taskfiles

```yaml
includes:
  # Simple string format
  docs: ./Taskfile.yml

  # Full object format
  backend:
    taskfile: ./backend
    dir: ./backend
    optional: false
    flatten: false
    internal: false
    aliases: [api]
    excludes: [internal-task]
    vars:
      SERVICE_NAME: backend
    checksum: abc123...
```

### [`vars`](#variable)

* **Type**: `map[string]Variable`
* **Description**: Global variables available to all tasks

```yaml
vars:
  # Simple values
  APP_NAME: myapp
  VERSION: 1.0.0
  DEBUG: true
  PORT: 8080
  FEATURES: [auth, logging]

  # Dynamic variables
  COMMIT_HASH:
    sh: git rev-parse HEAD

  # Variable references
  BUILD_VERSION:
    ref: .VERSION

  # Map variables
  CONFIG:
    map:
      database: postgres
      cache: redis
```

### `env`

* **Type**: `map[string]Variable`
* **Description**: Global environment variables

```yaml
env:
  NODE_ENV: production
  DATABASE_URL:
    sh: echo $DATABASE_URL
```

### [`tasks`](#task)

* **Type**: `map[string]Task`
* **Description**: Task definitions

```yaml
tasks:
  # Simple string format
  hello: echo "Hello World"

  # Array format
  build:
    - go mod tidy
    - go build ./...

  # Full object format
  deploy:
    desc: Deploy the application
    cmds:
      - ./scripts/deploy.sh
```

### `silent`

* **Type**: `bool`
* **Default**: `false`
* **Description**: Suppress task name and command output by default

```yaml
silent: true
```

### `dotenv`

* **Type**: `[]string`
* **Description**: Load environment variables from .env files. When the same
  variable is defined in multiple files, the first file in the list takes
  precedence.

```yaml
dotenv:
  - .env.local # Highest priority
  - .env # Lowest priority
```

### `run`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Default**: `always`
* **Options**: `always`, `once`, `when_changed`
* **Description**: Default execution behavior for tasks

```yaml
run: once
```

### `interval`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Default**: `100ms`
* **Pattern**: `^[0-9]+(?:m|s|ms)$`
* **Description**: Watch interval for file changes

```yaml
interval: 1s
```

### `set`

* **Type**: `[]string`
* **Options**: `allexport`, `a`, `errexit`, `e`, `noexec`, `n`, `noglob`, `f`,
  `nounset`, `u`, `xtrace`, `x`, `pipefail`
* **Description**: POSIX shell options for all commands

```yaml
set: [errexit, nounset, pipefail]
```

### `shopt`

* **Type**: `[]string`
* **Options**: `expand_aliases`, `globstar`, `nullglob`
* **Description**: Bash shell options for all commands

```yaml
shopt: [globstar]
```

## Include

Configuration for including external Taskfiles.

### `taskfile`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Required**: Yes
* **Description**: Path to the Taskfile or directory to include

```yaml
includes:
  backend: ./backend/Taskfile.yml
  # Shorthand for above
  frontend: ./frontend
```

### `dir`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Description**: Working directory for included tasks

```yaml
includes:
  api:
    taskfile: ./api
    dir: ./api
```

### `optional`

* **Type**: `bool`
* **Default**: `false`
* **Description**: Don't error if the included file doesn't exist

```yaml
includes:
  optional-tasks:
    taskfile: ./optional.yml
    optional: true
```

### `flatten`

* **Type**: `bool`
* **Default**: `false`
* **Description**: Include tasks without namespace prefix

```yaml
includes:
  common:
    taskfile: ./common.yml
    flatten: true
```

### `internal`

* **Type**: `bool`
* **Default**: `false`
* **Description**: Hide included tasks from command line and `--list`

```yaml
includes:
  internal:
    taskfile: ./internal.yml
    internal: true
```

### `aliases`

* **Type**: `[]string`
* **Description**: Alternative names for the namespace

```yaml
includes:
  database:
    taskfile: ./db.yml
    aliases: [db, data]
```

### `excludes`

* **Type**: `[]string`
* **Description**: Tasks to exclude from inclusion

```yaml
includes:
  shared:
    taskfile: ./shared.yml
    excludes: [internal-setup, debug-only]
```

### `vars`

* **Type**: `map[string]Variable`
* **Description**: Variables to pass to the included Taskfile

```yaml
includes:
  deploy:
    taskfile: ./deploy.yml
    vars:
      ENVIRONMENT: production
```

### `checksum`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Description**: Expected checksum of the included file

```yaml
includes:
  remote:
    taskfile: https://example.com/tasks.yml
    checksum: c153e97e0b3a998a7ed2e61064c6ddaddd0de0c525feefd6bba8569827d8efe9
```

## Variable

Variables support multiple types and can be static values, dynamic commands,
references, or maps.

### Static Variables

```yaml
vars:
  # String
  APP_NAME: myapp
  # Number
  PORT: 8080
  # Boolean
  DEBUG: true
  # Array
  FEATURES: [auth, logging, metrics]
  # Null
  OPTIONAL_VAR: null
```

### Dynamic Variables (`sh`)

```yaml
vars:
  COMMIT_HASH:
    sh: git rev-parse HEAD
  BUILD_TIME:
    sh: date -u +"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ"
```

### Variable References (`ref`)

```yaml
vars:
  BASE_VERSION: 1.0.0
  FULL_VERSION:
    ref: .BASE_VERSION
```

### Map Variables (`map`)

```yaml
vars:
  CONFIG:
    map:
      database:
        host: localhost
        port: 5432
      cache:
        type: redis
        ttl: 3600
```

### Variable Ordering

Variables can reference previously defined variables:

```yaml
vars:
  GREETING: Hello
  TARGET: World
  MESSAGE: '{{.GREETING}} {{.TARGET}}!'
```

## Task

Individual task configuration with multiple syntax options.

### Simple Task Formats

```yaml
tasks:
  # String command
  hello: echo "Hello World"

  # Array of commands
  build:
    - go mod tidy
    - go build ./...

  # Object with cmd shorthand
  test:
    cmd: go test ./...
```

### Task Properties

#### `cmds`

* **Type**: `[]Command`
* **Description**: Commands to execute

```yaml
tasks:
  build:
    cmds:
      - go build ./...
      - echo "Build complete"
```

#### `cmd`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Description**: Single command (alternative to `cmds`)

```yaml
tasks:
  test:
    cmd: go test ./...
```

#### `deps`

* **Type**: `[]Dependency`
* **Description**: Tasks to run before this task

```yaml
tasks:
  # Simple dependencies
  deploy:
    deps: [build, test]
    cmds:
      - ./deploy.sh

  # Dependencies with variables
  advanced-deploy:
    deps:
      - task: build
        vars:
          ENVIRONMENT: production
      - task: test
        vars:
          COVERAGE: true
    cmds:
      - ./deploy.sh

  # Silent dependencies
  main:
    deps:
      - task: setup
        silent: true
    cmds:
      - echo "Main task"

  # Loop dependencies
  test-all:
    deps:
      - for: [unit, integration, e2e]
        task: test
        vars:
          TEST_TYPE: '{{.ITEM}}'
    cmds:
      - echo "All tests completed"
```

#### `desc`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Description**: Short description shown in `--list`

```yaml
tasks:
  test:
    desc: Run unit tests
    cmds:
      - go test ./...
```

#### `summary`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Description**: Detailed description shown in `--summary`

```yaml
tasks:
  deploy:
    desc: Deploy to production
    summary: |
      Deploy the application to production environment.
      This includes building, testing, and uploading artifacts.
```

#### `prompt`

* **Type**: `string` or `[]string`
* **Description**: Prompts shown before task execution

```yaml
tasks:
  # Single prompt
  deploy:
    prompt: "Deploy to production?"
    cmds:
      - ./deploy.sh

  # Multiple prompts
  deploy-multi:
    prompt:
      - "Are you sure?"
      - "This will affect live users!"
    cmds:
      - ./deploy.sh
```

#### `aliases`

* **Type**: `[]string`
* **Description**: Alternative names for the task

```yaml
tasks:
  build:
    aliases: [compile, make]
    cmds:
      - go build ./...
```

#### `sources`

* **Type**: `[]string` or `[]Glob`
* **Description**: Source files to monitor for changes

```yaml
tasks:
  build:
    sources:
      - '**/*.go'
      - go.mod
      # With exclusions
      - exclude: '**/*_test.go'
    cmds:
      - go build ./...
```

#### `generates`

* **Type**: `[]string` or `[]Glob`
* **Description**: Files generated by this task

```yaml
tasks:
  build:
    sources: ['**/*.go']
    generates:
      - './app'
      - exclude: '*.debug'
    cmds:
      - go build -o app ./cmd
```

#### `status`

* **Type**: `[]string`
* **Description**: Commands to check if task should run

```yaml
tasks:
  install-deps:
    status:
      - test -f node_modules/.installed
    cmds:
      - npm install
      - touch node_modules/.installed
```

#### `preconditions`

* **Type**: `[]Precondition`
* **Description**: Conditions that must be met before running

```yaml
tasks:
  # Simple precondition (shorthand)
  build:
    preconditions:
      - test -d ./src
    cmds:
      - go build ./...

  # Preconditions with custom messages
  deploy:
    preconditions:
      - sh: test -n "$API_KEY"
        msg: 'API_KEY environment variable is required'
      - sh: test -f ./app
        msg: "Application binary not found. Run 'task build' first."
    cmds:
      - ./deploy.sh
```

#### `if`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Description**: Shell command to conditionally execute the task. If the
  command exits with a non-zero code, the task is skipped (not failed).

```yaml
tasks:
  # Task only runs in CI environment
  deploy:
    if: '[ "$CI" = "true" ]'
    cmds:
      - ./deploy.sh

  # Using Go template expressions
  build-prod:
    if: '{{eq .ENV "production"}}'
    cmds:
      - go build -ldflags="-s -w" ./...
```

#### `dir`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Description**: The directory in which this task should run
* **Default**: If the task is in the root Taskfile, the default `dir` is
  `ROOT_DIR`. For included Taskfiles, the default `dir` is the value specified in
  their respective `includes.*.dir` field (if any).

```yaml
tasks:
  current-dir:
    dir: '{{.USER_WORKING_DIR}}'
    cmd: pwd
```

#### `requires`

* **Type**: `Requires`
* **Description**: Required variables with optional enum validation

```yaml
tasks:
  # Simple requirements
  deploy:
    requires:
      vars: [API_KEY, ENVIRONMENT]
    cmds:
      - ./deploy.sh

  # Requirements with enum validation
  advanced-deploy:
    requires:
      vars:
        - API_KEY
        - name: ENVIRONMENT
          enum: [development, staging, production]
        - name: LOG_LEVEL
          enum: [debug, info, warn, error]
    cmds:
      - echo "Deploying to {{.ENVIRONMENT}} with log level {{.LOG_LEVEL}}"
      - ./deploy.sh
```

See [Prompting for missing variables interactively](/docs/guide#prompting-for-missing-variables-interactively)
for information on enabling interactive prompts for missing required variables.

#### `watch`

* **Type**: `bool`
* **Default**: `false`
* **Description**: Automatically run task in watch mode

```yaml
tasks:
  dev:
    watch: true
    cmds:
      - npm run dev
```

#### `platforms`

* **Type**: `[]string`
* **Description**: Platforms where this task should run

```yaml
tasks:
  windows-build:
    platforms: [windows]
    cmds:
      - go build -o app.exe ./cmd

  unix-build:
    platforms: [linux, darwin]
    cmds:
      - go build -o app ./cmd
```

## Command

Individual command configuration within a task.

### Basic Commands

```yaml
tasks:
  example:
    cmds:
      - echo "Simple command"
      - ls -la
```

### Command Object

```yaml
tasks:
  example:
    cmds:
      - cmd: echo "Hello World"
        silent: true
        ignore_error: false
        platforms: [linux, darwin]
        set: [errexit]
        shopt: [globstar]
```

### Task References

```yaml
tasks:
  example:
    cmds:
      - task: other-task
        vars:
          PARAM: value
        silent: false
```

### Deferred Commands

```yaml
tasks:
  with-cleanup:
    cmds:
      - echo "Starting work"
      # Deferred command string
      - defer: echo "Cleaning up"
      # Deferred task reference
      - defer:
          task: cleanup-task
          vars:
            CLEANUP_MODE: full
```

### For Loops

#### Loop Over List

```yaml
tasks:
  greet-all:
    cmds:
      - for: [alice, bob, charlie]
        cmd: echo "Hello {{.ITEM}}"
```

#### Loop Over Sources/Generates

```yaml
tasks:
  process-files:
    sources: ['*.txt']
    cmds:
      - for: sources
        cmd: wc -l {{.ITEM}}
      - for: generates
        cmd: gzip {{.ITEM}}
```

#### Loop Over Variable

```yaml
tasks:
  process-items:
    vars:
      ITEMS: 'item1,item2,item3'
    cmds:
      - for:
          var: ITEMS
          split: ','
          as: CURRENT
        cmd: echo "Processing {{.CURRENT}}"
```

#### Loop Over Matrix

```yaml
tasks:
  test-matrix:
    cmds:
      - for:
          matrix:
            OS: [linux, windows, darwin]
            ARCH: [amd64, arm64]
        cmd: echo "Testing {{.ITEM.OS}}/{{.ITEM.ARCH}}"
```

#### Loop in Dependencies

```yaml
tasks:
  build-all:
    deps:
      - for: [frontend, backend, worker]
        task: build
        vars:
          SERVICE: '{{.ITEM}}'
```

### Conditional Commands

Use `if` to conditionally execute a command. If the shell command exits with a
non-zero code, the command is skipped.

```yaml
tasks:
  build:
    cmds:
      # Only run in production
      - cmd: echo "Optimizing for production"
        if: '[ "$ENV" = "production" ]'
      # Using Go templates
      - cmd: echo "Feature enabled"
        if: '{{eq .ENABLE_FEATURE "true"}}'
      # Inside for loops (evaluated per iteration)
      - for: [a, b, c]
        cmd: echo "processing {{.ITEM}}"
        if: '[ "{{.ITEM}}" != "b" ]'
```

## Shell Options

### Set Options

Available `set` options for POSIX shell features:

* `allexport` / `a` - Export all variables
* `errexit` / `e` - Exit on error
* `noexec` / `n` - Read commands but don't execute
* `noglob` / `f` - Disable pathname expansion
* `nounset` / `u` - Error on undefined variables
* `xtrace` / `x` - Print commands before execution
* `pipefail` - Pipe failures propagate

```yaml
# Global level
set: [errexit, nounset, pipefail]

tasks:
  debug:
    # Task level
    set: [xtrace]
    cmds:
      - cmd: echo "This will be traced"
        # Command level
        set: [noexec]
```

### Shopt Options

Available `shopt` options for Bash features:

* `expand_aliases` - Enable alias expansion
* `globstar` - Enable `**` recursive globbing
* `nullglob` - Null glob expansion

```yaml
# Global level
shopt: [globstar]

tasks:
  find-files:
    # Task level
    shopt: [nullglob]
    cmds:
      - cmd: ls **/*.go
        # Command level
        shopt: [globstar]
```

---

---
url: /docs/taskfile-versions.md
description: >-
  How to use the Taskfile schema version to ensure users are using the correct
  versions of Task
---

# Taskfile Versions

The Taskfile schema slowly changes as new features are added and old ones are
removed. This document explains how to use a Taskfile's schema version to ensure
that the users of your Taskfile are using the correct versions of Task.

## What the Taskfile version means

The schema version at the top of every Taskfile corresponds to a version of the
Task CLI, and by extension, the features that are provided by that version. When
creating a Taskfile, you should specify the *minimum* version of Task that
supports the features you require. If you try to run a Taskfile with a version
of Task that does not meet this minimum required version, it will exit with an
error. For example, given a Taskfile that starts with:

```yaml
version: '3.2.1'
```

When executed with Task `v3.2.0`, it will exit with an error. Running with
version `v3.2.1` or higher will work as expected.

Task accepts any [SemVer][semver] compatible string including versions which
omit the minor or patch numbers. For example, `3`, `3.0`, and `3.0.0` all mean
the same thing and are all valid. Most Taskfiles only specify the major version
number. However it can be useful to be more specific when you intend to share a
Taskfile with others.

For example, the Taskfile below makes use of aliases:

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  hello:
    aliases:
      - hi
      - hey
    cmds:
      - echo "Hello, world!"
```

Aliases were introduced in Task `v3.17.0`, but the Taskfile only specifies `3`
as the version. This means that a user who has `v3.16.0` or lower installed will
get a potentially confusing error message when trying to run the Task as the
Taskfile specifies that any version greater or equal to `v3.0.0` is fine.

Instead, we should start the file like this:

```yaml
version: '3.17'
```

Now when someone tries to run the Taskfile with an older version of Task, they
will receive an error prompting them to upgrade their version of Task to
`v3.17.0` or greater.

## Versions 1 & 2

Version 1 and 2 of Task are no longer officially supported and anyone still
using them is strongly encouraged to upgrade to the latest version of Task.

While `version: 2` of Task did support schema versions, the behavior did not
work in quite the same way and cannot be relied upon for the purposes discussed
above.

[semver]: https://semver.org/

---

---
url: /docs/deprecations/template-functions.md
description: >-
  Deprecation of some templating functions in Task, with guidance on their
  replacements.
---

# Template Functions

::: danger

This deprecation breaks the following functionality:

* A small set of templating functions

:::

The following templating functions are deprecated. Any replacement functions are
listed besides the function being removed.

| Deprecated function | Replaced by |
| ------------------- | ----------- |
| `IsSH`              | -           |
| `FromSlash`         | `fromSlash` |
| `ToSlash`           | `toSlash`   |
| `ExeExt`            | `exeExt`    |

---

---
url: /docs/reference/templating.md
description: >-
  Comprehensive guide to Task's templating system with Go text/template, special
  variables, and available functions
---

# Templating Reference

Task's templating engine uses Go's
[text/template](https://pkg.go.dev/text/template) package to interpolate values.
This reference covers the main features and all available functions for creating
dynamic Taskfiles. Most of the provided functions come from the
[slim-sprig](https://sprig.taskfile.dev/) library.

## Basic Usage

Most string values in Task can be templated using double curly braces
`{{` and `}}`. Anything inside the braces is executed as a Go
template.

### Simple Variable Interpolation

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  hello:
    vars:
      MESSAGE: 'Hello, World!'
    cmds:
      - 'echo {{.MESSAGE}}'
```

**Output:**

```
Hello, World!
```

### Conditional Logic

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  maybe-happy:
    vars:
      SMILE: ':\)'
      FROWN: ':\('
      HAPPY: true
    cmds:
      - 'echo {{if .HAPPY}}{{.SMILE}}{{else}}{{.FROWN}}{{end}}'
```

**Output:**

```
:)
```

### Function Calls and Pipes

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  uniq:
    vars:
      NUMBERS: '0,1,1,1,2,2,3'
    cmds:
      - 'echo {{splitList "," .NUMBERS | uniq | join ", "}}'
```

**Output:**

```
0, 1, 2, 3
```

### Control Flow with Loops

```yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  loop:
    vars:
      NUMBERS: [0, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3]
    cmds:
      - |
        {{range $index, $num := .NUMBERS}}
        {{if gt $num 1}}{{break}}{{end}}
        echo {{$index}}: {{$num}}
        {{end}}
```

**Output:**

```
0: 0
1: 1
2: 1
3: 1
```

## Special Variables

Task provides special variables that are always available in templates. These
override any user-defined variables with the same name.

### CLI

#### `CLI_ARGS`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Description**: All extra arguments passed after `--` as a string

```yaml
tasks:
  test:
    cmds:
      - go test {{.CLI_ARGS}}
```

```bash
task test -- -v -race
# Runs: go test -v -race
```

#### `CLI_ARGS_LIST`

* **Type**: `[]string`
* **Description**: All extra arguments passed after `--` as a shell parsed list

```yaml
tasks:
  docker-run:
    cmds:
      - docker run {{range .CLI_ARGS_LIST}}{{.}} {{end}}myapp
```

#### `CLI_FORCE`

* **Type**: `bool`
* **Description**: Whether `--force` or `--force-all` flags were set

```yaml
tasks:
  deploy:
    cmds:
      - |
        {{if .CLI_FORCE}}
        echo "Force deployment enabled"
        {{end}}
        ./deploy.sh
```

#### `CLI_SILENT`

* **Type**: `bool`
* **Description**: Whether `--silent` flag was set

#### `CLI_VERBOSE`

* **Type**: `bool`
* **Description**: Whether `--verbose` flag was set

#### `CLI_OFFLINE`

* **Type**: `bool`
* **Description**: Whether `--offline` flag was set

#### `CLI_ASSUME_YES`

* **Type**: `bool`
* **Description**: Whether `--yes` flag was set

### Task

#### `TASK`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Description**: Name of the current task

```yaml
tasks:
  build:
    cmds:
      - echo "Running task {{.TASK}}"
```

#### `ALIAS`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Description**: Alias used for the current task, otherwise matches `TASK`

#### `TASK_EXE`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Description**: Task executable name or path

```yaml
tasks:
  self-update:
    cmds:
      - echo "Updating {{.TASK_EXE}}"
```

### File Paths

#### `ROOT_TASKFILE`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Description**: Absolute path of the root Taskfile

#### `ROOT_DIR`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Description**: Absolute path of the root Taskfile directory

#### `TASKFILE`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Description**: Absolute path of the current (included) Taskfile

#### `TASKFILE_DIR`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Description**: Absolute path of the current Taskfile directory

#### `TASK_DIR`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Description**: Absolute path where the task is executed

#### `USER_WORKING_DIR`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Description**: Absolute path where `task` was called from

```yaml
tasks:
  info:
    cmds:
      - echo "Root {{.ROOT_DIR}}"
      - echo "Current {{.TASKFILE_DIR}}"
      - echo "Working {{.USER_WORKING_DIR}}"
```

### Status

#### `CHECKSUM`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Description**: Checksum of files in `sources` (only in `status` with
  `checksum` method)

#### `TIMESTAMP`

* **Type**: `time.Time`
* **Description**: Greatest timestamp of files in `sources` (only in `status`
  with `timestamp` method)

```yaml
tasks:
  build:
    method: checksum
    sources: ['**/*.go']
    status:
      - test "{{.CHECKSUM}}" = "$(cat .last-checksum)"
    cmds:
      - go build ./...
      - echo "{{.CHECKSUM}}" > .last-checksum
```

### Loop

#### `ITEM`

* **Type**: `any`
* **Description**: Current iteration value when using `for` property

```yaml
tasks:
  greet:
    cmds:
      - for: [alice, bob, charlie]
        cmd: echo "Hello {{.ITEM}}"
```

Can be renamed using `as`:

```yaml
tasks:
  greet:
    cmds:
      - for:
          var: NAMES
          as: NAME
        cmd: echo "Hello {{.NAME}}"
```

### Defer

#### `EXIT_CODE`

* **Type**: `int`
* **Description**: Failed command exit code (only in `defer`, only when
  non-zero)

```yaml
tasks:
  deploy:
    cmds:
      - ./deploy.sh
      - defer: |
          {{if .EXIT_CODE}}
          echo "Deployment failed with code {{.EXIT_CODE}}"
          ./rollback.sh
          {{end}}
```

### System

#### `TASK_VERSION`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Description**: Current version of Task

```yaml
tasks:
  version:
    cmds:
      - echo "Using Task {{.TASK_VERSION}}"
```

## Available Functions

Task provides a comprehensive set of functions for templating. Functions can be chained using pipes (`|`) and combined for powerful templating capabilities.

### Logic and Control Flow

#### `and`, `or`, `not`

Boolean operations for conditional logic

```yaml
tasks:
  conditional:
    vars:
      DEBUG: true
      VERBOSE: false
      PRODUCTION: false
    cmds:
      - echo "{{if and .DEBUG .VERBOSE}}Debug mode with verbose{{end}}"
      - echo "{{if or .DEBUG .VERBOSE}}Some kind of debug{{end}}"
      - echo "{{if not .PRODUCTION}}Development build{{end}}"
```

#### `eq`, `ne`, `lt`, `le`, `gt`, `ge`

Comparison operations

```yaml
tasks:
  compare:
    vars:
      VERSION: 3
    cmds:
      - echo "{{if gt .VERSION 2}}Version 3 or higher{{end}}"
      - echo "{{if eq .VERSION 3}}Exactly version 3{{end}}"
```

### Data Access and Manipulation

#### `index`

Access array/map elements by index or key

```yaml
tasks:
  access:
    vars:
      SERVICES: [api, web, worker]
      CONFIG:
        map:
          database: postgres
          port: 5432
    cmds:
      - echo "First service {{index .SERVICES 0}}"
      - echo "Database {{index .CONFIG "database"}}"
```

#### `len`

Get length of arrays, maps, or strings

```yaml
tasks:
  length:
    vars:
      ITEMS: [a, b, c, d]
      TEXT: "Hello World"
    cmds:
      - echo "Found {{len .ITEMS}} items"
      - echo "Text has {{len .TEXT}} characters"
```

#### `slice`

Extract a portion of an array or string

```yaml
tasks:
  slice-demo:
    vars:
      ITEMS: [a, b, c, d, e]
    cmds:
      - echo "{{slice .ITEMS 1 3}}"     # [b c]
```

### String Functions

#### Basic String Operations

```yaml
tasks:
  string-basic:
    vars:
      MESSAGE: '  Hello World  '
      NAME: 'john doe'
      TEXT: "Hello World"
    cmds:
      - echo "{{.MESSAGE | trim}}"          # "Hello World"
      - echo "{{.NAME | title}}"            # "John Doe"
      - echo "{{.NAME | upper}}"            # "JOHN DOE"
      - echo "{{.MESSAGE | lower}}"         # "hello world"
      - echo "{{.NAME | trunc 4}}"          # "john"
      - echo "{{"test" | repeat 3}}"        # "testtesttest"
      - echo "{{.TEXT | substr 0 5}}"       # "Hello"
```

#### String Testing and Searching

```yaml
tasks:
  string-test:
    vars:
      FILENAME: 'app.tar.gz'
      EMAIL: 'user@example.com'
    cmds:
      - echo "{{.FILENAME | hasPrefix "app"}}"    # true
      - echo "{{.FILENAME | hasSuffix ".gz"}}"    # true
      - echo "{{.EMAIL | contains "@"}}"          # true
```

#### String Replacement and Formatting

```yaml
tasks:
  string-format:
    vars:
      TEXT: 'Hello, World!'
      UNSAFE: 'file with spaces.txt'
    cmds:
      - echo "{{.TEXT | replace "," ""}}"         # "Hello World!"
      - echo "{{.TEXT | quote}}"                  # "\"Hello, World!\""
      - echo "{{.UNSAFE | shellQuote}}"           # Shell-safe quoting
      - echo "{{.UNSAFE | q}}"                    # Short alias for shellQuote
```

#### Regular Expressions

```yaml
tasks:
  regex:
    vars:
      EMAIL: 'user@example.com'
      TEXT: 'abc123def456'
    cmds:
      - echo "{{regexMatch "@" .EMAIL}}"                    # true
      - echo "{{regexFind "[0-9]+" .TEXT}}"                # "123"
      - echo "{{regexFindAll "[0-9]+" .TEXT -1}}"          # ["123", "456"]
      - echo "{{regexReplaceAll "[0-9]+" .TEXT "X"}}"      # "abcXdefX"
```

### List Functions

#### List Access and Basic Operations

```yaml
tasks:
  list-basic:
    vars:
      ITEMS: ["apple", "banana", "cherry", "date"]
    cmds:
      - echo "First {{.ITEMS | first}}"          # "apple"
      - echo "Last {{.ITEMS | last}}"            # "date"
      - echo "Rest {{.ITEMS | rest}}"            # ["banana", "cherry", "date"]
      - echo "Initial {{.ITEMS | initial}}"      # ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
      - echo "Length {{.ITEMS | len}}"           # 4
```

#### List Manipulation

```yaml
tasks:
  list-manipulate:
    vars:
      NUMBERS: [3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, 1]
      FRUITS: ["apple", "banana"]
    cmds:
      - echo "{{.NUMBERS | uniq}}"                       # [3, 1, 4, 5, 9]
      - echo "{{.NUMBERS | sortAlpha}}"                  # [1, 1, 1, 3, 4, 5, 9]
      - echo"'{{append .FRUITS "cherry"}}""              # ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
      - echo "{{ without .NUMBERS 1}}"                   # [3, 4, 5, 9]
      - echo "{{.NUMBERS | has 5}}"                      # true
```

#### String Lists

```yaml
tasks:
  string-lists:
    vars:
      CSV: 'apple,banana,cherry'
      WORDS: ['hello', 'world', 'from', 'task']
      MULTILINE: |
        line1
        line2
        line3
    cmds:
      - echo "{{.CSV | splitList ","}}"           # ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
      - echo "{{.WORDS | join " "}}"              # "hello world from task"
      - echo "{{.WORDS | sortAlpha}}"             # ["from", "hello", "task", "world"]
      - echo "{{.MULTILINE | splitLines}}"        # Split on newlines (Unix/Windows)
      - echo "{{.MULTILINE | catLines}}"          # Replace newlines with spaces
```

#### Shell Argument Parsing

```yaml
tasks:
  shell-args:
    vars:
      ARGS: 'file1.txt -v --output="result file.txt"'
    cmds:
      - |
        {{range .ARGS | splitArgs}}
        echo "Arg: {{.}}"
        {{end}}
```

### Math Functions

```yaml
tasks:
  math:
    vars:
      A: 10
      B: 3
      NUMBERS: [1, 5, 3, 9, 2]
    cmds:
      - echo "Addition {{add .A .B}}"            # 13
      - echo "Subtraction {{sub .A .B}}"         # 7
      - echo "Multiplication {{mul .A .B}}"      # 30
      - echo "Division {{div .A .B}}"            # 3
      - echo "Modulo {{mod .A .B}}"              # 1
      - echo "Maximum {{.NUMBERS | max}}"        # 9
      - echo "Minimum {{.NUMBERS | min}}"        # 1
      - echo "Random 1-99 {{randInt 1 100}}"     # Random number
      - echo "Random 0-999 {{randIntN 1000}}"    # Random number 0-999
```

### Date and Time Functions

```yaml
tasks:
  date-time:
    vars:
      BUILD_DATE: "2023-12-25"
    cmds:
      - echo "Now {{now | date "2006-01-02 15:04:05"}}"
      - echo {{ toDate "2006-01-02" .BUILD_DATE }}
      - echo "Build {{.BUILD_DATE | toDate "2006-01-02" | date "Jan 2, 2006"}}"
      - echo "Unix timestamp {{now | unixEpoch}}"
      - echo "Duration ago {{now | ago}}"
```

### System Functions

#### Platform Information

```yaml
tasks:
  platform:
    cmds:
      - echo "OS {{OS}}"                         # linux, darwin, windows, etc.
      - echo "Architecture {{ARCH}}"             # amd64, arm64, etc.
      - echo "CPU cores {{numCPU}}"              # Number of CPU cores
      - echo "Building for {{OS}}/{{ARCH}}"
```

#### Path Functions

```yaml
tasks:
  paths:
    vars:
      WIN_PATH: 'C:\Users\name\file.txt'
      OUTPUT_DIR: 'dist'
      BINARY_NAME: 'myapp'
    cmds:
      - echo "{{.WIN_PATH | toSlash}}"                          # Convert to forward slashes
      - echo "{{.WIN_PATH | fromSlash}}"                        # Convert to OS-specific slashes
      - echo "{{joinPath .OUTPUT_DIR .BINARY_NAME}}"            # Join path elements
      - echo "Relative {{relPath .ROOT_DIR .TASKFILE_DIR}}"    # Get relative path
```

### Data Structure Functions

#### Dictionary Operations

```yaml
tasks:
  dict:
    vars:
      CONFIG:
        map:
          database: postgres
          port: 5432
          ssl: true
    cmds:
      - echo "Database {{get .CONFIG "database"}}"
      - echo "Database {{"database" | get .CONFIG}}"
      - echo "Keys {{.CONFIG | keys}}"
      - echo "Keys {{keys .CONFIG }}"
      - echo "Has SSL {{hasKey .CONFIG "ssl"}}"
      - echo "{{dict "env" "prod" "debug" false}}"
```

#### Merging and Combining

```yaml
tasks:
  merge:
    vars:
      BASE_CONFIG:
        map:
          timeout: 30
          retries: 3
      USER_CONFIG:
        map:
          timeout: 60
          debug: true
    cmds:
      - echo "{{merge .BASE_CONFIG .USER_CONFIG | toJson}}"
```

### Default Values and Coalescing

```yaml
tasks:
  defaults:
    vars:
      API_URL: ""
      DEBUG: false
      ITEMS: []
    cmds:
      - echo "{{.API_URL | default "http://localhost:8080"}}"
      - echo "{{.DEBUG | default true}}"
      - echo "{{.MISSING_VAR | default "fallback"}}"
      - echo "{{coalesce .API_URL .FALLBACK_URL "default"}}"
      - echo "Is empty {{empty .ITEMS}}"                     # true
```

### Encoding and Serialization

#### JSON

```yaml
tasks:
  json:
    vars:
      DATA:
        map:
          name: 'Task'
          version: '3.0'
      JSON_STRING: '{"key": "value", "number": 42}'
    cmds:
      - echo "{{.DATA | toJson}}"
      - echo "{{.DATA | toPrettyJson}}"
      - echo "{{.JSON_STRING | fromJson }}"
```

#### YAML

```yaml
tasks:
  yaml:
    vars:
      CONFIG:
        map:
          database:
            host: localhost
            port: 5432
      YAML_STRING: |
        key: value
        items:
          - one
          - two
    cmds:
      - echo "{{.CONFIG | toYaml}}"
      - echo "{{.YAML_STRING | fromYaml}}"
```

#### Base64

```yaml
tasks:
  base64:
    vars:
      SECRET: 'my-secret-key'
    cmds:
      - echo "{{.SECRET | b64enc}}"               # Encode to base64
      - echo "{{"bXktc2VjcmV0LWtleQ==" | b64dec}}"   # Decode from base64
```

### Type Conversion

```yaml
tasks:
  convert:
    vars:
      NUM_STR: '42'
      FLOAT_STR: '3.14'
      BOOL_STR: 'true'
      ITEMS: [1, 2, 3]
    cmds:
      - echo "{{.NUM_STR | atoi | add 8}}"        # String to int: 50
      - echo "{{.FLOAT_STR | float64}}"           # String to float: 3.14
      - echo "{{.ITEMS | toStrings}}"             # Convert to strings: ["1", "2", "3"]
```

### Utility Functions

#### UUID Generation

```yaml
tasks:
  generate:
    vars:
      DEPLOYMENT_ID: "{{uuid}}"
    cmds:
      - echo "Deployment ID {{.DEPLOYMENT_ID}}"
```

#### Debugging

```yaml
tasks:
  debug:
    vars:
      COMPLEX_VAR:
        map:
          items: [1, 2, 3]
          nested:
            key: value
    cmds:
      - echo "{{spew .COMPLEX_VAR}}"              # Pretty-print for debugging
```

### Output Functions

#### Formatted Output

```yaml
tasks:
  output:
    vars:
      VERSION: "1.2.3"
      BUILD: 42
    cmds:
      - echo '{{print "Simple output"}}'
      - echo '{{printf "Version %s.%d" .VERSION .BUILD}}'
      - echo '{{println "With newline"}}'
```

---

---
url: /docs/deprecations/version-2-schema.md
description: Deprecation of Taskfile schema version 2 and migration to version 3
---

# Version 2 Schema (#1197)

::: danger

This deprecation breaks the following functionality:

* Any Taskfiles that use the version 2 schema
* `Taskvar.yml` files

:::

The Taskfile version 2 schema was introduced in March 2018 and replaced by
version 3 in August 2019. In May 2023 [we published a deprecation
notice][deprecation-notice] for the version 2 schema on the basis that the vast
majority of users had already upgraded to version 3 and removing support for
version 2 would allow us to tidy up the codebase and focus on new functionality
instead.

In December 2023, the final version of Task that supports the version 2 schema
([v3.33.0][v3.33.0]) was published and all legacy code was removed from Task's
main branch. To use a more recent version of Task, you will need to ensure that
your Taskfile uses the version 3 schema instead. A list of changes between
version 2 and version 3 are available in the [Task v3 Release Notes][v3.0.0].

[v3.0.0]: https://github.com/go-task/task/releases/tag/v3.0.0

[v3.33.0]: https://github.com/go-task/task/releases/tag/v3.33.0

[deprecation-notice]: https://github.com/go-task/task/issues/1197