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:

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.

Config equivalent: verbose
Environment variable: TASK_VERBOSE

bash

task build --verbose

`-s, --silent`

Disable command echoing.

Config equivalent: silent
Environment variable: TASK_SILENT

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.

Config equivalent: disable-fuzzy
Environment variable: TASK_DISABLE_FUZZY

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.

Config equivalent: failfast
Environment variable: TASK_FAILFAST

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.

Environment variable: TASK_DRY

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.

Config equivalent: concurrency
Environment variable: TASK_CONCURRENCY

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.

Config equivalent: color
Environment variable: TASK_COLOR

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.

bash

task build --watch --interval 1s

Interactive

`-y, --yes`

Automatically answer "yes" to all prompts.

Environment variable: TASK_ASSUME_YES

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.

Environment variable: TASK_INTERACTIVE

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.

:::

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"
}