Task

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Environment variables ​

Use env for values a program reads from its environment. In this example, the shell reads GREETING with $GREETING:

yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  greet:
    env:
      GREETING: Hello, World!
    cmds:
      - echo "$GREETING"

Run task greet to print the greeting. Task uses the same shell syntax on supported platforms, including Windows. For values used in Task templates, use Variables.

Set values for commands ​

Put env on a task to configure its commands, or at the root to provide values for every task:

yaml
version: '3'

env:
  GREETING: Hello, World!

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

  greet:local:
    env:
      GREETING: Hello from this task!
    cmds:
      - echo "$GREETING"

With no GREETING in the process environment, task greet uses the root value and task greet:local uses the task's value.

By default, a variable already present in the process environment takes precedence over Taskfile env values. If the result differs from the example, check the environment used to launch Task. The Env Precedence experiment changes this rule.

env values support templates and dynamic sh commands. For example, an entry BUILD_MODE: '{{.MODE}}' exports a Task variable to a command's environment. A vars entry alone is not exported to commands in cmds.

Load values from files ​

Use dotenv to load values from files instead of repeating them in the Taskfile. Create these two files in your project:

dotenv
GREETING=Hello from .env!
yaml
version: '3'

dotenv: ['.env']

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

Run task greet to use the value from .env, assuming the process environment does not already set GREETING.

Choose file precedence ​

When several dotenv files define a name, the first file wins. Put local overrides before shared defaults:

yaml
version: '3'

vars:
  ENV: development

tasks:
  greet:
    dotenv:
      - .env.local
      - .env.{{.ENV}}
      - .env
    cmds:
      - echo "$GREETING"

task greet ENV=testing selects .env.testing for the middle entry. This example puts dotenv on the task so it can use call variables; root-level dotenv files are loaded before those variables are available. Missing dotenv files are skipped. Keep files containing local credentials out of version control.

Load values for one task ​

Put dotenv on a task when only that task needs the file. Explicit task-level env values take precedence over values loaded from dotenv files:

yaml
version: '3'

tasks:
  greet:
    dotenv: ['.env']
    env:
      GREETING: Hello from the task!
    cmds:
      - echo "$GREETING"

The process environment still takes precedence by default. Dotenv paths can contain templates, as in '{{.HOME}}/.env'.

The dotenv key is not supported inside included Taskfiles. Load shared values in the entrypoint Taskfile instead. See Including Taskfiles.