Platforms and shells

Task runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows. A portable Taskfile also needs commands and tools that work on the machines where you run it. Use platforms to select OS-specific steps, and keep shared work in the same task.

Select platform commands

Set platforms on an individual command when only part of a task differs by platform:

version: '3'

tasks:
  setup:
    cmds:
      - cmd: echo 'Preparing Windows tools'
        platforms: [windows]
      - cmd: echo 'Preparing Unix tools'
        platforms: [linux, darwin]
      - echo 'Preparing shared files'

Run task setup. A command whose platform does not match is skipped without an error; the shared command runs on every platform.

Restrict a whole task

Put platforms on the task when none of its commands should run elsewhere:

version: '3'

tasks:
  setup:windows:
    platforms: [windows/amd64]
    cmds:
      - echo 'Preparing tools for Windows on amd64'

Restriction	Matches
[windows]	Windows on any architecture
[amd64]	Any supported OS on amd64
[windows/amd64]	Windows on amd64
[windows/amd64, darwin]	Windows on amd64, or macOS on any architecture

OS and architecture names use Go's GOOS and GOARCH values. These restrictions check the machine running Task; they do not configure a compiler's target.

Share platform values

The OS and ARCH template functions expose the current platform. Use them to select OS-specific Taskfiles or construct arguments. Use exeExt for executable names that need .exe on Windows:

version: '3'

tasks:
  build:
    cmds:
      - go build -o app{{exeExt}} main.go

Understand command shells

Task runs commands through its embedded shell interpreter. It does not start your interactive shell or load that shell's startup configuration. Use Taskfile env and dotenv for values commands need.

Each cmds entry gets a separate shell context. A cd or export in one entry does not carry over to the next. Set dir and env on the task instead:

version: '3'

tasks:
  inspect:
    dir: src
    env:
      BUILD_MODE: development
    cmds:
      - pwd
      - echo "$BUILD_MODE"

If several commands need to share shell state, put them in one multiline cmd or a script. Programs such as go, npm, or docker must still be installed. Invoke bash, pwsh, or cmd /c explicitly when a command needs that particular shell, and restrict it to machines where it is available.

Configure shell options

Use set for POSIX shell options and shopt for supported Bash-style options. For example, pipefail makes a pipeline fail when an earlier command fails, and globstar enables recursive ** globs in shell commands:

version: '3'

set: [pipefail]
shopt: [globstar]

tasks:
  list:
    cmds:
      - echo **/*.go

These options can be set at the root, task, or command level. The shell interpreter supports a subset of shell options; see the shell options reference.

shopt controls shell expansion inside commands. Globs in sources and generates use Task's file matching and do not require globstar.