---
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:

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

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

## Variables

All [configuration file options](/docs/reference/config.md) can also be set via environment
variables. The priority order is: CLI flags > environment variables > config
files > defaults.

### `TASK_VERBOSE`

* **Type**: `boolean` (`true`, `false`, `1`, `0`)
* **Default**: `false`
* **Description**: Enable verbose output for all tasks
* **Config equivalent**: [`verbose`](/docs/reference/config.md#verbose)

### `TASK_SILENT`

* **Type**: `boolean` (`true`, `false`, `1`, `0`)
* **Default**: `false`
* **Description**: Disables echoing of commands
* **Config equivalent**: [`silent`](/docs/reference/config.md#silent)

### `TASK_COLOR`

* **Type**: `boolean` (`true`, `false`, `1`, `0`)
* **Default**: `true`
* **Description**: Enable colored output
* **Config equivalent**: [`color`](/docs/reference/config.md#color)

### `TASK_DISABLE_FUZZY`

* **Type**: `boolean` (`true`, `false`, `1`, `0`)
* **Default**: `false`
* **Description**: Disable fuzzy matching for task names
* **Config equivalent**: [`disable-fuzzy`](/docs/reference/config.md#disable-fuzzy)

### `TASK_CONCURRENCY`

* **Type**: `integer`
* **Description**: Limit number of tasks to run concurrently
* **Config equivalent**: [`concurrency`](/docs/reference/config.md#concurrency)

### `TASK_FAILFAST`

* **Type**: `boolean` (`true`, `false`, `1`, `0`)
* **Default**: `false`
* **Description**: When running tasks in parallel, stop all tasks if one fails
* **Config equivalent**: [`failfast`](/docs/reference/config.md#failfast)

### `TASK_DRY`

* **Type**: `boolean` (`true`, `false`, `1`, `0`)
* **Default**: `false`
* **Description**: Compiles and prints tasks in the order that they would be
  run, without executing them

### `TASK_ASSUME_YES`

* **Type**: `boolean` (`true`, `false`, `1`, `0`)
* **Default**: `false`
* **Description**: Assume "yes" as answer to all prompts

### `TASK_INTERACTIVE`

* **Type**: `boolean` (`true`, `false`, `1`, `0`)
* **Default**: `false`
* **Description**: Prompt for missing required variables

### `TASK_OUTPUT`

* **Type**: `string` (`interleaved`, `group`, `prefixed`)
* **Description**: Sets the output style
* **CLI equivalent**: [`--output`](/docs/reference/cli.md#o-output-mode)

### `TASK_OUTPUT_GROUP_BEGIN`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Description**: Message template to print before a task's grouped output.
  Only applies when the output style is `group`.
* **CLI equivalent**:
  [`--output-group-begin`](/docs/reference/cli.md#output-group-begin-template)

### `TASK_OUTPUT_GROUP_END`

* **Type**: `string`
* **Description**: Message template to print after a task's grouped output. Only
  applies when the output style is `group`.
* **CLI equivalent**:
  [`--output-group-end`](/docs/reference/cli.md#output-group-end-template)

### `TASK_OUTPUT_GROUP_ERROR_ONLY`

* **Type**: `boolean` (`true`, `false`, `1`, `0`)
* **Default**: `false`
* **Description**: Swallow output from successful tasks. Only applies when the
  output style is `group`.
* **CLI equivalent**:
  [`--output-group-error-only`](/docs/reference/cli.md#output-group-error-only)

### `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.

### `FORCE_COLOR`

Force color output usage.

## Remote Taskfile Variables

The following variables are used to control the behavior of
[remote Taskfiles](/docs/remote-taskfiles.md).

### `TASK_REMOTE_INSECURE`

Allow insecure connections when fetching remote Taskfiles.

### `TASK_REMOTE_OFFLINE`

Work in offline mode, preventing remote Taskfile fetching.

### `TASK_REMOTE_TIMEOUT`

Timeout duration for remote operations (e.g., '30s', '5m').

### `TASK_REMOTE_CACHE_EXPIRY`

Cache expiry duration for remote Taskfiles (e.g., '1h', '24h').

### `TASK_REMOTE_CACHE_DIR`

Directory where remote Taskfiles are cached. Can be an absolute path (e.g.,
`/var/cache/task`) or relative to the Taskfile directory.

### `TASK_REMOTE_TRUSTED_HOSTS`

List of (comma-separated) trusted hosts for remote Taskfiles. Hosts in this list
will not prompt for confirmation when downloading Taskfiles.

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.

### `TASK_REMOTE_CACERT`

Path to a custom CA certificate file for TLS verification.

### `TASK_REMOTE_CERT`

Path to a client certificate file for mTLS authentication.

### `TASK_REMOTE_CERT_KEY`

Path to the client certificate private key file.

### 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