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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.

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:

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:

version: '3'

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

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

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:

version: '3'

tasks:
  foo:
    cmds:
      - ./foo-printer.bash
#!/bin/bash
a=foo
echo $a

'x' builtin command doesn't work on Windows​

The default shell on Windows (cmd and powershell) does not have commands like rm and cp available as builtins. This means that these commands won't work. If you want to make your Taskfile fully cross-platform, you'll need to work around this limitation using one of the following methods:

  • Use the {{OS}} function to run an OS-specific script.
  • Use something like {{if eq OS "windows"}}powershell {{end}}<my_cmd> to detect windows and run the command in Powershell directly.
  • Use a shell on Windows that supports these commands as builtins, such as Git Bash or WSL.

We want to make improvements to this part of Task and the issues below track this work. Constructive comments and contributions are very welcome!