CLI Reference

Task CLI commands have the following syntax:

task [--flags] [tasks...] [-- CLI_ARGS...]

tip

If -- is given, all remaining arguments will be assigned to a special CLI_ARGS variable

Flags

Short	Flag	Type	Default	Description
-c	--color	bool	true	Colored output. Enabled by default. Set flag to false or use NO_COLOR=1 to disable.
-C	--concurrency	int	0	Limit number tasks to run concurrently. Zero means unlimited.
-d	--dir	string	Working directory	Sets directory of execution.
-n	--dry	bool	false	Compiles and prints tasks in the order that they would be run, without executing them.
-x	--exit-code	bool	false	Pass-through the exit code of the task command.
-f	--force	bool	false	Forces execution even when the task is up-to-date.
-g	--global	bool	false	Runs global Taskfile, from $HOME/Taskfile.{yml,yaml}.
-h	--help	bool	false	Shows Task usage.
-i	--init	bool	false	Creates a new Taskfile.yml in the current folder.
-I	--interval	string	5s	Sets a different watch interval when using --watch, the default being 5 seconds. This string should be a valid Go Duration.
-l	--list	bool	false	Lists tasks with description of current Taskfile.
-a	--list-all	bool	false	Lists tasks with or without a description.
	--sort	string	default	Changes the order of the tasks when listed. default - Alphanumeric with root tasks first alphanumeric - Alphanumeric none - No sorting (As they appear in the Taskfile)
	--json	bool	false	See JSON Output
-o	--output	string	Default set in the Taskfile or interleaved	Sets output style: [interleaved/group/prefixed].
	--output-group-begin	string		Message template to print before a task's grouped output.
	--output-group-end	string		Message template to print after a task's grouped output.
	--output-group-error-only	bool	false	Swallow command output on zero exit code.
-p	--parallel	bool	false	Executes tasks provided on command line in parallel.
-s	--silent	bool	false	Disables echoing.
-y	--yes	bool	false	Assume "yes" as answer to all prompts.
	--status	bool	false	Exits with non-zero exit code if any of the given tasks is not up-to-date.
	--summary	bool	false	Show summary about a task.
-t	--taskfile	string	Taskfile.yml or Taskfile.yaml
-v	--verbose	bool	false	Enables verbose mode.
	--version	bool	false	Show Task version.
-w	--watch	bool	false	Enables watch of the given task.

Exit Codes

Task will sometimes exit with specific exit codes. These codes are split into four groups with the following ranges:

• Success (0)
• General errors (1-99)
• Taskfile errors (100-199)
• Task errors (200-299)

A full list of the exit codes and their descriptions can be found below:

Code	Description
0	Success
1	An unknown error occurred
100	No Taskfile was found
101	A Taskfile already exists when trying to initialize one
102	The Taskfile is invalid or cannot be parsed
103	A remote Taskfile could not be downloaded
104	A remote Taskfile was not trusted by the user
105	A remote Taskfile was could not be fetched securely
106	No cache was found for a remote Taskfile in offline mode
107	No schema version was defined in the Taskfile
200	The specified task could not be found
201	An error occurred while executing a command inside of a task
202	The user tried to invoke a task that is internal
203	There a multiple tasks with the same name or alias
204	A task was called too many times
205	A task was cancelled by the user
206	A task was not executed due to missing required variables
207	A task was not executed due to a variable having an incorrect value

These codes can also be found in the repository in errors/errors.go.

info

When Task is run with the -x/--exit-code flag, the exit code of any failed commands will be passed through to the user instead.

JSON Output

When using the --json flag in combination with either the --list or --list-all flags, the output will be a JSON object with the following structure:

{
  "tasks": [
    {
      "name": "",
      "desc": "",
      "summary": "",
      "up_to_date": false,
      "location": {
        "line": 54,
        "column": 3,
        "taskfile": "/path/to/Taskfile.yml"
      }
    }
    // ...
  ],
  "location": "/path/to/Taskfile.yml"
}