Environment Variables

Environment variable in Taskfile

There are two ways to declare environment variables in Taskfile:

Using a .env file via the dotnet option in the Taskfile.
Using env option in the Taskfile.

If you want to override the value of an environment variable, you have to reference it using the $ENV_NAME format in the Taskfile, not {{.ENV_NAME}}. You can refer below for more details.

export STAGE=dev will override the value of STAGE defined in .env file or env option in the Taskfile.

Using .env file

You can specify dotnet option in global or task level.

- Taskfile.yml
- .env
- - .env

Assume you have the following content:


STAGE=test

Taskfile.yml


version: '3'
 
dotenv: # global/system environment variables for all tasks
  - '.env'
 
env:
  MYENV: test
 
tasks:
  hello:
    dotenv: ['{{ .MYENV }}/.env', '{{ .HOME }}/.env']
    cmds:
      - 'echo "Endpoint is: $ENDPOINT, Stage is: $STAGE"'

.HOME is a magic variable that refers to the home directory of the user.
export STAGE=dev, if set explicitly in the environment, it will override the value of STAGE defined in .env file.
- but if you set export MYENV=prod, it will not override the value of MYENV defined in Taskfile.

demo and output


ubuntu@touted-mite:~$ task hello 
task: [hello] echo "Endpoint is: $ENDPOINT, Stage is: $STAGE"
Endpoint is: testing.com, Stage is: test
 
# Override the value of STAGE
ubuntu@touted-mite:~$ export STAGE=dev
ubuntu@touted-mite:~$ task hello 
task: [hello] echo "Endpoint is: $ENDPOINT, Stage is: $STAGE"
Endpoint is: testing.com, Stage is: dev
 
# Try to override MYENV but it will not override
ubuntu@touted-mite:~$ export MYENV=dev
ubuntu@touted-mite:~$ task hello 
task: [hello] echo "Endpoint is: $ENDPOINT, Stage is: $STAGE"
Endpoint is: testing.com, Stage is: dev

Using env option

Taskfile.yml


version: '3'
 
env: # global/system environment variables for all tasks
  HOME: /root
 
tasks:
  msg:
    env:
      MESSAGE: Hello
    cmds:
      - 'echo "Message is: $MESSAGE"'
      - 'echo "Home directory is $HOME"'

Override dotenv variable using env option

.env


ENDPOINT=testing.com

Taskfile.yml


version: '3'
 
tasks:
  hello:
    dotenv:
      - '.env'
    env:
      ENDPOINT: dev.com # Override the value of ENDPOINT
    cmds:
      - 'echo "Endpoint is: $ENDPOINT"'

demo and output


ubuntu@touted-mite:~$ task hello 
task: [hello] echo "Endpoint is: $ENDPOINT"
Endpoint is: dev.com