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Declaring Environment Variables

There are two ways to declare environment variables in Taskfile:
  1. Using a .env file via the dotenv option
  2. Using the env option directly in the Taskfile
To override an environment variable value at runtime, reference it using $ENV_NAME format (not {{.ENV_NAME}}). For example, export STAGE=dev will override a value defined in a .env file or env option.

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Using a .env File

You can specify the dotenv option at the global or task level.
Given this file structure: 
/home/<user>/
├── Taskfile.yml
├── .env
└── test/
    └── .env

STAGE=test
Taskfile.yml
version: '3'

dotenv: # global environment variables for all tasks
  - '.env'

env:
  MYENV: test

tasks:
  hello:
    dotenv: ['{{ .MYENV }}/.env', '{{ .HOME }}/.env']
    cmds:
      - 'echo "Endpoint is: $ENDPOINT, Stage is: $STAGE"'
  • .HOME is a magic variable that refers to the home directory of the user.
  • export STAGE=dev set explicitly in the environment will override the .env value.
  • export MYENV=prod will not override a value defined directly in the Taskfile env block.
Demo and output
ubuntu@touted-mite:~$ task hello
task: [hello] echo "Endpoint is: $ENDPOINT, Stage is: $STAGE"
Endpoint is: testing.com, Stage is: test

# Override 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

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Using the env Option

Taskfile.yml
version: '3'

env: # global environment variables for all tasks
  HOME: /root

tasks:
  msg:
    env:
      MESSAGE: Hello
    cmds:
      - 'echo "Message is: $MESSAGE"'
      - 'echo "Home directory is $HOME"'

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Override a dotenv Variable with env

.env
ENDPOINT=testing.com
Taskfile.yml
version: '3'

tasks:
  hello:
    dotenv:
      - '.env'
    env:
      ENDPOINT: dev.com # overrides the value from .env
    cmds:
      - 'echo "Endpoint is: $ENDPOINT"'
Demo and output
ubuntu@touted-mite:~$ task hello
task: [hello] echo "Endpoint is: $ENDPOINT"
Endpoint is: dev.com

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