Tasks

A taskfile is a file called hobnob.yml at the top of your project. It holds your project's tasks under tasks:. Each task has a name and a list of steps, which run from top to bottom:

tasks:
  ask-trivia:
    info: Ask a random trivia question.
    steps:
      - run: echo "Which planet is closest to the sun?"
      - run: echo "Mercury"

$ hobnob ask-trivia
run: [ask-trivia] echo "Which planet is closest to the sun?"
[ask-trivia] Which planet is closest to the sun?
run: [ask-trivia] echo "Mercury"
[ask-trivia] Mercury
✓ [ask-trivia] done

hobnob prints each command before running it, then what the command prints, then ✓ once the task is done.

Describing a task

info: is a one-line description. hobnob shows it beside the task's name in --list and in the picker:

$ hobnob --list
Available tasks for this project:
• ask-trivia  Ask a random trivia question.

Kinds of step

Every step does one of five things, and most of this guide is about them:

Step	Does	Page
run:	Runs a command.	Running commands
set:	Sets variables.	Variables
get:	Asks for a value.	Prompts
loop:	Runs steps once per item.	Loops
call:	Runs another task and brings values back.	Calling tasks

Any step can also take if: to run only when a condition holds. The schema lists every key each kind of step takes.

Task options

Besides info: and steps:, a task can take a few options that apply to all its steps. Each is explained on the page that needs it:

• if: skips the task unless a condition holds.
• dir: runs its commands in another directory.
• results: lists the values it hands back to a task that calls it.
• once: runs it only once, however many tasks call it.

Helper tasks

Start a task's name with _, as in _fetch-question, to make it a helper. It's left out of --list and the picker, and only another task can call it.

Naming

• Task names are kebab-case: ask-trivia.
• Variable names are ALL_CAPS with underscores: CATEGORY, TIMEOUT_SECS.
• info: comes first, in tasks and in get: entries, so it's the first thing you read.

Rules

• Running a helper task directly is an error: hobnob _fetch-question fails with task "_fetch-question" is internal and cannot be called directly.