Dependencies & aliases

Dependencies

deps lists tasks that must finish before this task starts.

tasks:
  build:
    deps: [fmt, lint]
    cmds:
      - go build -o bin/app .

  fmt:
    cmds: [go fmt ./...]

  lint:
    cmds: [golangci-lint run]

stackctl run build runs fmt and lint, then build.

How dependencies behave:

• Parallel. All entries in deps run at the same time.
• Once per run. If two tasks depend on the same task, it runs once.
• Fail fast. If a dependency fails, the task does not run.
• Cycles are errors. If a depends on b and b on a, Stackctl reports the cycle.

When order matters

Because deps run in parallel, use task: inside cmds for steps that must happen in sequence:

tasks:
  release:
    cmds:
      - task: fmt        # first
      - task: build      # then this
      - git tag v1.0.0   # then this

Rule of thumb

Use deps for independent prerequisites. Use task: in cmds when order matters.

Aliases

Give a task shorter names with aliases:

YAML

tasks:
  build:
    aliases: [b, compile]
    cmds: [go build .]

JSON

{
  "tasks": {
    "build": {
      "aliases": ["b", "compile"],
      "cmds": ["go build ."]
    }
  }
}

TOML

[tasks.build]
aliases = ["b", "compile"]
cmds = ["go build ."]

stackctl run b
stackctl run compile

Aliases work on the command line, in deps and in task: calls. stackctl list shows them next to the task name.

An alias cannot have the same name as a task, and two tasks cannot share an alias. Stackctl reports an error when it loads the file.