rite

First-in-wins precedence

Shell env beats CLI args beats entrypoint defaults beats task-scope. Task-scope vars blocks are defaults only — if any higher tier set the name, the task value is ignored. Eight documented tiers, no surprises.

${VAR} and {{.VAR}} are interchangeable

Both syntaxes resolve against the same variable set with identical precedence. Use shell-native for commands, Go-template for conditionals and globs. Pick whichever reads cleaner.

Every var exports

A declared variable reaches the cmd shell environ by default. Opt out with export: false. No more vars vs env asymmetry.

One-way migration

rite --migrate Taskfile.yml produces a Ritefile and flags every site where first-in-wins would change the meaning of your existing config. No compatibility shim — an intentional break, documented line by line.

Why this exists

go-task's variable model is structurally inverted: task-level vars: override CLI arguments and shell environment, which is the opposite of every Unix convention. The upstream project's planned redesign (go-task/task#2035) preserves the inversion.

rite starts from the opposite premise. The closer a variable is declared to the user, the more authority it has. Your shell environment is law. Internal vars: blocks declare what a value should be if nothing else sets it. Nothing a Ritefile declares internally can override what the user passed on the command line.

See SPEC.md for the full design contract.

The 60-second mental model

yaml

# Ritefile.yml
version: '3'
vars:
  ENV: staging
tasks:
  deploy:
    vars:
      ENV: development   # task-scope default
    cmds:
      - echo "Deploying to ${ENV}"

Invocation	Output	Why
`rite deploy`	`Deploying to staging`	Entrypoint `vars:` wins over task-scope default
`ENV=prod rite deploy`	`Deploying to prod`	Shell env wins over everything
`rite deploy ENV=qa`	`Deploying to qa`	CLI wins over entrypoint and task-scope

Invocation

Output

Why

rite deploy

Deploying to staging

Entrypoint vars: wins over task-scope default

ENV=prod rite deploy

Deploying to prod

Shell env wins over everything

rite deploy ENV=qa

Deploying to qa

CLI wins over entrypoint and task-scope

Compare to go-task, where rite deploy ENV=qa would print development because task-scope vars: override CLI args.

riteTask runner with Unix-native variable precedence.