goyek (/ˈɡɔɪæk/ 🔊 listen) is a task automation library intended to be an alternative to Make, Mage, Task.

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The primary properties of goyek are:

• Library, not an application, with API inspired by testing, cobra, flag, http.
• Cross-platform and shell independent.
• No binary installation needed.
• Easy to debug, like regular Go code.
• Tasks are defined similarly to cobra commands.
• The task action looks like a Go test. goyek.A has similar methods to testing.T.
• Reuse any Go code and library e.g. viper.
• Highly customizable.
• Zero third-party dependencies.
• Additional features in goyek/x.

For build automation, store your code in the build directory.

The following example defines a simple hello task that logs a message and prints the Go version.

Create build/hello.go:

package main

import (
	"flag"

	"github.com/goyek/goyek/v2"
	"github.com/goyek/x/cmd"
)

var msg = flag.String("msg", "greeting message", "Hello world!")

var hello = goyek.Define(goyek.Task{
	Name:  "hello",
	Usage: "demonstration",
	Action: func(a *goyek.A) {
		a.Log(*msg)
		cmd.Exec(a, "go version")
	},
})

Create build/main.go:

package main

import (
	"os"

	"github.com/goyek/goyek/v2"
	"github.com/goyek/x/boot"
)

func main() {
	if err := os.Chdir(".."); err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	goyek.SetDefault(hello)
	boot.Main()
}

The packages from github.com/goyek/x are used for convenience.

Run help:

cd build
go mod tidy
go run . -h

Expected output:

Usage of build: [flags] [--] [tasks]
Tasks:
  hello  demonstration
Flags:
  -dry-run
        print all tasks without executing actions
  -long-run duration
        print when a task takes longer (default 1m0s)
  -msg string
        Hello world! (default "greeting message")
  -no-color
        disable colorizing output
  -no-deps
        do not process dependencies
  -skip comma-separated tasks
        skip processing the comma-separated tasks
  -v    print all tasks as they are run

Run with verbose output:

go run . -v

Example output:

===== TASK  hello
      hello.go:16: greeting message
      hello.go:17: Exec: go version
go version go1.24.0 linux/amd64
----- PASS: hello (0.12s)
ok      0.123s

Instead of running go run . inside build, you can use wrapper scripts:

• Bash: goyek.sh.
• PowerShell: goyek.ps1.

Use goyek/template when creating a new repository. For existing repositories, simply copy the relevant files.

Learn more:

• 📺 5-minute video: Watch here (Slides)
• 📚 Package documentation

We welcome contributions! See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

goyek is licensed under the terms of the MIT license.

Note: goyek was named taskflow before v0.3.0.