agent-skills/skills/turborepo/references/configuration/tasks.md

Task Configuration Reference

Full docs: https://turborepo.dev/docs/reference/configuration#tasks

dependsOn

Controls task execution order.

{
  "tasks": {
    "build": {
      "dependsOn": [
        "^build", // Dependencies' build tasks first
        "codegen", // Same package's codegen task first
        "shared#build" // Specific package's build task
      ]
    }
  }
}

Syntax	Meaning
^task	Run task in all dependencies first
task	Run task in same package first
pkg#task	Run specific package's task first

The ^ prefix is crucial - without it, you're referencing the same package.

Transit Nodes for Parallel Tasks

For tasks like lint and check-types that can run in parallel but need dependency-aware caching:

{
  "tasks": {
    "transit": { "dependsOn": ["^transit"] },
    "lint": { "dependsOn": ["transit"] },
    "check-types": { "dependsOn": ["transit"] }
  }
}

DO NOT use dependsOn: ["^lint"] - this forces sequential execution. DO NOT use dependsOn: [] - this breaks cache invalidation.

The transit task creates dependency relationships without running anything (no matching script), so tasks run in parallel with correct caching.

outputs

Glob patterns for files to cache. If omitted, nothing is cached.

{
  "tasks": {
    "build": {
      "outputs": ["dist/**", "build/**"]
    }
  }
}

Framework examples:

// Next.js
"outputs": [".next/**", "!.next/cache/**"]

// Vite
"outputs": ["dist/**"]

// TypeScript (tsc)
"outputs": ["dist/**", "*.tsbuildinfo"]

// No file outputs (lint, typecheck)
"outputs": []

Use ! prefix to exclude patterns from caching.

inputs

Files considered when calculating task hash. Defaults to all tracked files in package.

{
  "tasks": {
    "test": {
      "inputs": ["src/**", "tests/**", "vitest.config.ts"]
    }
  }
}

Special values:

Value	Meaning
$TURBO_DEFAULT$	Include default inputs, then add/remove
$TURBO_ROOT$/<path>	Reference files from repo root

{
  "tasks": {
    "build": {
      "inputs": [
        "$TURBO_DEFAULT$",
        "!README.md",
        "$TURBO_ROOT$/tsconfig.base.json"
      ]
    }
  }
}

env

Environment variables to include in task hash.

{
  "tasks": {
    "build": {
      "env": [
        "API_URL",
        "NEXT_PUBLIC_*", // Wildcard matching
        "!DEBUG" // Exclude from hash
      ]
    }
  }
}

Variables listed here affect cache hits - changing the value invalidates cache.

cache

Enable/disable caching for a task. Default: true.

{
  "tasks": {
    "dev": { "cache": false },
    "deploy": { "cache": false }
  }
}

Disable for: dev servers, deploy commands, tasks with side effects.

persistent

Mark long-running tasks that don't exit. Default: false.

{
  "tasks": {
    "dev": {
      "cache": false,
      "persistent": true
    }
  }
}

Required for dev servers - without it, dependent tasks wait forever.

interactive

Allow task to receive stdin input. Default: false.

{
  "tasks": {
    "login": {
      "cache": false,
      "interactive": true
    }
  }
}

outputLogs

Control when logs are shown. Options: full, hash-only, new-only, errors-only, none.

{
  "tasks": {
    "build": {
      "outputLogs": "new-only" // Only show logs on cache miss
    }
  }
}

with

Run tasks alongside this task. For long-running tasks that need runtime dependencies.

{
  "tasks": {
    "dev": {
      "with": ["api#dev"],
      "persistent": true,
      "cache": false
    }
  }
}

Unlike dependsOn, with runs tasks concurrently (not sequentially). Use for dev servers that need other services running.

interruptible

Allow turbo watch to restart the task on changes. Default: false.

{
  "tasks": {
    "dev": {
      "persistent": true,
      "interruptible": true,
      "cache": false
    }
  }
}

Use for dev servers that don't automatically detect dependency changes.

description

Human-readable description of the task.

{
  "tasks": {
    "build": {
      "description": "Compiles the application for production deployment"
    }
  }
}

For documentation only - doesn't affect execution or caching.

passThroughEnv

Environment variables available at runtime but NOT included in cache hash.

{
  "tasks": {
    "build": {
      "passThroughEnv": ["AWS_SECRET_KEY", "GITHUB_TOKEN"]
    }
  }
}

Warning: Changes to these vars won't cause cache misses. Use env if changes should invalidate cache.

extends (Package Configuration only)

Control task inheritance in Package Configurations.

// packages/ui/turbo.json
{
  "extends": ["//"],
  "tasks": {
    "lint": {
      "extends": false // Exclude from this package
    }
  }
}

Value	Behavior
true (default)	Inherit from root turbo.json
false	Exclude task from package, or define fresh without inheritance