fix(includes): propagate silent mode from included Taskfiles to tasks (#2640)

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@
 - Fixed `ROOT_TASKFILE` variable pointing to directory instead of the actual
   Taskfile path when no explicit `-t` flag is provided (#2635, #1706 by
   @trulede).
+- Included Taskfiles with `silent: true` now properly propagate silence to their
+  tasks, while still allowing individual tasks to override with `silent: false`
+  (#2640, #1319 by @trulede).
 
 ## v3.47.0 - 2026-01-24
 

executor_test.go

@@ -1060,6 +1060,18 @@ func TestIncludeChecksum(t *testing.T) {
 	)
 }
 
+func TestIncludeSilent(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	NewExecutorTest(t,
+		WithName("include-taskfile-silent"),
+		WithExecutorOptions(
+			task.WithDir("testdata/includes_silent"),
+		),
+		WithTask("default"),
+	)
+}
+
 func TestFailfast(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 

internal/deepcopy/deepcopy.go

@@ -10,6 +10,15 @@ type Copier[T any] interface {
 	DeepCopy() T
 }
 
+func Scalar[T any](orig *T) *T {
+	if orig == nil {
+		return nil
+	} else {
+		v := *orig
+		return &v
+	}
+}
+
 func Slice[T any](orig []T) []T {
 	if orig == nil {
 		return nil

task.go

@@ -228,7 +228,7 @@ func (e *Executor) RunTask(ctx context.Context, call *Call) error {
 			}
 
 			if upToDate && preCondMet {
-				if e.Verbose || (!call.Silent && !t.Silent && !e.Taskfile.Silent && !e.Silent) {
+				if e.Verbose || (!call.Silent && !t.IsSilent() && !e.Taskfile.Silent && !e.Silent) {
 					name := t.Name()
 					if e.OutputStyle.Name == "prefixed" {
 						name = t.Prefix
@@ -383,7 +383,7 @@ func (e *Executor) runCommand(ctx context.Context, t *ast.Task, call *Call, i in
 			return nil
 		}
 
-		if e.Verbose || (!call.Silent && !cmd.Silent && !t.Silent && !e.Taskfile.Silent && !e.Silent) {
+		if e.Verbose || (!call.Silent && !cmd.Silent && !t.IsSilent() && !e.Taskfile.Silent && !e.Silent) {
 			e.Logger.Errf(logger.Green, "task: [%s] %s\n", t.Name(), cmd.Cmd)
 		}
 

taskfile/ast/task.go

@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ type Task struct {
 	Vars          *Vars
 	Env           *Vars
 	Dotenv        []string
-	Silent        bool
+	Silent        *bool
 	Interactive   bool
 	Internal      bool
 	Method        string
@@ -69,6 +69,12 @@ func (t *Task) LocalName() string {
 	return name
 }
 
+// IsSilent returns true if the task has silent mode explicitly enabled.
+// Returns false if Silent is nil (not set) or explicitly set to false.
+func (t *Task) IsSilent() bool {
+	return t.Silent != nil && *t.Silent
+}
+
 // WildcardMatch will check if the given string matches the name of the Task and returns any wildcard values.
 func (t *Task) WildcardMatch(name string) (bool, []string) {
 	names := append([]string{t.Task}, t.Aliases...)
@@ -138,7 +144,7 @@ func (t *Task) UnmarshalYAML(node *yaml.Node) error {
 			Vars          *Vars
 			Env           *Vars
 			Dotenv        []string
-			Silent        bool
+			Silent        *bool `yaml:"silent,omitempty"`
 			Interactive   bool
 			Internal      bool
 			Method        string
@@ -178,7 +184,7 @@ func (t *Task) UnmarshalYAML(node *yaml.Node) error {
 		t.Vars = task.Vars
 		t.Env = task.Env
 		t.Dotenv = task.Dotenv
-		t.Silent = task.Silent
+		t.Silent = deepcopy.Scalar(task.Silent)
 		t.Interactive = task.Interactive
 		t.Internal = task.Internal
 		t.Method = task.Method
@@ -221,7 +227,7 @@ func (t *Task) DeepCopy() *Task {
 		Vars:                 t.Vars.DeepCopy(),
 		Env:                  t.Env.DeepCopy(),
 		Dotenv:               deepcopy.Slice(t.Dotenv),
-		Silent:               t.Silent,
+		Silent:               deepcopy.Scalar(t.Silent),
 		Interactive:          t.Interactive,
 		Internal:             t.Internal,
 		Method:               t.Method,

taskfile/ast/taskfile.go

@@ -59,6 +59,14 @@ func (t1 *Taskfile) Merge(t2 *Taskfile, include *Include) error {
 	if t1.Tasks == nil {
 		t1.Tasks = NewTasks()
 	}
+	if t2.Silent {
+		for _, t := range t2.Tasks.All(nil) {
+			if t.Silent == nil {
+				v := true
+				t.Silent = &v
+			}
+		}
+	}
 	t1.Vars.Merge(t2.Vars, include)
 	t1.Env.Merge(t2.Env, include)
 	return t1.Tasks.Merge(t2.Tasks, include, t1.Vars)

testdata/includes_silent/Taskfile-inc.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+version: '3'
+
+silent: true 
+
+tasks:
+  hello:
+    cmds:
+      - echo "Hello from include"
+
+  hello-silent:
+    silent: true
+    cmds:
+      - echo "Hello from include silent task"
+
+  hello-silent-not-set:
+    cmds:
+      - echo "Hello from include silent not set task"
+
+  hello-silent-set-false:
+    silent: false
+    cmds:
+      - echo "Hello from include silent false task"

testdata/includes_silent/Taskfile.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+version: '3'
+
+includes:
+  inc: Taskfile-inc.yml
+
+tasks:
+  default:
+    cmds:
+      - echo "Hello from root Taskfile"
+      - task: inc:hello
+      - task: inc:hello-silent
+      - task: inc:hello-silent-not-set
+      - task: inc:hello-silent-set-false

testdata/includes_silent/testdata/TestIncludeSilent-include-taskfile-silent.golden

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+task: [default] echo "Hello from root Taskfile"
+Hello from root Taskfile
+Hello from include
+Hello from include silent task
+Hello from include silent not set task
+task: [inc:hello-silent-set-false] echo "Hello from include silent false task"
+Hello from include silent false task

variables.go

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/joho/godotenv"
 
 	"github.com/go-task/task/v3/errors"
+	"github.com/go-task/task/v3/internal/deepcopy"
 	"github.com/go-task/task/v3/internal/env"
 	"github.com/go-task/task/v3/internal/execext"
 	"github.com/go-task/task/v3/internal/filepathext"
@@ -57,7 +58,7 @@ func (e *Executor) CompiledTaskForTaskList(call *Call) (*ast.Task, error) {
 		Vars:                 vars,
 		Env:                  nil,
 		Dotenv:               origTask.Dotenv,
-		Silent:               origTask.Silent,
+		Silent:               deepcopy.Scalar(origTask.Silent),
 		Interactive:          origTask.Interactive,
 		Internal:             origTask.Internal,
 		Method:               origTask.Method,
@@ -113,7 +114,7 @@ func (e *Executor) compiledTask(call *Call, evaluateShVars bool) (*ast.Task, err
 		Vars:                 vars,
 		Env:                  nil,
 		Dotenv:               templater.Replace(origTask.Dotenv, cache),
-		Silent:               origTask.Silent,
+		Silent:               deepcopy.Scalar(origTask.Silent),
 		Interactive:          origTask.Interactive,
 		Internal:             origTask.Internal,
 		Method:               templater.Replace(origTask.Method, cache),