Using go template if statements for imports.

[standardloop]

includes:
  example: "{{if .CI }}https://raw.githubusercontent.com/example/taskfiles/refs/heads/main/example.yml{{else}}../taskfiles/example.yml{{end}}"

I'm wondering if something like this is possible.

Essentially include a remote taskfile if running in CI, but when running locally just include a local taskfile.

the local and remote one are the same file, but I don't always push my taskfile to main because I want to test it locally in another repo.

[wellkilo]

Yes. Include paths are passed through Task's Go-template renderer before Task resolves them, and environment variables are part of that template context. Your conditional can therefore work as written, with two practical adjustments: quote the whole scalar and make the CI test explicit.

version: '3'

includes:
  example: '{{ if eq .CI "true" }}https://raw.githubusercontent.com/example/taskfiles/<pinned-commit>/example.yml{{ else }}../taskfiles/example.yml{{ end }}'

Then:

# local
task example:some-task

# CI
CI=true task --yes example:some-task

Why this works on current Task: while reading includes, Task merges the process environment with Taskfile variables, then calls templater.Replace(include.Taskfile, cache) before resolving the include as a local or remote node (reader implementation).

Two cautions:

1. CI is an environment value, so compare it with the string "true"; treating it as a Go-template boolean can be surprising when it is unset or supplied as another string.
2. Pin the remote URL to a commit SHA or use the remote Taskfile checksum support. Pointing CI at refs/heads/main makes the executed build logic mutable. Remote includes are trust-gated; --yes is convenient in CI but accepts those prompts automatically, so a pinned source is important. The remote Taskfile docs cover the URL forms and checksum behavior.

If your CI system sets CI=1 instead, either normalize it in the environment or use a project variable such as REMOTE_TASKFILES=true so the condition has one stable contract.

If this resolves the local/CI include split, please mark it as the accepted answer so the template behavior is easier to find.

[standardloop]

Thanks!