feat: auto-detect color output in CI environments (#2569)

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -54,6 +54,11 @@
   customize the cache directory for Remote Taskfiles (#2572 by @vmaerten).
 - Zsh completion now supports zstyle verbose option to show or hide task
   descriptions (#2571 by @vmaerten).
+- Task now automatically enables colored output in CI environments (GitHub
+  Actions, GitLab CI, etc.) without requiring FORCE_COLOR=1 (#2569 by
+  @vmaerten).
+- Added color taskrc option to explicitly enable or disable colored output
+  globally (#2569 by @vmaerten).
 
 ## v3.45.5 - 2025-11-11
 

internal/flags/flags.go

@@ -5,8 +5,10 @@ import (
 	"log"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strconv"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/fatih/color"
 	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
 
 	"github.com/go-task/task/v3"
@@ -140,7 +142,7 @@ func init() {
 	pflag.StringVar(&Output.Group.Begin, "output-group-begin", "", "Message template to print before a task's grouped output.")
 	pflag.StringVar(&Output.Group.End, "output-group-end", "", "Message template to print after a task's grouped output.")
 	pflag.BoolVar(&Output.Group.ErrorOnly, "output-group-error-only", false, "Swallow output from successful tasks.")
-	pflag.BoolVarP(&Color, "color", "c", true, "Colored output. Enabled by default. Set flag to false or use NO_COLOR=1 to disable.")
+	pflag.BoolVarP(&Color, "color", "c", getConfig(config, func() *bool { return config.Color }, true), "Colored output. Enabled by default. Set flag to false or use NO_COLOR=1 to disable.")
 	pflag.IntVarP(&Concurrency, "concurrency", "C", getConfig(config, func() *int { return config.Concurrency }, 0), "Limit number of tasks to run concurrently.")
 	pflag.DurationVarP(&Interval, "interval", "I", 0, "Interval to watch for changes.")
 	pflag.BoolVarP(&Failfast, "failfast", "F", getConfig(config, func() *bool { return &config.Failfast }, false), "When running tasks in parallel, stop all tasks if one fails.")
@@ -166,6 +168,29 @@ func init() {
 		pflag.StringVar(&RemoteCacheDir, "remote-cache-dir", getConfig(config, func() *string { return config.Remote.CacheDir }, env.GetTaskEnv("REMOTE_DIR")), "Directory to cache remote Taskfiles.")
 	}
 	pflag.Parse()
+
+	// Auto-detect color based on environment when not explicitly configured
+	// Priority: CLI flag > taskrc config > NO_COLOR > FORCE_COLOR/CI > default
+	colorExplicitlySet := pflag.Lookup("color").Changed || (config != nil && config.Color != nil)
+	if !colorExplicitlySet {
+		if os.Getenv("NO_COLOR") != "" {
+			Color = false
+			color.NoColor = true
+		} else if os.Getenv("FORCE_COLOR") != "" || isCI() {
+			Color = true
+			color.NoColor = false // Force colors even without TTY
+		}
+		// Otherwise, let fatih/color auto-detect TTY
+	} else {
+		// Explicit config: sync with fatih/color
+		color.NoColor = !Color
+	}
+}
+
+// isCI returns true if running in a CI environment
+func isCI() bool {
+	ci, _ := strconv.ParseBool(os.Getenv("CI"))
+	return ci
 }
 
 func Validate() error {

internal/logger/logger.go

@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package logger
 import (
 	"bufio"
 	"io"
-	"os"
 	"slices"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
@@ -96,10 +95,6 @@ func BrightRed() PrintFunc {
 }
 
 func envColor(name string, defaultColor color.Attribute) []color.Attribute {
-	if os.Getenv("FORCE_COLOR") != "" {
-		color.NoColor = false
-	}
-
 	// Fetch the environment variable
 	override := env.GetTaskEnv(name)
 

taskrc/ast/taskrc.go

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 type TaskRC struct {
 	Version      *semver.Version `yaml:"version"`
 	Verbose      *bool           `yaml:"verbose"`
+	Color        *bool           `yaml:"color"`
 	DisableFuzzy *bool           `yaml:"disable-fuzzy"`
 	Concurrency  *int            `yaml:"concurrency"`
 	Remote       Remote          `yaml:"remote"`
@@ -55,6 +56,7 @@ func (t *TaskRC) Merge(other *TaskRC) {
 	}
 
 	t.Verbose = cmp.Or(other.Verbose, t.Verbose)
+	t.Color = cmp.Or(other.Color, t.Color)
 	t.DisableFuzzy = cmp.Or(other.DisableFuzzy, t.DisableFuzzy)
 	t.Concurrency = cmp.Or(other.Concurrency, t.Concurrency)
 	t.Failfast = cmp.Or(other.Failfast, t.Failfast)

website/src/docs/reference/config.md

@@ -91,6 +91,17 @@ experiments:
 verbose: true
 ```
 
+### `color`
+
+- **Type**: `boolean`
+- **Default**: `true`
+- **Description**: Enable colored output. Colors are automatically enabled in CI environments (`CI=true`).
+- **CLI equivalent**: [`-c, --color`](./cli.md#-c---color)
+
+```yaml
+color: false
+```
+
 ### `disable-fuzzy`
 
 - **Type**: `boolean`
@@ -131,6 +142,7 @@ Here's a complete example of a `.taskrc.yml` file with all available options:
 ```yaml
 # Global settings
 verbose: true
+color: true
 disable-fuzzy: false
 concurrency: 2
 

website/src/public/schema-taskrc.json

@@ -57,6 +57,10 @@
       "type": "boolean",
       "description": "Enable verbose output"
     },
+    "color": {
+      "type": "boolean",
+      "description": "Enable colored output"
+    },
     "disable-fuzzy": {
       "type": "boolean",
       "description": "Disable fuzzy matching for task names"