experimental_shell_command

Execute any external tool for its side effects.

Example BUILD file:

experimental_shell_command(
    command="./my-script.sh --flag",
    tools=["tar", "curl", "cat", "bash", "env"],
    dependencies=[":scripts"],
    outputs=["results/", "logs/my-script.log"],
)

shell_sources(name="scripts")

Remember to add this target to the dependencies of each consumer, such as your python_tests or docker_image. When relevant, Pants will run your command and insert the outputs into that consumer's context.

The command may be retried and/or cancelled, so ensure that it is idempotent.

Backend: pants.backend.shell

command

type: str
required

Shell command to execute.

The command is executed as 'bash -c ' by default.

tools

type: Iterable[str]
required

Specify required executable tools that might be used.

Only the tools explicitly provided will be available on the search PATH, and these tools must be found on the paths provided by [shell-setup].executable_search_paths (which defaults to the system PATH).

dependencies

type: Iterable[str] | None
default: None

Addresses to other targets that this target depends on, e.g. ['helloworld/subdir:lib', 'helloworld/main.py:lib', '3rdparty:reqs#django'].

This augments any dependencies inferred by Pants, such as by analyzing your imports. Use pants dependencies or pants peek on this target to get the final result.

See Targets and BUILD files for more about how addresses are formed, including for generated targets. You can also run pants list :: to find all addresses in your project, or pants list dir to find all addresses defined in that directory.

If the target is in the same BUILD file, you can leave off the BUILD file path, e.g. :tgt instead of helloworld/subdir:tgt. For generated first-party addresses, use ./ for the file path, e.g. ./main.py:tgt; for all other generated targets, use :tgt#generated_name.

You may exclude dependencies by prefixing with !, e.g. ['!helloworld/subdir:lib', '!./sibling.txt']. Ignores are intended for false positives with dependency inference; otherwise, simply leave off the dependency from the BUILD file.

description

type: str | None
default: None

A human-readable description of the target.

Use pants list --documented :: to see all targets with descriptions.

environment

type: str | None
default: '__local__'

Specify which environment target to consume environment-sensitive options from.

Once environments are defined in [environments-preview].names, you can specify the environment for this target by its name. Any fields that are defined in that environment will override the values from options set by pants.toml, command line values, or environment variables.

You can specify multiple valid environments by using parametrize. If __local__ is specified, Pants will fall back to the local_environment defined for the current platform, or no environment if no such environment exists.

extra_env_vars

type: Iterable[str] | None
default: None

Additional environment variables to include in the shell process. Entries are strings in the form ENV_VAR=value to use explicitly; or just ENV_VAR to copy the value of a variable in Pants's own environment.

log_output

type: bool
default: False

Set to true if you want the output from the command logged to the console.

outputs

type: Iterable[str] | None
default: None

Specify the shell command output files and directories.

Use a trailing slash on directory names, i.e. my_dir/.

tags

type: Iterable[str] | None
default: None

Arbitrary strings to describe a target.

For example, you may tag some test targets with 'integration_test' so that you could run pants --tag='integration_test' test :: to only run on targets with that tag.

timeout

type: int | None
default: 30

Command execution timeout (in seconds).