tasker-cli

name	tasker-cli
description	Deploy and trigger Tasker tasks on Android via the Tasker WebUI and adb. Use for building Tasker automations from JSON.

Usage

First-time setup

# On phone: Tasker → Preferences → UI → enable "Use Tasker 2025 UI (VERY EARLY)"
# Open any task for editing, tap ⋮ → WebUI
export TASKER_HOST=192.168.1.100
tasker-cli sync-specs

Deploy a task

tasker-cli deploy task.json --replace   # clear + deploy
tasker-cli deploy task.json --append    # append to existing
tasker-cli deploy task.json --dry-run   # validate only
cat task.json | tasker-cli deploy -     # from stdin

Task definition format

{
  "actions": [
    {
      "action": "Variable Set",
      "args": { "Name": "%url", "To": "https://api.example.com/data" }
    },
    {
      "action": "HTTP Request",
      "args": { "Method": "0", "URL": "%url", "Timeout (Seconds)": "30" }
    },
    { "action": "Flash", "args": { "Text": "Result: %HTTPD" } }
  ]
}

Rules:

• Use human-readable action and arg names (from tasker-cli specs)
• All arg values must be strings (booleans: "true"/"false")
• Use tasker-cli specs --search <term> to find action names and required args

Conditions and control flow

Conditions use {"e": <lhs>, "b": <operator>, "f": <rhs>}. Multiple conditions on one action are ANDed.

String operators: EqualsString, NotEqualsString, Matches, NotMatches, MatchesRegex, NotMatchesRegex

Math operators: Equals, NotEquals, LessThan, MoreThan, Even, Odd

State operators: Set, NotSet (no "f" value needed)

{"action": "Flash", "args": {"Text": "Low!"}, "condition": [{"e": "%BATT", "b": "LessThan", "f": "20"}]}
{"action": "Stop", "args": {"With Error": "false"}, "condition": [{"e": "%par2", "b": "Equals", "f": "enter"}, {"e": "%GF", "b": "NotEqualsString", "f": "%par1"}]}
{"action": "If", "args": {}, "condition": [{"e": "%BATT", "b": "LessThan", "f": "20"}]}
{"action": "Else"}
{"action": "End If"}

Quirks and pitfalls

Condition operators must be exact

The WebUI silently accepts invalid operator names but drops the "b" field, producing a broken condition that crashes Tasker with a NullPointerException. Always use the exact operator names listed above.

JavaScriptlet cannot see variables with numbers in the name

%caller1, %arr3 etc are invisible to JavaScriptlet. Copy them to a plain variable first:

{
  "action": "Variable Set",
  "args": { "Name": "%callerinfo", "To": "%caller1" }
}

JavaScriptlet requires Auto Exit for variable export

With "Auto Exit": "true" (the default in Tasker's UI but false when omitted in JSON), variables declared with var are automatically exported to Tasker. Without it the JavaScriptlet hangs until timeout. Always set it:

{
  "action": "JavaScriptlet",
  "args": {
    "Code": "var x = 1;",
    "Auto Exit": "true",
    "Timeout (Seconds)": "45"
  }
}

Boolean args need native JSON booleans

String "true" silently becomes false in the WebUI. Use actual booleans for boolean-typed args: "Auto Exit": "true" works because tasker-cli coerces it, but the wire format sends true not "true".

Profile caller variable

When a profile triggers a task directly, %caller1 contains profile=enter:Profile Name or profile=exit:Profile Name. When called via Perform Task, %caller1 is task=Task Name and %caller2 has the profile info.

Global variables need uppercase

%GF_CURRENT is global (survives across tasks). %place is local (lowercase, scoped to the current task invocation).

Other commands

tasker-cli ping                       # check WebUI connectivity
tasker-cli show                       # show current task actions
tasker-cli specs --search flash       # search action specs
tasker-cli trigger "My Task" --par1 "value"

Environment variables

• TASKER_HOST — phone IP (required, or use --host)
• TASKER_WEBUI_PORT — WebUI port (default: 8745)
• TASKER_ADB_PORT — adb port (default: auto-detect)