task_config.dir = "{{cwd}}" only works for inline TOML tasks, not included TOML tasks or file tasks

[kdheepak]

Thanks for developing and maintaining mise. It is my favorite workflow tool and I've been using it a lot.

I have a discussion report or a potential bug - I'm seeing inconsistent behavior around task_config.dir = "{{cwd}}".

Based on the docs, I expected a top-level [task_config] to apply to:

• inline TOML tasks in the same config file
• TOML tasks loaded via task_config.includes
• file tasks that share the same root

But task_config.dir = "{{cwd}}" only works for inline TOML tasks, not included TOML tasks or file tasks

My use case is that I have a number of shell scripts that are in my global mise configuration, e.g.

$ tree ~/.config/mise
$HOME/.config/mise
├── config.toml # my config file
├── mise.lock # my lock file
└── tasks
    ├── mise.toml # task specific config file
    ├── dev
    │   ├── clean
    │   └── serve
    ├── files
    │   ├── archive # creates an archive of the current folder
    │   └── preview-file-or-folder
    ├── info
    │   ├── disk-usage
    │   └── system-info
    ├── network
    │   ├── interfaces
    │   └── ping-test
    ├── process
    │   ├── find-process
    │   ├── killport
    │   ├── ports
    │   └── run-with-timeout
    ├── system
    │   ├── reboot
    │   ├── shutdown
    │   └── update
    └── utils
        ├── checksum
        ├── timer
        ├── timestamp-to-date
        └── weather

And in my ~/.config/mise/config.toml config file I have the following lines:

[task_config]
dir = "{{cwd}}"
includes = [".config/mise/tasks/mise.toml"]

In my task config file, i.e. ~/.config/mise/tasks/mise.toml, I have some additional tasks that are single line scripts, e.g.

#:schema https://mise.jdx.dev/schema/mise-task.json

[lint]
description = "Run all pre-commit checks"
run = "prek run --all-files"

["brew:dump"]
description = "Dump installed packages to Brewfile"
run = "brew bundle dump --file=$BREWFILE --describe --force --no-cargo --no-uv --no-vscode"
quiet = true

["brew:remove"]
description = "Remove packages not listed in Brewfile"
run = "brew bundle cleanup --file=$BREWFILE --force"
quiet = true

["brew:update"]
description = "Update and upgrade Homebrew packages"
run = ["brew update", "brew upgrade"]
quiet = true

["brew:clean"]
description = "Clean up cached and outdated Homebrew files"
run = ["brew cleanup -s", "brew cleanup --prune=all", "brew doctor"]
quiet = true

["mise:clean"]
description = "Prune mise data and clear caches"
run = ["mise prune", "mise cache clear", "mise cache prune"]
quiet = true

["mise:update"]
description = "Update mise plugins and upgrade installed tools"
run = ["mise plugins update", "mise upgrade"]
quiet = true

["zinit:update"]
description = "Update zinit itself"
run = ["zsh -c 'source ~/.zshrc; zinit self-update'"]
quiet = true

["zinit:update-plugins"]
description = "Update all zinit plugins in parallel"
run = ["zsh -c 'source ~/.zshrc; zinit update --parallel'"]
quiet = true

This all works great, however, it doesn't run the task in the current cwd.

It seems to be running it from the root directory. I had a nasty surprise when I ran mise run files:archive and it began to archive my entire $HOME folder 😱 but fortunately I was able to stop it early.

My current workaround is to explicitly add cwd to all my task config tasks and the file tasks using the metadata syntax, e.g.:

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
• .config/mise/tasks/files/archive:1:                     │
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────
  1 ⋮  1 │ #!/usr/bin/env -S uv --quiet run --script
    ⋮  2 │+# [MISE] dir="{{cwd}}"
  2 ⋮  3 │ # [MISE] description="Create an archive from a file or directory"
  3 ⋮  4 │ # [MISE] quiet=true
  4 ⋮  5 │ # [MISE] raw=true


───────────────────────────────────────────┐
• .config/mise/tasks/mise.toml:2:          │
───────────────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────
 11 ⋮ 13 │ [lint]
 12 ⋮ 14 │ description = "Run all pre-commit checks"
    ⋮ 15 │+dir = "{{cwd}}"
 13 ⋮ 16 │ run = "prek run --all-files"
 14 ⋮ 17 │ 
 24 ⋮ 29 │ ["brew:dump"]
 25 ⋮ 30 │ description = "Dump installed packages to Brewfile"
    ⋮ 31 │+dir = "{{cwd}}"
 26 ⋮ 32 │ run = "brew bundle dump --file=$BREWFILE --describe --force --no-cargo --no-uv --no-vscode"
 27 ⋮ 33 │ quiet = true
 28 ⋮ 34 │ 
 29 ⋮ 35 │ ["brew:remove"]
 30 ⋮ 36 │ description = "Remove packages not listed in Brewfile"
    ⋮ 37 │+dir = "{{cwd}}"
 31 ⋮ 38 │ run = "brew bundle cleanup --file=$BREWFILE --force"
 32 ⋮ 39 │ quiet = true
 33 ⋮ 40 │ 
 34 ⋮ 41 │ ["brew:update"]
 35 ⋮ 42 │ description = "Update and upgrade Homebrew packages"
    ⋮ 43 │+dir = "{{cwd}}"
 36 ⋮ 44 │ run = ["brew update", "brew upgrade"]
 37 ⋮ 45 │ quiet = true
 38 ⋮ 46 │ 
 39 ⋮ 47 │ ["brew:clean"]
 40 ⋮ 48 │ description = "Clean up cached and outdated Homebrew files"
    ⋮ 49 │+dir = "{{cwd}}"
 41 ⋮ 50 │ run = ["brew cleanup -s", "brew cleanup --prune=all", "brew doctor"]
 42 ⋮ 51 │ quiet = true
 43 ⋮ 52 │ 
 44 ⋮ 53 │ ["mise:clean"]
 45 ⋮ 54 │ description = "Prune mise data and clear caches"
    ⋮ 55 │+dir = "{{cwd}}"
 46 ⋮ 56 │ run = ["mise prune", "mise cache clear", "mise cache prune"]
 47 ⋮ 57 │ quiet = true
 48 ⋮ 58 │ 
 49 ⋮ 59 │ ["mise:update"]
 50 ⋮ 60 │ description = "Update mise plugins and upgrade installed tools"
    ⋮ 61 │+dir = "{{cwd}}"
 51 ⋮ 62 │ run = ["mise plugins update", "mise upgrade"]
 52 ⋮ 63 │ quiet = true

which seems to work fine but is a little unnecessarily verbose?

The task configuration docs say that top-level [task_config] applies to "all tasks which are included by that config file or use the same root directory", so I assumed that I would be able to add the following to my global configuration.

[task_config]
dir = "{{cwd}}"

And as mentioned above, in that case it works for tasks that are described in the same toml file, but does not work for a separate task file or script tasks.

Let me know if I'm mistaken in the understanding that the docs in https://mise.jdx.dev/tasks/task-configuration.html#task-config-dir imply this should work; if yes, this would be a bug report. If no, this is a discussion or a feature request.

Also, this may be related or unrelated but mise tasks ls --json reports dir: null for inherited task_config.dir even in the inline TOML case where runtime behavior works as expected. I'm not sure if that's just a reporting issue or if it is related to this behavior in this report.

Here's every combination that I've tried with mise 2026.3.9 macos-arm64 (2026-03-13) summarized as a table:

Layout	Task definition	dir source	Runtime result	mise tasks ls --json dir
Top-level .config/mise/config.toml	Inline TOML task in same file	Top-level [task_config] dir = "{{cwd}}"	Works	null
Top-level .config/mise/config.toml	Included TOML task via includes = ["tasks.toml"]	Top-level [task_config] dir = "{{cwd}}"	Does not work	null
Included tasks.toml file	Included TOML task in that file	[task_config] dir = "{{cwd}}" inside included file	Does not work	null
Top-level .config/mise/config.toml	File task in .config/mise/tasks/	Top-level [task_config] dir = "{{cwd}}"	Does not work	null
Any supported top-level config	Included TOML task	Explicit per-task dir = "{{cwd}}"	Works	Resolved cwd
Any supported top-level config	File task	Explicit #MISE dir="{{cwd}}" or # [MISE] dir="{{cwd}}"	Works	Resolved cwd

Question

Is this intended? If not, I think there are two bugs here:

1. inherited task_config.dir is not being applied to included TOML tasks and file tasks
2. mise tasks ls --json does not surface inherited dir even when runtime behavior does honor it for some cases

If this is intended, can this behavior be changed?