Task with Results

Emitting results from tasks to pass data to other tasks

Task results allow you to output data from a task that can be consumed by other tasks in a pipeline or accessed after the task completes.

Example

apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1
kind: TaskRun
metadata:
  generateName: print-date-
spec:
  taskSpec:
    description: |
      A simple task that prints the date.
    results:
      - name: current-date-unix-timestamp
        description: The current date in unix timestamp format
      - name: current-date-human-readable
        description: The current date in human readable format
    steps:
      - name: print-date-unix-timestamp
        image: mirror.gcr.io/bash
        script: |
          #!/usr/bin/env bash
          date +%s | tee $(results.current-date-unix-timestamp.path)
      - name: print-date-human-readable
        image: mirror.gcr.io/bash
        script: |
          #!/usr/bin/env bash
          date | tee $(results.current-date-human-readable.path)

How It Works

1. Declare Results

   The task declares two results in the results section, each with a name and description. This tells Tekton to create files where result values can be written.

2. Write to Result Files

   Each step writes its output to a result file using $(results.NAME.path). The tee command both prints the output and writes it to the result file.

3. Results are Captured

   After the task completes, Tekton reads the content from the result files and makes them available in the TaskRun status.

Writing Results

To write a result value:

echo -n "result value" > $(results.result-name.path)

Or use tee to both display and write:

date | tee $(results.result-name.path)

Result values must be plain text strings. Tekton will trim any trailing newlines from result values.

Expected Output

The task will output something like:

1709308800
Mon Mar  2 12:00:00 UTC 2026

After execution, you can view the results:

tkn taskrun describe print-date-xxxxx

Results section will show:

RESULTS
NAME                              VALUE
current-date-unix-timestamp       1709308800
current-date-human-readable       Mon Mar  2 12:00:00 UTC 2026

Key Concepts

• Results: Named output values from a task
• Result Path: Use $(results.NAME.path) to get the file path where the result should be written
• Result Size: Results have a maximum size (typically 4KB for string results)
• Result Usage: Results can be passed to other tasks in a pipeline using $(tasks.TASK_NAME.results.RESULT_NAME)

Next Steps

• See how to use results in pipelines
• Learn about passing results between tasks