Profiles

Profiles are environment overlays for the same repo workflow. They let you keep one task graph while adjusting vars and selected task fields per environment.

What Profiles Override

Profiles can override:

1. vars
2. specific task fields via tasks.<name>:
   • when
   • timeout
   • env

profiles:
  staging:
    vars:
      region: eu-west-1
    tasks:
      deploy:
        env:
          DEPLOY_TARGET: staging
        timeout: 15m
  prod:
    vars:
      region: us-east-1
    tasks:
      deploy:
        when: branch() == "main"
        env:
          DEPLOY_TARGET: prod
        timeout: 30m

Selecting Profiles

You can select profiles through:

1. environment variable QP_PROFILE
2. repeated --profile flags (stacking)
3. profile default expression (profiles._default)

Environment variable

QP_PROFILE=staging qp deploy

CLI flags

qp deploy --profile staging
qp deploy --profile staging --profile high-memory

Later profiles in the list apply on top of earlier ones.

_default Profile Expression

Use _default to make selection dynamic from environment:

profiles:
  _default: "{{env.QP_PROFILE}}"
  staging:
    vars:
      region: eu-west-1
  prod:
    vars:
      region: us-east-1

If QP_PROFILE is set, that profile becomes active automatically.

Profiles In Expressions

Use profile() in CEL conditions:

tasks:
  deploy:
    desc: Deploy in non-dev profiles only
    cmd: ./scripts/deploy.sh
    when: profile() != "dev"

This is useful when one task should exist everywhere but run only in selected environments.

Worked Example: Safe Local + Production Gate

vars:
  region: local

tasks:
  test:
    desc: Run tests
    cmd: go test ./...

  deploy:
    desc: Deploy service
    cmd: ./scripts/deploy.sh --region {{vars.region}}
    safety: external

profiles:
  dev:
    vars:
      region: local
    tasks:
      deploy:
        when: false

  prod:
    vars:
      region: us-east-1
    tasks:
      deploy:
        when: branch() == "main"
        timeout: 30m
        env:
          CONFIRM: "yes"

qp deploy --profile dev
# skipped

qp deploy --profile prod --allow-unsafe
# runs only on main

Profile Stacking Strategy

A practical pattern is to split overlays by concern:

• environment: staging, prod
• runtime size: high-memory
• observability: debug-tracing

Then combine:

qp check --profile staging --profile debug-tracing

Next Step

For sensitive values and redaction behavior, continue to Secrets.