default invoke setup not able to find tasks

[coilysiren]

Problem

I'm not able to get invoke to find any tasks, collections, or anything else - on a fresh install of invoke on a new machine.

tasks.py

Even the stock tasks.py from https://docs.pyinvoke.org/en/stable/getting-started.html doesn't work. eg:

$ cat tasks.py
from invoke import task

@task
def build(c):
    print("Building!")

Debug details

$ invoke --version
Invoke 1.7.3

$ pwd
/Users/lynn/projects/TimberbornModsUnity

$ invoke --debug build
invoke.program.parse_collection: No default namespace provided, trying to load one from disk
invoke.loader.find: FilesystemLoader find starting at '/Users/lynn/projects/TimberbornModsUnity'
invoke.loader.find: Found module: '/Users/lynn/projects/TimberbornModsUnity/tasks'
invoke.config._load_file: Didn't see any /Users/lynn/projects/TimberbornModsUnity/invoke.yaml, skipping.
invoke.config._load_file: Didn't see any /Users/lynn/projects/TimberbornModsUnity/invoke.yml, skipping.
invoke.config._load_file: Didn't see any /Users/lynn/projects/TimberbornModsUnity/invoke.json, skipping.
invoke.config.merge: Merging config sources in order onto new empty _config...
invoke.config.merge: Defaults: {'run': {'asynchronous': False, 'disown': False, 'dry': False, 'echo': False, 'echo_stdin': None, 'encoding': None, 'env': {}, 'err_stream': None, 'fallback': True, 'hide': None, 'in_stream': None, 'out_stream': None, 'echo_format': '\x1b[1;37m{command}\x1b[0m', 'pty': False, 'replace_env': False, 'shell': '/bin/bash', 'warn': False, 'watchers': []}, 'runners': {'local': <class 'invoke.runners.Local'>}, 'sudo': {'password': None, 'prompt': '[sudo] password: ', 'user': None}, 'tasks': {'auto_dash_names': True, 'collection_name': 'tasks', 'dedupe': True, 'executor_class': None, 'ignore_unknown_help': False, 'search_root': None}, 'timeouts': {'command': None}}
invoke.config.merge: Collection-driven: {}
invoke.config._merge_file: System-wide config file (/etc/invoke.py): {}
invoke.config._merge_file: Per-user config file (/Users/lynn/.invoke.py): {}
invoke.config._merge_file: Per-project config file (/Users/lynn/projects/TimberbornModsUnity/invoke.py): {}
invoke.config.merge: Environment variable config: {}
invoke.config._merge_file: Runtime config file has not been loaded yet, skipping
invoke.config.merge: Overrides: {}
invoke.config.merge: Modifications: {}
invoke.config.merge: Deletions: {}
invoke.program.parse_tasks: Parsing tasks against <Collection 'tasks': >
invoke.parser.__init__: Initialized with context: <parser/Context: {'command-timeout': <Argument: command-timeout (T) [int]>, 'complete': <Argument: complete [bool]>, 'config': <Argument: config (f)>, 'debug': <Argument: debug (d) [bool]>, 'dry': <Argument: dry (R) [bool]>, 'echo': <Argument: echo (e) [bool]>, 'help': <Argument: help (h) ?>, 'hide': <Argument: hide>, 'list': <Argument: list (l) ?>, 'list-depth': <Argument: list-depth (D) [int]>, 'list-format': <Argument: list-format (F)>, 'print-completion-script': <Argument: print-completion-script>, 'prompt-for-sudo-password': <Argument: prompt-for-sudo-password [bool]>, 'pty': <Argument: pty (p) [bool]>, 'version': <Argument: version (V) [bool]>, 'warn-only': <Argument: warn-only (w) [bool]>, 'write-pyc': <Argument: write-pyc [bool]>, 'collection': <Argument: collection (c)>, 'no-dedupe': <Argument: no-dedupe [bool]>, 'search-root': <Argument: search-root (r)>}>
invoke.parser.__init__: Available contexts: {}
invoke.parser.complete_context: Wrapping up context None
invoke.parser.parse_argv: Starting argv: ['build']
invoke.parser.handle: Handling token: 'build'
invoke.parser.handle: Can't find context named 'build', erroring
invoke.program.run: Received a possibly-skippable exception: ParseError("No idea what 'build' is!")
No idea what 'build' is!

$ invoke --debug --list
invoke.program.parse_collection: No default namespace provided, trying to load one from disk
invoke.loader.find: FilesystemLoader find starting at '/Users/lynn/projects/TimberbornModsUnity'
invoke.loader.find: Found module: '/Users/lynn/projects/TimberbornModsUnity/tasks'
invoke.config._load_file: Didn't see any /Users/lynn/projects/TimberbornModsUnity/invoke.yaml, skipping.
invoke.config._load_file: Didn't see any /Users/lynn/projects/TimberbornModsUnity/invoke.yml, skipping.
invoke.config._load_file: Didn't see any /Users/lynn/projects/TimberbornModsUnity/invoke.json, skipping.
invoke.config.merge: Merging config sources in order onto new empty _config...
invoke.config.merge: Defaults: {'run': {'asynchronous': False, 'disown': False, 'dry': False, 'echo': False, 'echo_stdin': None, 'encoding': None, 'env': {}, 'err_stream': None, 'fallback': True, 'hide': None, 'in_stream': None, 'out_stream': None, 'echo_format': '\x1b[1;37m{command}\x1b[0m', 'pty': False, 'replace_env': False, 'shell': '/bin/bash', 'warn': False, 'watchers': []}, 'runners': {'local': <class 'invoke.runners.Local'>}, 'sudo': {'password': None, 'prompt': '[sudo] password: ', 'user': None}, 'tasks': {'auto_dash_names': True, 'collection_name': 'tasks', 'dedupe': True, 'executor_class': None, 'ignore_unknown_help': False, 'search_root': None}, 'timeouts': {'command': None}}
invoke.config.merge: Collection-driven: {}
invoke.config._merge_file: System-wide config file (/etc/invoke.py): {}
invoke.config._merge_file: Per-user config file (/Users/lynn/.invoke.py): {}
invoke.config._merge_file: Per-project config file (/Users/lynn/projects/TimberbornModsUnity/invoke.py): {}
invoke.config.merge: Environment variable config: {}
invoke.config._merge_file: Runtime config file has not been loaded yet, skipping
invoke.config.merge: Overrides: {}
invoke.config.merge: Modifications: {}
invoke.config.merge: Deletions: {}
invoke.program.parse_tasks: Parsing tasks against <Collection 'tasks': >
invoke.parser.__init__: Initialized with context: <parser/Context: {'command-timeout': <Argument: command-timeout (T) [int]>, 'complete': <Argument: complete [bool]>, 'config': <Argument: config (f)>, 'debug': <Argument: debug (d) [bool]>, 'dry': <Argument: dry (R) [bool]>, 'echo': <Argument: echo (e) [bool]>, 'help': <Argument: help (h) ?>, 'hide': <Argument: hide>, 'list': <Argument: list (l) ?>, 'list-depth': <Argument: list-depth (D) [int]>, 'list-format': <Argument: list-format (F)>, 'print-completion-script': <Argument: print-completion-script>, 'prompt-for-sudo-password': <Argument: prompt-for-sudo-password [bool]>, 'pty': <Argument: pty (p) [bool]>, 'version': <Argument: version (V) [bool]>, 'warn-only': <Argument: warn-only (w) [bool]>, 'write-pyc': <Argument: write-pyc [bool]>, 'collection': <Argument: collection (c)>, 'no-dedupe': <Argument: no-dedupe [bool]>, 'search-root': <Argument: search-root (r)>}>
invoke.parser.__init__: Available contexts: {}
invoke.parser.complete_context: Wrapping up context None
invoke.parser.parse_argv: Starting argv: []
invoke.parser.changing_state: ParseMachine: 'context' => 'end'
invoke.parser.complete_context: Wrapping up context None
invoke.program.parse_tasks: Resulting task contexts: []
invoke.program.run: Received a possibly-skippable exception: Exit("No tasks found in collection 'tasks'!")
No tasks found in collection 'tasks'!

$ invoke --debug
invoke.program.parse_collection: No default namespace provided, trying to load one from disk
invoke.loader.find: FilesystemLoader find starting at '/Users/lynn/projects/TimberbornModsUnity'
invoke.loader.find: Found module: '/Users/lynn/projects/TimberbornModsUnity/tasks'
invoke.config._load_file: Didn't see any /Users/lynn/projects/TimberbornModsUnity/invoke.yaml, skipping.
invoke.config._load_file: Didn't see any /Users/lynn/projects/TimberbornModsUnity/invoke.yml, skipping.
invoke.config._load_file: Didn't see any /Users/lynn/projects/TimberbornModsUnity/invoke.json, skipping.
invoke.config.merge: Merging config sources in order onto new empty _config...
invoke.config.merge: Defaults: {'run': {'asynchronous': False, 'disown': False, 'dry': False, 'echo': False, 'echo_stdin': None, 'encoding': None, 'env': {}, 'err_stream': None, 'fallback': True, 'hide': None, 'in_stream': None, 'out_stream': None, 'echo_format': '\x1b[1;37m{command}\x1b[0m', 'pty': False, 'replace_env': False, 'shell': '/bin/bash', 'warn': False, 'watchers': []}, 'runners': {'local': <class 'invoke.runners.Local'>}, 'sudo': {'password': None, 'prompt': '[sudo] password: ', 'user': None}, 'tasks': {'auto_dash_names': True, 'collection_name': 'tasks', 'dedupe': True, 'executor_class': None, 'ignore_unknown_help': False, 'search_root': None}, 'timeouts': {'command': None}}
invoke.config.merge: Collection-driven: {}
invoke.config._merge_file: System-wide config file (/etc/invoke.py): {}
invoke.config._merge_file: Per-user config file (/Users/lynn/.invoke.py): {}
invoke.config._merge_file: Per-project config file (/Users/lynn/projects/TimberbornModsUnity/invoke.py): {}
invoke.config.merge: Environment variable config: {}
invoke.config._merge_file: Runtime config file has not been loaded yet, skipping
invoke.config.merge: Overrides: {}
invoke.config.merge: Modifications: {}
invoke.config.merge: Deletions: {}
invoke.program.parse_tasks: Parsing tasks against <Collection 'tasks': >
invoke.parser.__init__: Initialized with context: <parser/Context: {'command-timeout': <Argument: command-timeout (T) [int]>, 'complete': <Argument: complete [bool]>, 'config': <Argument: config (f)>, 'debug': <Argument: debug (d) [bool]>, 'dry': <Argument: dry (R) [bool]>, 'echo': <Argument: echo (e) [bool]>, 'help': <Argument: help (h) ?>, 'hide': <Argument: hide>, 'list': <Argument: list (l) ?>, 'list-depth': <Argument: list-depth (D) [int]>, 'list-format': <Argument: list-format (F)>, 'print-completion-script': <Argument: print-completion-script>, 'prompt-for-sudo-password': <Argument: prompt-for-sudo-password [bool]>, 'pty': <Argument: pty (p) [bool]>, 'version': <Argument: version (V) [bool]>, 'warn-only': <Argument: warn-only (w) [bool]>, 'write-pyc': <Argument: write-pyc [bool]>, 'collection': <Argument: collection (c)>, 'no-dedupe': <Argument: no-dedupe [bool]>, 'search-root': <Argument: search-root (r)>}>
invoke.parser.__init__: Available contexts: {}
invoke.parser.complete_context: Wrapping up context None
invoke.parser.parse_argv: Starting argv: []
invoke.parser.changing_state: ParseMachine: 'context' => 'end'
invoke.parser.complete_context: Wrapping up context None
invoke.program.parse_tasks: Resulting task contexts: []
invoke.program.no_tasks_given: No tasks specified for execution and no default task; printing global help as fallback
Usage: inv[oke] [--core-opts] task1 [--task1-opts] ... taskN [--taskN-opts]

Core options:

  --complete                         Print tab-completion candidates for given parse remainder.
  --hide=STRING                      Set default value of run()'s 'hide' kwarg.
  --no-dedupe                        Disable task deduplication.
  --print-completion-script=STRING   Print the tab-completion script for your preferred shell (bash|zsh|fish).
  --prompt-for-sudo-password         Prompt user at start of session for the sudo.password config value.
  --write-pyc                        Enable creation of .pyc files.
  -c STRING, --collection=STRING     Specify collection name to load.
  -d, --debug                        Enable debug output.
  -D INT, --list-depth=INT           When listing tasks, only show the first INT levels.
  -e, --echo                         Echo executed commands before running.
  -f STRING, --config=STRING         Runtime configuration file to use.
  -F STRING, --list-format=STRING    Change the display format used when listing tasks. Should be one of: flat (default), nested, json.
  -h [STRING], --help[=STRING]       Show core or per-task help and exit.
  -l [STRING], --list[=STRING]       List available tasks, optionally limited to a namespace.
  -p, --pty                          Use a pty when executing shell commands.
  -r STRING, --search-root=STRING    Change root directory used for finding task modules.
  -R, --dry                          Echo commands instead of running.
  -T INT, --command-timeout=INT      Specify a global command execution timeout, in seconds.
  -V, --version                      Show version and exit.
  -w, --warn-only                    Warn, instead of failing, when shell commands fail.

invoke.program.run: Received a possibly-skippable exception: Exit()

[coilysiren]

Found the problem!

I had a ./tasks/__init__.py file that was empty because it was still work in progress

Invoke was loading from that file instead of the top level tasks.py file. Probably a case where a warning message should be emitted about the conflict.