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Dynamic tasks and services let you create and update environment configuration on the fly - no manual file editing required. This is particularly powerful for agents, who can generate tasks based on what they discover in your codebase.

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Why this matters for agents

When Ona Agent explores a new repository, it can:
  • Discover package.json scripts and expose them as tasks
  • Find services in a monorepo and create start commands for each
  • Generate test tasks for different modules it finds
  • Adapt the environment to match the project structure
This makes agents immediately productive in unfamiliar codebases.

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Creating tasks and services dynamically

Use the CLI to pipe configuration directly: 
echo '{"tasks": {"update_deps": {"name": "Update dependencies", "command": "npm update"}}}' | gitpod automations update -
The - signals reading from stdin. Task and service IDs can only contain alphanumeric characters, underscores, and hyphens (1-128 characters).

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Example uses

Expose package.json scripts as tasks: 
jq -r '.scripts | to_entries[] | {(.key | gsub("[^a-zA-Z0-9_-]"; "_")): {"name": .key, "command": .value}}' package.json |
jq -s 'add | {"tasks": .}' |
gitpod automations update -
Create services for monorepo components: 
find ./components -type d -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 |
jq -R '{(. | gsub("[^a-zA-Z0-9_-]"; "_")): {"name": "Start " + ., "command": "cd " + . + " && go run ."}}' |
jq -s 'add | {"services": .}' |
gitpod automations update -
Load configuration from a remote source: 
curl https://example.com/automations.json | gitpod automations update -
Only download configuration from sources you trust. Verify integrity before applying.

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Control from outside environments

You can manage tasks and services from outside an environment - from your local machine or CI/CD pipelines. This enables:
  • Batch processing: Run tasks across multiple environments in parallel
  • CI/CD integration: Trigger environment tasks from your pipelines
  • Automated testing: Spin up ephemeral environments, run tests, clean up
  • Agent orchestration: Coordinate multiple agents working on different tasks

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Example: create, run task, clean up

# Create environment
ENV_ID=$(gitpod environment create https://github.com/your-repo/project --dont-wait --class-id some-env-class-id)

# Run a task
TASK_ID=$(gitpod automations task start build-and-test --environment-id $ENV_ID)

# Stream logs
gitpod automations task logs $TASK_ID --environment-id $ENV_ID

# Check result and clean up
TASK_STATUS=$(gitpod automations task get $TASK_ID --environment-id $ENV_ID -o json | jq -r .status)

if [ "$TASK_STATUS" = "succeeded" ]; then
    gitpod environment delete $ENV_ID
else
    echo "Task failed. Environment left for inspection."
fi
This pattern - create, execute, clean up - is how agents and CI/CD pipelines use Ona environments as ephemeral execution platforms.