file

---

A single loose file that lives outside of code packages.

Files are placed directly in archives, outside of code artifacts such as Python wheels or JVM JARs. The sources of a file target are accessed via filesystem APIs, such as Python's open(), via paths relative to the repository root.

Backend: ``

---

source

str

required

A single file that belongs to this target.

Path is relative to the BUILD file's directory, e.g. source='example.ext'.

dependencies

Iterable[str] | None

default: None

Addresses to other targets that this target depends on, e.g. ['helloworld/subdir:lib'].

Alternatively, you may include file names. Pants will find which target owns that file, and create a new target from that which only includes the file in its sources field. For files relative to the current BUILD file, prefix with ./; otherwise, put the full path, e.g. ['./sibling.txt', 'resources/demo.json'].

You may exclude dependencies by prefixing with !, e.g. ['!helloworld/subdir:lib', '!./sibling.txt']. Ignores are intended for false positives with dependency inference; otherwise, simply leave off the dependency from the BUILD file.

description

str | None

default: None

A human-readable description of the target.

Use ./pants list --documented :: to see all targets with descriptions.

tags

Iterable[str] | None

default: None

Arbitrary strings to describe a target.

For example, you may tag some test targets with 'integration_test' so that you could run ./pants --tag='integration_test' test :: to only run on targets with that tag.