docs: add a page for using 'taskgraph load-task'

Author: ahal

docs/howto/index.rst

@@ -15,3 +15,4 @@ A collection of how-to guides.
    docker
    create-actions
    send-notifications
+   load-task-locally

docs/howto/load-task-locally.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+Load Task Locally
+=================
+
+For tasks that use Docker, it might be useful to run the task's payload in a
+local container. This allows for faster debugging and iteration.
+
+Run:
+
+.. code-block:: shell
+
+   taskgraph load-task <task id>
+
+This command does a few things:
+
+1. Retrieves the task's definition.
+2. Parses out the image that it uses.
+3. Fetches the image into your local Docker registry.
+4. Creates a container with the task's environment variables set.
+5. Runs the task's command in the container.
+
+Only tasks using the `docker-worker payload format`_ are supported.
+
+Load Tasks Interactively
+------------------------
+
+For debugging purposes, you might want to do some set up before executing the
+task. To accomplish this, use the ``-i/--interactive`` flag:
+
+.. code-block:: shell
+
+   taskgraph load-task -i <task id>
+
+This does all the same things up until step 5 above. Instead of running the
+task's command, it saves it to a binary called ``exec-task`` and drops you
+into an interactive shell. The task's environment variables will be set, and
+the repository will be cloned (if the task requires a source checkout).
+
+This allows you to inspect the state of the container, setup debuggers, etc. If
+and when you are ready, run ``exec-task`` to resume task execution.
+
+.. warning::
+
+   Only tasks that use the ``run-task`` script to bootstrap their commands
+   are currently supported.
+
+
+Reading Task Definitions from Stdin
+-----------------------------------
+
+Instead of specifying a task id, you may also pipe the entire task definition
+via stdin. This is useful if you are making changes to the definition in your
+local Taskgraph and want to quickly test it without submitting a real task.
+
+For example, you can run:
+
+.. code-block:: shell
+
+   taskgraph morphed -J --tasks test-unit-py | jq -r 'to_entries | first | .value.task' | taskgraph load-task -
+
+In this example, we're piping the definition of the task named ``test-unit-py``
+into ``taskgraph load-task``. This allows you to quickly iterate on the task
+and test that it runs as expected.
+
+.. note::
+
+   The output of ``taskgraph morphed -J`` looks something like:
+
+   ``{ "<task id>": { "task": { <task definition> }}}``
+
+   So we need to use ``jq`` to extract the definition of the first listed task.
+
+Using a Custom Image
+--------------------
+
+We've seen how ``taskgraph load-task`` can be useful to debug and test tasks,
+but it is also useful when working on images! You can pass the ``--image`` flag
+to make the supplied task run in a custom Docker image. The image can be one of:
+
+* ``task-id=<task id>`` - Loads the image from the specified task id. The task
+  id must reference a ``docker-image`` task.
+* ``index=<index>`` - Loads the image from the specified index path. The index
+  path must reference a ``docker-image`` task.
+* ``<name>`` - Build the image produced by the ``docker-image`` task from the
+  local Taskgraph called ``<name>``.
+* ``<registry>`` - Load the image from the specified Docker registry.
+
+Specifying ``<image name>`` is particularly useful when working on changes to
+the image. For example, let's say you're making changes to
+``taskcluster/docker/python/Dockerfile``, you can run:
+
+.. code-block:: shell
+
+   taskgraph load-task --image python <task id>
+
+Where the task id is a task that uses the ``python`` image.
+
+Working on an Image and Task Simultaneously
+-------------------------------------------
+
+Sometimes you might need to make changes to the task definition and the image
+it uses in conjunction with one another. You can test changes to both simultaneously
+by combining passing in a custom image locally, and piping a task definition via stdin:
+
+.. code-block:: shell
+
+   taskgraph morphed -J --tasks test-unit-py | jq -r 'to_entries | first | .value.task' | taskgraph load-task --image python -
+
+.. _docker-worker payload format: https://docs.taskcluster.net/docs/reference/workers/docker-worker/payload