---
title: 'Execution Groups'
---


Execution groups allow for multiple execution platforms within a single target.
Each execution group has its own [toolchain](/extending/toolchains) dependencies and
performs its own [toolchain resolution](/extending/toolchains#toolchain-resolution).

## Current status

Execution groups for certain natively declared actions, like `CppLink`, can be
used inside `exec_properties` to set per-action, per-target execution
requirements. For more details, see the
[Default execution groups](#exec-groups-for-native-rules) section.

## Background

Execution groups allow the rule author to define sets of actions, each with a
potentially different execution platform. Multiple execution platforms can allow
actions to execute differently, for example compiling an iOS app on a remote
(linux) worker and then linking/code signing on a local mac worker.

Being able to define groups of actions also helps alleviate the usage of action
mnemonics as a proxy for specifying actions. Mnemonics are not guaranteed to be
unique and can only reference a single action. This is especially helpful in
allocating extra resources to specific memory and processing intensive actions
like linking in C++ builds without over-allocating to less demanding tasks.

## Defining execution groups

During rule definition, rule authors can
[declare](/rules/lib/globals/bzl#exec_group)
a set of execution groups. On each execution group, the rule author can specify
everything needed to select an execution platform for that execution group,
namely any constraints via `exec_compatible_with` and toolchain types via
`toolchain`.

```python
# foo.bzl
my_rule = rule(
    _impl,
    exec_groups = {
        "link": exec_group(
            exec_compatible_with = ["@platforms//os:linux"],
            toolchains = ["//foo:toolchain_type"],
        ),
        "test": exec_group(
            toolchains = ["//foo_tools:toolchain_type"],
        ),
    },
    attrs = {
        "_compiler": attr.label(cfg = config.exec("link"))
    },
)
```

In the code snippet above, you can see that tool dependencies can also specify
transition for an exec group using the
[`cfg`](/rules/lib/toplevel/attr#label)
attribute param and the
[`config`](/rules/lib/toplevel/config)
module. The module exposes an `exec` function which takes a single string
parameter which is the name of the exec group for which the dependency should be
built.

As on native rules, the `test` execution group is present by default on Starlark
test rules.

## Accessing execution groups

In the rule implementation, you can declare that actions should be run on the
execution platform of an execution group. You can do this by using the `exec_group`
param of action generating methods, specifically [`ctx.actions.run`]
(/rules/lib/builtins/actions#run) and
[`ctx.actions.run_shell`](/rules/lib/builtins/actions#run_shell).

```python
# foo.bzl
def _impl(ctx):
  ctx.actions.run(
     inputs = [ctx.attr._some_tool, ctx.srcs[0]]
     exec_group = "compile",
     # ...
  )
```

Rule authors will also be able to access the [resolved toolchains](/extending/toolchains#toolchain-resolution)
of execution groups, similarly to how you
can access the resolved toolchain of a target:

```python
# foo.bzl
def _impl(ctx):
  foo_info = ctx.exec_groups["link"].toolchains["//foo:toolchain_type"].fooinfo
  ctx.actions.run(
     inputs = [foo_info, ctx.srcs[0]]
     exec_group = "link",
     # ...
  )
```

Note: If an action uses a toolchain from an execution group, but doesn't specify
that execution group in the action declaration, that may potentially cause
issues. A mismatch like this may not immediately cause failures, but is a latent
problem.

### Default execution groups

The following execution groups are predefined:

* `test`: Test runner actions (for more details, see
   the [execution platform section of the Test Encyclopedia](/reference/test-encyclopedia#execution-platform)).
* `cpp_link`: C++ linking actions.

## Using execution groups to set execution properties

Execution groups are integrated with the
[`exec_properties`](/reference/be/common-definitions#common-attributes)
attribute that exists on every rule and allows the target writer to specify a
string dict of properties that is then passed to the execution machinery. For
example, if you wanted to set some property, say memory, for the target and give
certain actions a higher memory allocation, you would write an `exec_properties`
entry with an execution-group-augmented key, such as:

```python
# BUILD
my_rule(
    name = 'my_target',
    exec_properties = {
        'mem': '12g',
        'link.mem': '16g'
    }
    …
)
```

All actions with `exec_group = "link"` would see the exec properties
dictionary as `{"mem": "16g"}`. As you see here, execution-group-level
settings override target-level settings.

## Using execution groups to set platform constraints

Execution groups are also integrated with the
[`exec_compatible_with`](/reference/be/common-definitions#common-attributes) and
[`exec_group_compatible_with`](/reference/be/common-definitions#common-attributes)
attributes that exist on every rule and allow the target writer to specify
additional constraints that must be satisfied by the execution platforms
selected for the target's actions.

For example, if the rule `my_test` defines the `link` execution group in
addition to the default and the `test` execution group, then the following
usage of these attributes would run actions in the default execution group on
a platform with a high number of CPUs, the test action on Linux, and the link
action on the default execution platform:

```python
# BUILD
constraint_setting(name = "cpu")
constraint_value(name = "high_cpu", constraint_setting = ":cpu")

platform(
  name = "high_cpu_platform",
  constraint_values = [":high_cpu"],
  exec_properties = {
    "cpu": "256",
  },
)

my_test(
  name = "my_test",
  exec_compatible_with = ["//constraints:high_cpu"],
  exec_group_compatible_with = {
    "test": ["@platforms//os:linux"],
  },
  ...
)
```

### Execution groups for native rules

The following execution groups are available for actions defined by native
rules:

* `test`: Test runner actions.
* `cpp_link`: C++ linking actions.

### Execution groups and platform execution properties

It is possible to define `exec_properties` for arbitrary execution groups on
platform targets (unlike `exec_properties` set directly on a target, where
properties for unknown execution groups are rejected). Targets then inherit the
execution platform's `exec_properties` that affect the default execution group
and any other relevant execution groups.

For example, suppose running tests on the exec platform requires some resource
to be available, but it isn't required for compiling and linking; this can be
modelled as follows:

```python
constraint_setting(name = "resource")
constraint_value(name = "has_resource", constraint_setting = ":resource")

platform(
    name = "platform_with_resource",
    constraint_values = [":has_resource"],
    exec_properties = {
        "test.resource": "...",
    },
)

cc_test(
    name = "my_test",
    srcs = ["my_test.cc"],
    exec_compatible_with = [":has_resource"],
)
```

`exec_properties` defined directly on targets take precedence over those that
are inherited from the execution platform.