diff --git a/docs/static/schema.json b/docs/static/schema.json
index 8e15219e11..8a82d83f6c 100644
--- a/docs/static/schema.json
+++ b/docs/static/schema.json
@@ -43,6 +43,10 @@
             "description": "A list of commands to be executed.",
             "$ref": "#/definitions/3/cmds"
           },
+          "cmd": {
+            "description": "The command to be executed.",
+            "$ref": "#/definitions/3/cmd"
+          },
           "deps": {
             "description": "A list of dependencies of this task. Tasks defined here will run in parallel before this task.",
             "type": "array",
diff --git a/task_test.go b/task_test.go
index e76dc1a012..8ea91d2a0f 100644
--- a/task_test.go
+++ b/task_test.go
@@ -2013,6 +2013,18 @@ func TestSplitArgs(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, "3\n", buff.String())
 }
 
+func TestSingleCmdDep(t *testing.T) {
+	tt := fileContentTest{
+		Dir:    "testdata/single_cmd_dep",
+		Target: "foo",
+		Files: map[string]string{
+			"foo.txt": "foo\n",
+			"bar.txt": "bar\n",
+		},
+	}
+	tt.Run(t)
+}
+
 func TestSilence(t *testing.T) {
 	var buff bytes.Buffer
 	e := task.Executor{
diff --git a/taskfile/task.go b/taskfile/task.go
index 04ed6f1e97..f82ced19b2 100644
--- a/taskfile/task.go
+++ b/taskfile/task.go
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ func (t *Task) UnmarshalYAML(node *yaml.Node) error {
 	case yaml.MappingNode:
 		var task struct {
 			Cmds          []*Cmd
+			Cmd           *Cmd
 			Deps          []*Dep
 			Label         string
 			Desc          string
@@ -102,7 +103,14 @@ func (t *Task) UnmarshalYAML(node *yaml.Node) error {
 		if err := node.Decode(&task); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-		t.Cmds = task.Cmds
+		if task.Cmd != nil {
+			if task.Cmds != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("yaml: line %d: task cannot have both cmd and cmds", node.Line)
+			}
+			t.Cmds = []*Cmd{task.Cmd}
+		} else {
+			t.Cmds = task.Cmds
+		}
 		t.Deps = task.Deps
 		t.Label = task.Label
 		t.Desc = task.Desc
diff --git a/testdata/single_cmd_dep/.gitignore b/testdata/single_cmd_dep/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2211df63dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/single_cmd_dep/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+*.txt
diff --git a/testdata/single_cmd_dep/Taskfile.yml b/testdata/single_cmd_dep/Taskfile.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3023d2b1b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/single_cmd_dep/Taskfile.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+version: "3"
+
+tasks:
+  foo:
+    deps: [bar]
+    cmd: echo foo > foo.txt
+
+  bar: echo bar > bar.txt