diff --git a/docs/tasks/task-configuration.md b/docs/tasks/task-configuration.md
index a671120450..88c57ddef9 100644
--- a/docs/tasks/task-configuration.md
+++ b/docs/tasks/task-configuration.md
@@ -232,6 +232,7 @@ has changed since the last build.
 ### `outputs`
 
 - **Type**: `string | string[] | { auto = true }`
+- **Default**: `{ auto = true }`
 
 The counterpart to `sources`, these are the files or directories that the task will create/modify after
 it executes.
@@ -245,7 +246,7 @@ a file for `sources` to work.
 [tasks.build]
 run = "cargo build"
 sources = ["Cargo.toml", "src/**/*.rs"]
-outputs = { auto = true }
+outputs = { auto = true } # this is the default when sources is defined
 ```
 
 ### `shell`
diff --git a/e2e/tasks/test_task_run_sources b/e2e/tasks/test_task_run_sources
index c710b7c396..ec64e7a1f4 100644
--- a/e2e/tasks/test_task_run_sources
+++ b/e2e/tasks/test_task_run_sources
@@ -34,6 +34,19 @@ assert_empty "mise -q hi"
 touch ../older
 assert "mise -q hi" "hi"
 
+cat <<EOF >mise.toml
+[tasks.hi]
+sources = ["{{cwd}}/input"]
+run = "echo hi"
+EOF
+
+mkdir subdir && cd subdir || exit 1
+assert "mise -q hi" "hi"
+assert_empty "mise -q hi"
+touch input
+assert "mise -q hi" "hi"
+assert_empty "mise -q hi"
+
 cat <<EOF >mise.toml
 [tasks.hi]
 sources = ["{{cwd}}/input"]
diff --git a/src/cli/run.rs b/src/cli/run.rs
index bb71765e85..1c63bec41f 100644
--- a/src/cli/run.rs
+++ b/src/cli/run.rs
@@ -1220,8 +1220,7 @@ impl Run {
     }
 
     async fn sources_are_fresh(&self, task: &Task, config: &Arc<Config>) -> Result<bool> {
-        let outputs = task.outputs.paths(task);
-        if task.sources.is_empty() && outputs.is_empty() {
+        if task.sources.is_empty() {
             return Ok(false);
         }
         // TODO: We should benchmark this and find out if it might be possible to do some caching around this or something
@@ -1248,7 +1247,7 @@ impl Run {
                 return Ok(false);
             }
             let sources = self.get_last_modified_from_metadatas(&source_metadatas);
-            let outputs = self.get_last_modified(&root, &outputs)?;
+            let outputs = self.get_last_modified(&root, &task.outputs.paths(task))?;
             file::write(&source_metadata_hash_path, &source_metadata_hash)?;
             trace!("sources: {sources:?}, outputs: {outputs:?}");
             match (sources, outputs) {
diff --git a/src/task/mod.rs b/src/task/mod.rs
index 66c4ee48e3..bb9faf9d23 100644
--- a/src/task/mod.rs
+++ b/src/task/mod.rs
@@ -568,6 +568,9 @@ impl Task {
         for s in &mut self.sources {
             *s = tera.render_str(s, &tera_ctx)?;
         }
+        if !self.sources.is_empty() && self.outputs.is_empty() {
+            self.outputs = TaskOutputs::Auto;
+        }
         self.outputs.render(&mut tera, &tera_ctx)?;
         for d in &mut self.depends {
             d.render(&mut tera, &tera_ctx)?;
diff --git a/src/task/task_sources.rs b/src/task/task_sources.rs
index 116cd7e86a..73dc99372c 100644
--- a/src/task/task_sources.rs
+++ b/src/task/task_sources.rs
@@ -17,6 +17,13 @@ impl Default for TaskOutputs {
 }
 
 impl TaskOutputs {
+    pub fn is_empty(&self) -> bool {
+        match self {
+            TaskOutputs::Files(files) => files.is_empty(),
+            TaskOutputs::Auto => false,
+        }
+    }
+
     pub fn paths(&self, task: &Task) -> Vec<String> {
         match self {
             TaskOutputs::Files(files) => files.clone(),