diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3ad0108..875c3a1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -24,6 +24,14 @@ arguments:
 
 - `/healthz` - health endpoint, returns code `200` with text `OK`. Useful for kubernetes pods ready/live probes.
 
+## global env variables
+
+- `ALLOWED_TASKS` - list comma-separated task names, only tasks with these names will be processed. example:
+
+```
+ALLOWED_TASKS=sleep,hello_world
+```
+
 ## config format
 
 example:
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index fd9aee4..5487a96 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 module github.com/jar3b/concron
 
+go 1.13
+
 require (
 	github.com/jar3b/logrus-levelpad-formatter v1.0.0
-	github.com/julienschmidt/httprouter v1.2.0
-	github.com/robfig/cron v0.0.0-20180505203441-b41be1df6967
-	github.com/sirupsen/logrus v1.4.0
-	gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.2.2
+	github.com/julienschmidt/httprouter v1.3.0
+	github.com/robfig/cron v1.2.0
+	github.com/sirupsen/logrus v1.4.2
+	gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.2.7
 )
diff --git a/src/main.go b/src/main.go
index 3d210d0..27f9a54 100644
--- a/src/main.go
+++ b/src/main.go
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/julienschmidt/httprouter"
 	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"net/http"
+	"os"
+	"strings"
 )
 
 func healthHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, ps httprouter.Params) {
@@ -39,8 +41,17 @@ func main() {
 
 	initLog(*debug)
 
+	// get allowed tasks
+	var allowedTasks map[string]bool
+	if os.Getenv("ALLOWED_TASKS") != "" {
+		allowedTasks = make(map[string]bool, 0)
+		for _, t := range strings.Split(os.Getenv("ALLOWED_TASKS"), ",") {
+			allowedTasks[t] = true
+		}
+	}
+
 	// manage tasks
-	taskList, err := tasks.LoadTasks(*configFile)
+	taskList, err := tasks.LoadTasks(*configFile, &allowedTasks)
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("cannot load %s: %v", *configFile, err)
 		return
diff --git a/src/tasks/models.go b/src/tasks/models.go
index 8e21ded..e96363a 100644
--- a/src/tasks/models.go
+++ b/src/tasks/models.go
@@ -60,6 +60,9 @@ type Task struct {
 	// task executions
 	execCount int
 	execMap   map[int]*taskExecution
+
+	// allowed to run of not
+	Enabled bool
 }
 
 func (t *Task) init(shell string, systemEnvs *map[string]string) error {
@@ -163,7 +166,7 @@ type ConfigDescriptiveInfo struct {
 	Tasks []*Task `yaml:"tasks"`
 }
 
-func (di *ConfigDescriptiveInfo) InitTasks() []error {
+func (di *ConfigDescriptiveInfo) InitTasks(allowedTasksMap *map[string]bool) []error {
 	var errList = make([]error, 0)
 	var err error
 
@@ -174,15 +177,32 @@ func (di *ConfigDescriptiveInfo) InitTasks() []error {
 		env[pair[0]] = pair[1]
 	}
 
-	var taskNames []string
+	var taskNamesEnabled []string
+	var taskNamesDisabled []string
 	for _, t := range di.Tasks {
+		t.Enabled = true
+		if allowedTasksMap != nil {
+			t.Enabled = (*allowedTasksMap)[t.Name]
+		}
+
 		if err = t.init(di.Shell, &env); err != nil {
+			t.Enabled = false
 			errList = append(errList, err)
 		}
-		taskNames = append(taskNames, t.Name)
+
+		if t.Enabled {
+			taskNamesEnabled = append(taskNamesEnabled, t.Name)
+		} else {
+			taskNamesDisabled = append(taskNamesDisabled, t.Name)
+		}
 	}
 
-	log.Infof("%d tasks loaded - %s", len(di.Tasks), strings.Join(taskNames, ", "))
+	log.Infof(
+		"%d tasks loaded - enabled: %s, disabled: %s",
+		len(di.Tasks),
+		strings.Join(taskNamesEnabled, ", "),
+		strings.Join(taskNamesDisabled, ", "),
+	)
 
 	return errList
 }
diff --git a/src/tasks/scheduler.go b/src/tasks/scheduler.go
index f72207e..58a3270 100644
--- a/src/tasks/scheduler.go
+++ b/src/tasks/scheduler.go
@@ -15,6 +15,11 @@ type Scheduler struct {
 func (s *Scheduler) AddTasks(taskList []*Task) error {
 	s.tasks = taskList
 	for _, task := range s.tasks {
+		// pass task if it's not enabled
+		if !task.Enabled {
+			continue
+		}
+
 		if err := s.cron.AddFunc(task.Crontab, task.Run); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
diff --git a/src/tasks/tasks.go b/src/tasks/tasks.go
index 350acf7..08133b5 100644
--- a/src/tasks/tasks.go
+++ b/src/tasks/tasks.go
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
 )
 
-func LoadTasks(configFileName string) (*ConfigDescriptiveInfo, error) {
+func LoadTasks(configFileName string, allowedTasks *map[string]bool) (*ConfigDescriptiveInfo, error) {
 	config := ConfigDescriptiveInfo{}
 	data, err := helpers.ReadBinFile(configFileName)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -19,8 +19,7 @@ func LoadTasks(configFileName string) (*ConfigDescriptiveInfo, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	// init tasks
-	errList := config.InitTasks()
+	errList := config.InitTasks(allowedTasks)
 	for _, err := range errList {
 		log.Errorf(fmt.Sprintf("parse task error: %v", err))
 	}