diff --git a/src/Tasks/CollectionFactory/CollectionFactory.php b/src/Tasks/CollectionFactory/CollectionFactory.php
index 13928979..a6e8d2fd 100644
--- a/src/Tasks/CollectionFactory/CollectionFactory.php
+++ b/src/Tasks/CollectionFactory/CollectionFactory.php
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ public function getHelp()
     protected function taskFactory($task)
     {
         if (is_string($task)) {
+            @trigger_error('Defining a task as a plain text is deprecated in openeuropa/task-runner:1.0.0 and is removed from openeuropa/task-runner:2.0.0. Use the "exec" task and pass arguments and options.', E_USER_DEPRECATED);
             return $this->taskExec($task)->interactive($this->isTtySupported());
         }
 
@@ -202,6 +203,19 @@ protected function taskFactory($task)
 
                 return $this->collectionBuilder()->addTaskList($tasks);
 
+            case 'exec':
+                $taskExec = $this->taskExec($task['command'])->interactive($this->isTtySupported());
+                if (!empty($task['arguments'])) {
+                    $taskExec->args($task['arguments']);
+                }
+                if (!empty($task['options'])) {
+                    $taskExec->options($task['options']);
+                }
+                if (!empty($task['dir'])) {
+                    $taskExec->dir($task['dir']);
+                }
+                return $taskExec;
+
             default:
                 throw new TaskException($this, "Task '{$task['task']}' not supported.");
         }
diff --git a/tests/Tasks/CollectionFactoryTest.php b/tests/Tasks/CollectionFactoryTest.php
index ba218bad..88989752 100644
--- a/tests/Tasks/CollectionFactoryTest.php
+++ b/tests/Tasks/CollectionFactoryTest.php
@@ -95,6 +95,32 @@ public function testRunTask()
         $this->assertSame(__METHOD__, file_get_contents($filePath));
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Tests the 'exec' task.
+     */
+    public function testExecTask(): void
+    {
+        $tasks = [
+            [
+                'task' => 'exec',
+                'command' => 'touch',
+                'arguments' => [
+                    'file.txt',
+                ],
+                'options' => [
+                    // 1980-06-06 23:59:59.
+                    '-t' => '198006062359.59'
+                ],
+                'dir' => $this->getSandboxRoot(),
+            ],
+        ];
+        $this->taskCollectionFactory($tasks)->run();
+
+        $this->assertFileExists($this->getSandboxFilepath('file.txt'));
+        $mtime = gmdate('Y-m-d H:i:s', filemtime($this->getSandboxFilepath('file.txt')));
+        $this->assertSame('1980-06-06 23:59:59', $mtime);
+    }
+
     /**
      * @return array
      */