Engineering Craft › Developer Tooling

Task Runner / Project Scripts

Named project commands, like npm scripts or a justfile.

Also known as: project scripts, justfile, Makefile, npm scripts

A task runner gives your project’s common commands short names, so everyone runs the same steps the same way: set up, test, lint, build, start. Instead of remembering pytest -q --cov=app tests/ && ruff check ., you type make test.

# Makefile
.PHONY: setup test lint run

setup:
	pip install -r requirements.txt

test:
	pytest -q

lint:
	ruff check .

run:
	python -m app

make setup
make test

Other options:

• npm scripts in package.json for JavaScript (npm scripts).
• just (a justfile), a simple modern command runner.
• task (Taskfile), invoke, or nox and tox in Python.
• Shell scripts in a scripts/ folder.

Why it helps

• One discoverable entry point: a newcomer runs make or npm run and sees what’s available (dev environment setup).
• CI and local use the same commands, so a failure reproduces on your machine (continuous integration).
• Documented by existing: the file records how things are done.
• Dependencies between tasks (test needs build), in tools that support it.

Tips

• Use conventional names: setup, dev, test, lint, build.
• Keep tasks thin. If one grows large, move it into a script.
• Mind portability. Makefiles need tabs, and shell syntax differs on Windows.
• Document the list in the README.
• Don’t hide dangerous actions behind innocent names. A make clean that wipes a database is a trap.

See build tools and Makefile.