Introduction

Jake is a modern command runner that combines the best features of GNU Make and Just:

From Make: File-based dependency tracking, parallel execution, incremental builds
From Just: Clean syntax, parameters, conditionals, imports, .env loading
New in Jake: Glob patterns, pre/post hooks, better error messages, watch mode

Why Jake?

Make is powerful but cryptic. Just is friendly but limited. Jake gives you both:

Feature	Make	Just	Jake
File-based dependencies	Yes	No	Yes
Clean syntax	No	Yes	Yes
Parallel execution	Yes	No	Yes
Glob patterns	No	No	Yes
Import system	No	Yes	Yes
Conditionals	No	Yes	Yes
Pre/post hooks	No	No	Yes
.env loading	No	Yes	Yes
Watch mode	No	No	Yes

Like Make, Jake tracks file modifications and only rebuilds what’s changed:

file dist/app.js: src/**/*.ts
    esbuild src/index.ts --bundle --outfile=dist/app.js

Like Just, Jake uses readable syntax without cryptic symbols:

task deploy env="staging":
    @confirm "Deploy to {{env}}?"
    ./deploy.sh {{env}}

Run independent tasks simultaneously:

jake -j4 all    # Use 4 parallel jobs

Re-run tasks automatically when files change:

jake -w build