Quick Start

Your First Jakefile

Create a file named Jakefile in your project root:

# A simple greeting
task hello:
    echo "Hello from Jake!"

Run it:

$ jake hello
-> hello
Hello from Jake!

Listing Recipes

$ jake --list
Available recipes:
  hello [task]

Setting a Default

@default
task build:
    echo "Building..."

Now jake with no arguments runs build.

Adding Dependencies

task build:
    echo "Building..."

task test: [build]
    echo "Testing..."

task deploy: [build, test]
    echo "Deploying..."

Running jake deploy executes: build → test → deploy

Using Variables

app_name = "myapp"
version = "1.0.0"

task info:
    echo "{{app_name}} v{{version}}"

Parameters

task greet name="World":
    echo "Hello, {{name}}!"

$ jake greet name=Alice
Hello, Alice!

File Targets

Only rebuild when sources change:

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

Watch Mode

Re-run on file changes:

jake -w build

Parallel Execution

Run independent tasks concurrently:

jake -j4 all

Complete Example

# Variables
app_name = "myapp"

# Load .env file
@dotenv

# Default task
@default
task build:
    @description "Build the application"
    cargo build --release

# Task with dependencies
task test: [build]
    cargo test

# File target
file dist/app: src/**/*.rs
    cargo build --release
    cp target/release/{{app_name}} dist/app

# Conditional logic
task deploy: [build, test]
    @confirm "Deploy to production?"
    @if env(CI)
        ./scripts/deploy-ci.sh
    @else
        ./scripts/deploy-local.sh
    @end