Use Task Runners for Common Coding Tasks

Developers juggling multiple repositories know the pain of remembering each project's specific commands: is it npm run ci or pnpm install? ./gradlew build or mvn compile? Ham Vocke's updated guide from 2019 (refreshed after a reader request) solves this by introducing lightweight task runners — simple wrappers that let you run common tasks with consistent, short commands like run build or make test.

Option 1: A Bash Script

Create a file named run (or similar) at the root of your repo, make it executable (chmod +x run), and add functions for each task. Here's a Node.js example from the article:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -e

function install { npm run ci }
function build { npm run build }
function test {
  npm run test:unit
  npx run playwright
}
function format { npm run prettier --write }
if [[ $# -lt 1 ]]; then usage; exit 1; fi
TARGET=$1
case $TARGET in
  "install") install ;;
  "build") build ;;
  "test") test ;;
  "format") format ;;
  *) echo "Unknown command"; usage; exit 1 ;;
esac

This script hides clunky arguments (like --write for prettier) and lets you chain multiple steps (e.g., unit tests plus Playwright). For more complex logic, you can extract functions into a bin/ directory.

Option 2: Make

Make is a 1970s build tool that's nearly universal. Using a Makefile with phony targets gives you the same convenience without extra scripting:

.PHONY: install build test format

install:
	npm run ci
build:
	npm run build
test:
	npm run test:unit
	npx run playwright
format:
	npm run prettier --write

Just run make test or make format. Remember: make requires actual tabs for indentation.

Why Use a Task Runner?

Standardizing these commands means you can rely on muscle memory across projects, regardless of the underlying stack. It's a small overhead that pays off daily if you switch contexts often. As Vocke notes, these tools range from bash and make to modern options like mise and just, but the principle stays the same: one command to build, one to test, one to format.