Justfile Structure

Architecture Overview

Use a modular justfile architecture with separate recipe files organized by category in a justfiles/ directory.

Directory Structure

1. justfiles/ directory at project root - All recipe files live here
2. Category subdirectories - Group by purpose: development/, building/, verification/, testing/, utilities/
3. One command per file - Each recipe gets its own .just file (e.g., justfiles/development/web.just)
4. Main justfile at root - Imports all recipe files, contains help command

Main Justfile Structure

5. Default command shows help - Not --list, a themed help menu
6. Imports organized by category with section comment headers

# Default: Show help menu
default:
    @just help

# ============================================================================
# Help Command
# ============================================================================

help:
    @echo ""
    @echo "\033[1;36m========== Project Commands ==========\033[0m"
    # ... help content ...

# ============================================================================
# Development Commands
# ============================================================================
import 'justfiles/development/web.just'
import 'justfiles/development/desktop.just'

# ============================================================================
# Building Commands
# ============================================================================
import 'justfiles/building/build-server.just'

Example Directory Structure

project/
├── justfile                           # Main justfile with imports
└── justfiles/
    ├── development/
    │   ├── web.just
    │   ├── desktop.just
    │   └── dev.just
    ├── building/
    │   ├── build-server.just
    │   ├── build-desktop.just
    │   └── build-web.just
    ├── verification/
    │   ├── check-server.just
    │   ├── check-desktop.just
    │   └── check-web.just
    ├── testing/
    │   ├── test.just
    │   ├── test-unit.just
    │   ├── test-integration.just
    │   ├── test-e2e.just
    │   └── test-all.just
    └── utilities/
        ├── clean.just
        └── install-tools.just

Benefits

• Discoverability - Easy to find and edit specific commands
• Organization - Logical grouping by purpose
• Consistency - Uniform patterns across all commands
• Maintainability - Add new commands by creating new files
• Team-friendly - Clear structure for collaboration

Justfile Naming Conventions

Command Naming

1. Commands use kebab-case - build-server, test-e2e, install-tools
2. File name matches command name - build-server command lives in build-server.just

Parameter Naming

3. Parameters use SCREAMING_CASE - PARAM, OPTIONAL, TARGET

Variadic Parameters and Quoting

4. Variadic parameters (*ARGS) don't preserve quotes - When using *ARGS to accept multiple words, the quotes from the shell are stripped
5. Wrap variadic parameters in quotes - Use "{{ARGS}}" to pass multi-word arguments correctly to subcommands

# BAD: Quotes are not preserved, "foo bar" becomes two arguments
search *QUERY:
    my-tool {{QUERY}}
# `just search foo bar` runs: my-tool foo bar (2 args)

# GOOD: Wrap in quotes to preserve as single argument
search *QUERY:
    my-tool "{{QUERY}}"
# `just search foo bar` runs: my-tool "foo bar" (1 arg)

Examples

# Command: build-server
# File: justfiles/building/build-server.just
build-server TARGET="release":
    cargo build --release --bin {{TARGET}}

# Command: test-e2e
# File: justfiles/testing/test-e2e.just
test-e2e HEADLESS="true":
    playwright test --headed={{HEADLESS}}

# Command: search (with variadic parameter)
# File: justfiles/utilities/search.just
search *QUERY:
    cargo run --bin search -- "{{QUERY}}"

Justfile Help Command Design

Help Command Design

1. Help command uses themed sections with emojis and colors
2. Default command shows help - Users see help when running just with no arguments

Color Codes

• \033[1;36m - Cyan for section headers/boxes
• \033[0;33m - Yellow for command names
• \033[0;32m - Green for descriptions
• \033[1;35m - Magenta for category labels
• \033[0m - Reset to default

Section Emojis

• Most Common Commands
• Building
• Verification
• Testing
• Utilities
• Installation

Help Format Template

help:
    @echo ""
    @echo "\033[1;36m======================================\033[0m"
    @echo "\033[1;36m       Project Commands               \033[0m"
    @echo "\033[1;36m======================================\033[0m"
    @echo ""
    @echo "\033[1;35m  Most Common Commands:\033[0m"
    @echo "  just \033[0;33mweb\033[0m                     \033[0;32mStart web dev server\033[0m"
    @echo "  just \033[0;33mdesktop\033[0m                 \033[0;32mStart desktop app\033[0m"
    @echo "  just \033[0;33mtest\033[0m                    \033[0;32mRun all tests\033[0m"
    @echo ""
    @echo "\033[1;35m  Building:\033[0m"
    @echo "  just \033[0;33mbuild-server\033[0m            \033[0;32mBuild production server\033[0m"
    @echo ""

Justfile Templates

Recipe File Template

1. Every recipe file has header comments - Brief description, Usage, Example

# Brief description of what this command does
# Usage: just command-name <required> [optional]
# Example: just command-name example-value

command-name PARAM OPTIONAL="default":
    command {{PARAM}} {{OPTIONAL}}

Bash Script Template

2. Use proper shebangs - #!/usr/bin/env bash
3. Enable strict mode - set -euo pipefail

# Description
# Usage: just command-name <param>

command-name PARAM:
    #!/usr/bin/env bash
    set -euo pipefail

    # Script content here
    echo "Processing {{PARAM}}"

Command Patterns

4. User-friendly messages - Use emojis for feedback
5. Calling other recipes - Use @just command-name

# Good: User feedback with emojis
build-server:
    @echo "Building server..."
    cargo build --release
    @echo "Build complete!"

# Good: Calling other recipes
test-all:
    @just test
    @just test-e2e

Justfile Command Categories

Standard Categories

Development (hot-reload servers)

• web - Web dev server
• desktop - Desktop app
• dev - Both via mprocs

Building (release builds)

• build-server - Production server
• build-desktop - Desktop bundle
• build-web - WASM bundle

Verification (compile checks)

• check-server - Server compilation
• check-desktop - Desktop compilation
• check-web - WASM compilation

Testing

• test - All Rust tests
• test-unit - Unit tests only
• test-integration - Integration tests
• test-e2e - E2E tests (headless)
• test-e2e-ui - E2E tests (interactive)
• test-all - All tests combined

Utilities

• clean - Clean build artifacts
• install-tools - Install dev tools

Category Guidelines

Place commands in the appropriate category based on their primary purpose:

• Hot-reload development → development/
• Release/production builds → building/
• Compilation checks (no artifacts) → verification/
• Any kind of testing → testing/
• Project maintenance → utilities/