Yes. Like make, it lets you define tasks with dependencies and targets, and rebuild only if one of them have changed.

But I prefer it because:

- it runs anywhere you have python.

- it uses a clean syntax, and the parser is great at telling you about errors since it's python.

- you get access to python's stdlib: string formatting, maths, etc.

- you get access to python's ecosystem. Want to deal with timezone, hashing, crypto ? Sure you can.

- you get access to python's tooling (debugger, formatter, linter).

- you can still just use bash if you want. Easy things stay easy.

That would be invoke tasks. https://docs.pyinvoke.org/en/stable/getting-started.html, which I first encountered in fabric: fabfile.org, which has the fab utility and fabfiles (analogous to Makefiles) but is so much more.

It is a pain to work with invoke now. It is all find and dandy for the basic features but you going to hit the seams soon you start trying advanced stuff. Looks like the project is going to be abandoned.

What is advanced?

btw, the project is old and it is useful with the current feature set. There is an issue with the bus factor but is common for many tools.