Which build tool is recommended with deno?

Question

I've seen that deno does not anymore require package.json (supported by npm/yarn) to describe its dependencies.

But for build/run scripts, is package.json the proposed descriptor or is there any other build tool/descriptor format that better suits?

Good question, considering that deno 1.0 just came out. I hope the moderators don't mark your question as too opinion-provoking. I haven't read much guidance on this topic and would love to see a few answers suggesting multiple options. — Lonnie Best, Jun 03 '20 at 04:44
I found `deno install` to be a [good replacement](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/61763366/deno-how-to-substitute-npm-scripts-package-json/62152367#62152367) for `npm-scripts`. — ford04, Jun 03 '20 at 07:00

Marcos Casagrande · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-02T14:46:53.590

3

Deno doesn't support package.json.

Currently, there's no built-in nor recommended build tool, but you can use any build tool of your preference: Make, npm scripts, etc.

There are some packages that aim to be a alternative to npm scripts for Deno, such as

edited Jun 02 '20 at 14:46

answered Jun 02 '20 at 14:30

Marcos Casagrande

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Very helpful; I wasn't aware of these projects. – Lonnie Best Jun 03 '20 at 04:45

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 03 '20 at 19:39

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Take a look at Drake (https://deno.land/x/drake), a Make-like task runner I wrote for Deno, inspired by Make, Rake and Jake.

answered Jun 03 '20 at 19:39

Stuart Rackham

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score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 16 '22 at 13:03

Deno has a built-in Task Runner since v1.20 (released Mar 17, 2022).

Commands are defined in the project's Deno configuration file under a "tasks" key. For example:

{
  "tasks": {
    "data": "deno task collect && deno task analyze",
    "collect": "deno run --allow-read=. --allow-write=. scripts/collect.js",
    "analyze": "deno run --allow-read=. scripts/analyze.js"
  }
}

Tasks are listed with deno task and run with deno task task-name [additional-args].... E.g. the data task would be run with deno task data.

More details in the Task Runner docs. (This link points to the latest version's docs.)

However, in the v1.26.1 (the latest version as of Oct 16, 2022) docs, the Task Runner is still considered unstable:

⚠️ deno task was introduced in Deno v1.20 and is unstable. It may drastically change in the future.

I don't know which build tool is recommended with Deno, but my hunch is that it would be the Task Runner, at least once it becomes stable, as it's built-in to Deno.

Which build tool is recommended with deno?

3 Answers3