CLI Options

Usage

jake [OPTIONS] [RECIPE] [ARGS...]

Arguments

Argument	Description
RECIPE	Recipe to run (default: first recipe or @default)
ARGS	Recipe parameters (name=value or positional) and args

Argument ordering

Flags may appear anywhere on the command line — before or after the recipe name, interspersed with recipe arguments (clap-style). jake build -v, jake -v build, and jake build arg -v are all equivalent.

• The first bare token is the recipe; later bare tokens are its arguments.
• -- stops flag parsing: everything after it is forwarded to the recipe literally (jake run -- --port 8080).
• An unknown flag before the recipe is an error; an unknown flag after the recipe is forwarded to the recipe as an argument.
• -s/--show is recipe-derived: jake --show build, jake -s build, and jake build --show all show build.

Options

Option	Short	Description
--help	-h	Show help message
--version	-V	Show version
--list	-l	List available recipes
--all	-a	Show all recipes including hidden
--dry-run	-n	Print commands without executing
--verbose	-v	Show verbose output
--yes	-y	Auto-confirm all @confirm prompts
--jakefile PATH	-f	Use specified Jakefile
--watch [PATTERN]	-w	Watch and re-run on changes
--jobs [N]	-j	Parallel jobs (default: CPU count)
--show [RECIPE]	-s	Show recipe details (defaults to the recipe on the line)
--summary		Print recipe names for scripts
--short		Output one recipe name per line
--json		Emit JSON for listing-style output
--group GROUP		Filter recipes to a specific group
--filter PATTERN		Filter recipe names by glob pattern
--type TYPE		Filter recipes by type (task, file, simple, external)
--groups		List available group names
--web		Start web UI server
--port PORT		Web UI port (default: 8420)
--external [TYPE]		Show external recipes (make/just)
--no-external		Hide external recipes from listing
--completions [SHELL]		Print shell completion script
--install		Install shell completions
--uninstall		Remove shell completions
--fmt		Format Jakefile
--check		Validate formatting (requires --fmt)
--dump		Print formatted Jakefile (requires --fmt)

Examples

# Run default recipe
jake

# Run specific recipe
jake build

# List all recipes including hidden
jake --list --all

# Run with verbose output
jake test --verbose

# Pass parameters
jake deploy env=production

# Run with 4 parallel jobs
jake -j4 all

# Watch and rebuild
jake -w build

# Dry-run (show what would execute)
jake -n deploy

# Use different Jakefile
jake -f build.jake test

# Auto-confirm prompts
jake -y deploy

# Machine-readable output
jake --summary
jake --list --short
jake --json
jake --summary --json
jake --groups --json

# Filter listings
jake --group dev --list --short
jake --filter "build*" --summary
jake --type file --summary
jake --groups

# Validate formatting
jake --fmt --check -f build.jake

# Start web UI
jake --web
jake --web --port 9000
jake --web --verbose
jake --web -j4

# List external build system recipes
jake --external
jake --external make
jake --external just

# Run external recipes
jake make.build
jake just.test

# External discovery follows the selected Jakefile
jake -f tools/Jakefile make.build

When -f points at a Jakefile in another directory, external Makefile/Justfile discovery and delegated execution use that Jakefile’s directory as the base path.

Web UI runs inherit the CLI process’ --verbose and --jobs settings, forward browser-entered recipe params as name=value, validate @require before execution, and surface @confirm prompts back to the browser for interactive approval.

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	Recipe failed
2	Recipe not found
3	Jakefile not found
4	Parse error

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
JAKEFILE	Default Jakefile path
JAKE_DRY_RUN	Enable dry-run mode
JAKE_VERBOSE	Enable verbose output
JAKE_YES	Auto-confirm prompts
JAKE_JOBS	Default parallel job count
NO_COLOR	Disable colored output