make is a widely used and powerful tool for running common tasks in a project.

I often look at theMakefile of a project in order to see how a project perform regular tasks such as running tests, compiling and starting db, etc.

Use Case 1

I want to run 2 local servers at the same time. I can run them on separate terminal windows but I don't want to do that. I'm a lazy developer and want to useone line solution.

For instance I want to run apython backend server andjavascript front end server forlive reload — if there is any change in static assets likejs,css,scss etc..

# Makefiledjango-server:## Run the Django serverpythonmanage.pyrunserver8000npm-server:## Run npm server to live reload    npm run dev

You can run them concurrently like below:

$make-j 2 npm-server django-server

Or you can use atarget for it as well:

# Makefileservers:    make-j 2 npm-server django-serverdjango-server:## Run the Django serverpythonmanage.pyrunserver8000npm-server:## Run npm server to live reload    npm run dev

Then runmake servers.

Use Case 2

I want to run a local server and open a browser related to it. I don't want to manually click my browser and typelocalhost:$PORT.

Solution:

# Makefilelocal-dev:django-server browserdjango-server:## Run the Django serverpythonmanage.pyrunserver8000browser:    google-chrome--new-window http://localhost:8000# or if you use firefox# firefox --new-window localhost:8000

Then typemake local-dev.

All done.