As software developers, we often find ourselves working on multiple codebases, constantly hopping between programming languages and frameworks. Keeping track of all the commands and configurations for each project can be a mild annoyance. This is where the humble Makefile shines as a task runner documenting the most essential commands in a project.

Let's take this website's Makefile as an example:

.PHONY: fix dev lint

fix:
	npx prettier --write .

dev:
	npx remix dev

lint:
	npx tsc
	npx eslint app
	npx prettier --check .

Now, this is a very simple Makefile, and lots of real world projects will have more complex ones, but the point still stands: When you revisit a project after an extended hiatus, a glance at the Makefile is often all you need to get back on track. The Makefile becomes a time capsule that encapsulates the project's critical commands and intentions.