Work · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Shmux – run all your scripts from one file

Hello all, This is a small, few hours Holiday project I made out of frustration on what I would have liked makefiles to be but are not. It's rough, but it might be useful for somebody. Any type of feedback is welcome!

Shmux is a script runner that lets users execute multiple scripts from a single file. Created as an alternative to makefiles, it addresses frustrations with how makefiles work. The tool is still in rough form but… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Shmux – run all your scripts from one file launched in 2022; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

1
Just.sh – compiler that turns Justfiles into portable shell scripts▲64
Justfiles are like Makefiles, except Just is a command runner, whereas Make is a build system. As I understand it, Just was built to be a less arcane version of Make for collecting commands common to a code repository. When I first learned about Just, I realized that parsing arguments and running commands is exactly what shell scripts do, and there probably isn't much Just does that sh doesn't. This project proves that hypothesis by compiling Justfiles to portable (POSIX-compatible) shell scripts. just.sh is particularly useful for running Justfiles in esoteric environments where Just may…
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
2
Shpool, a Lightweight Tmux Alternative▲323
shpool is a terminal session persistence tool developed internally at google to support remote workflows, which we have open sourced.
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
3
Makedown – A Markdown powered Makefile alternative▲142
`makedown` allows you to organise your shell scripts in one or several markdown files, by mix and matching different scripting languages for various commands and needs. zsh/bash/sh, python, javascript or anything else available on your system. Handy for replacing one-line-based package.json scripts or shell-based Makefiles. One can also write documentation and explanations to various commands in the same `.md` file. Most editors highlight correctly most languages in the markdown code blocks, even when you use several scripting languages. Here is a demo .md file…
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
4
Run – Easily manage and invoke small scripts and wrappers▲107
Task runner that helps you easily manage and invoke small scripts and wrappers - TekWizely/run
2019 · github.com · its alternatives →
5
tmux.sh▲24
A simple script to allow defaulting to grouped sessions - bsandrow/tmux.sh
2013 · github.com · its alternatives →
6
Bashfs – Run commands as your filesystem▲97
What if you could use bash from a filesystem? Contribute to pcgrosen/bashfs development by creating an account on GitHub.
2019 · github.com · its alternatives →
7
Jeeves – A Pythonic Alternative to GNU Make▲55
Write a Python file named `jeeves.py` in your project directory with contents: import sh def lint(): """Lint your Python project.""" sh.mypy() This, together with pip install jeeves-shell[all] makes it possible to do j lint …which will run mypy for you, and, via the omnipotent `j` command, open ways for • Automation of routine tasks, • Standardization of your projects, • Implementation of best practices, • And more :) Github: https://github.com/jeeves-sh/jeeves-shell/
2023 · jeeves.sh · its alternatives →
8
One makefile to rule them all▲57
Generic drop in Makefile. GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.
2023 · gist.github.com · its alternatives →
9
Rmux – A programmable terminal multiplexer with a Playwright-style SDK▲194
Author here. RMUX started from a frustration: I've used tmux for years and got tired of scraping output with grep and sleeps to automate anything. So I rebuilt the multiplexer from scratch in Rust, with a programmable layer on top. Two surfaces: a tmux-compatible CLI (~90 commands, your keybindings just work), and a typed async Rust SDK on the same daemon — stable pane IDs, structured snapshots, locator-style waits. The idea is Playwright-style automation, but for terminals. Native on Linux, macOS, Windows (real ConPTY, no WSL). Demos and docs at rmux.io. Happy to answer questions about the…
May 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
10
dif.sh▲373
Markdown feature flags your coding agent installs for you
Aug 2026 · dif.sh · its alternatives →
11
Making GNU Make a better Task Runner▲98
I know this could be considered blasphemous, but I constantly find myself using Make as a task runner. I have written my own task runner in the past, but somehow I always end up using make. I went, and I put together 3 quality of life snippets I use all the time and put it in a single makext.mk file that can be included in other Makefiles and wrote a basic readme for it. This is not meant to be a replacement for other task runners, but I do think it can be useful to some of you. https://github.com/mitjafelicijan/makext Check it out and see if it makes sense to you. Thanks…
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
12
My Single-File Python Script I Used to Replace Splunk in My Startup▲313
My immediate reaction to today's news that Splunk was being acquired was to comment in the HN discussion for that story: "I hated Splunk so much that I spent a couple days a few months ago writing a single 1200 line python script that does absolutely everything I need in terms of automatic log collection, ingestion, and analysis from a fleet of cloud instances. It pulls in all the log lines, enriches them with useful metadata like the IP address of the instance, the machine name, the log source, the datetime, etc. and stores it all in SQlite, which it then exposes to a very convenient web…
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
13
snippet.run▲149
Run your code, from the cloud on your computer
2024 · snippet.run · its alternatives →
14
Run – a CLI universal code runner I built while learning Rust▲96
Hi HN — I’m learning Rust and decided to build a universal CLI for running code in many languages. The tool, Run, aims to be a single, minimal dependency utility for: running one-off snippets (from CLI flags), running files, reading and executing piped stdin, and providing language-specific REPLs that you can switch between interactively. I designed it to support both interpreted languages (Python, JS, Ruby, etc.) and compiled languages (Rust, Go, C/C++). It detects languages from flags or file extensions, can compile temporary files for compiled languages, and exposes a unified REPL…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
15
Making a Compiler to Prove Tmux Is Turing Complete▲88
You can use features of tmux to implement a Turing-complete instruction set, allowing you to compile code that runs in tmux by moving windows. I feel like I really have to emphasise this: I’m not running a command-line program in tmux, or using tmux to launch a program. I can get tmux to run real co
2024 · willhbr.net · its alternatives →
16SS
SHML (shell markup language)▲71
2015 · maxcdn.github.io · its alternatives →
17
Shite – little hot-reloadin' static site maker from shell▲141
Or more precisely, my little site maker... It is a personal tool that I thoroughly enjoyed making, and enjoy using to write my website . A caveat before any more; nobody was supposed to promote this insanity. Like, terrible things have been done involving inotify and xdotool. But. It showed up on HN some months ago. That too while it was still, shall we say, fermenting. It got "done" some time thence, and of course one could not let the half-past just be. So here we are, for better or worse. Thank you HN mods for helping me repost! _\\// The README explains all, animated GIFs and…
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
18
zxpy, a cleaner version of Google's zx▲30
Shell scripts made simple 🐚. Contribute to tusharsadhwani/zxpy development by creating an account on GitHub.
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →
19
Shifu – A pure POSIX shell framework to create powerful CLIs▲7
The startup I work for has an internal, bash-based, cli that basically amounts to shared aliases with a common entrypoint. As the number of aliases has grown, I've had a desire to group functionality together in subcommands, add more help strings, and have better tab completion. I know I could convert it to, e.g., a python script, but I was curious what was possible if we continued to use bash. I couldn't find anything that solved those problems without lots of extra machinery. I understand why, shell scripts are generally not long, and focused on a dedicated task; adding cli features to…
Mar 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
20
Mdx – Execute your Markdown code blocks, now in Go▲127
Hey HN! I recently came across makedown here on HN and loved the concept. Wanting to learn Go, I thought this could be a great starter project - so I started working on my own Go implementation, which I’m calling mdx (https://github.com/dim0x69/mdx). Key Features: - Define dependencies between commands - Supports shebangs - Ability to pass arguments to code blocks Would love feedback and thoughts! Ref. makedown: https://github.com/tzador/makedown. Thanks for the idea! :)
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
21
A smarter Unix shell and scripting environment▲142
A smarter shell and scripting environment with advanced features designed for usability, safety and productivity (eg smarter DevOps tooling) - lmorg/murex
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
22
Threadprocs – executables sharing one address space (0-copy pointers)▲64
This project launches multiple independent programs into a single shared virtual address space, while still behaving like separate processes (independent binaries, globals, and lifetimes). When threadprocs share their address space, pointers are valid across them with no code changes for well-behaved Linux binaries. Unlike threads, each threadproc is a standalone and semi-isolated process. Unlike dlopen-based plugin systems, threadprocs run traditional executables with a `main()` function. Unlike POSIX processes, pointers remain valid across threadprocs because they share the same address…
Mar 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
23CS
Checksum.sh verify every install script▲119
The pattern of downloading and executing installation scripts without verifying them has bothered me for a while. I started messing around with a way to verify the checksum of scripts before I execute them. I've found it a really useful tool for installing things like Rust or Deno. It's written entirely as a shell script, and it's easy to read and understand what's happening. I hope it may be useful to someone else!
2022 · checksum.sh · its alternatives →
24
Posixcube, a shell script automation framework alternative to Ansible▲53
posixcube.sh is a POSIX compliant, shell script-based server automation framework. - myplaceonline/posixcube
2017 · github.com · its alternatives →

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