I'm +1 about the use of Python, but I'd say ONLY when complexity gets higher than simply calling commands (e.g. cat/sed/etc). For basic commands, I'd say Makefi

I'm +1 about the use of Python, but I'd say ONLY when complexity gets higher than simply calling commands (e.g. cat/sed/etc). For basic commands, I'd say Makefile is the way to go, or scripts in a package.json. I find Python becomes a must when you want to reuse commands and pass data around, or support the same kind of commands locally and on remote hosts. Fabric is the best for this: you put a `fabfile.py` (name inspired by Makefile) in the project root and add @task commands in there. Specifically the `fab-classic` fork of the Fabric project https://github.com/ploxiln/fab-classic#usage-introduction https://github.com/ploxiln/fab-classic#usage-introduction (the mainline Fabric changed it's API significantly, see `invoke` package). Fabric can run local or remote commands (via ssh). Each task is self-documenting and the best part it that it's super easy to read... almost like literate programming (as opposed to more magical tools like ansible).