Actually, I&#x27;d say it&#x27;s the other way around. Don&#x27;t use a task runner because in many cases the operating system <i></i>and<i></i> the tools themselves already support what you need: parallel and sequential execution, grouping a complex set of commands under one &#x27;name&#x27;, etc.<p>Where your analogy <i>does</i> make some sense though, is cross-platform support. In the same way that jQuery solves cross-browser issues, a task runner solves the problem where your npm script commands might not work on non-*nix systems, or vice-versa. But that&#x27;s a bit like using jQuery exclusively to solve XHR incompatibilities, instead of a library like superagent.