There's this concept of "forward build system" that other people too have nibbled at. See:

* http://neilmitchell.blogspot.com/2021/09/small-project-build...

* https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3497775.3503687

Primarily trying to reduce the high learning curve of complete build systems like bazel/please/buck.

The author too seems to be heading in this direction