Also provide the possibility to keep the .h file associated with the .c file. I used the following method - Edit deheader `# command = maker + " " + derived ` command = maker Run script: for file in "$@" do filename=${file##*/} filestem=${filename%.*} /tmp/deheader/deheader -m 'ninja -C build' -i "$filestem.h" "$file" # include -r for final run touch "$file" done The "touch" is to force ninja to recompile a .c file if its final test compile failed.