diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index d4b1ab16..556494dc 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -2,3 +2,4 @@
 *.sw*
 Session.vim
 target
+build
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c59a8c80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#todo: requirejs build script as well
+
+csdir = src/main/coffeescript
+
+.PHONY : clean coffee copy-others scion
+
+clean:
+	rm -rf build
+
+build :
+	if [ ! -d build/scxml/test/ ]; then mkdir -p build/scxml/test/; fi
+
+coffee : build 
+	#fixme: is there a smarter way to do this than iterating over each directory?
+	#something like `find $(csdir) -name *.coffee`, and then map the names
+	coffee -o build/scxml $(csdir)/scxml/*.coffee
+	coffee -o build/scxml/test $(csdir)/scxml/test/*.coffee
+	
+
+copy-others : build
+	cp -r lib/js/ build/lib/
+	cp -r src/main/javascript/* build/
+	cp -r src/main/xslt build/
+
+scion : copy-others coffee
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index a2532cb7..918fff9e 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -66,20 +66,16 @@
 					<execution>
 						<phase>process-classes</phase>
 						<configuration>
+							<!-- this is pretty evil: using maven to call ant to call make 
+								still, not too bad. we use maven for what it's good at: downloading java deps and managing classpath
+								then we use Make for what it's good at: being simple and extremely fast
+								-->
 							<tasks>
-
-								<copy todir="${project.build.outputDirectory}">
-									<fileset dir="${basedir}/src/main/javascript"/>
-								</copy>
-								<copy todir="${project.build.outputDirectory}/lib">
-									<fileset dir="${basedir}/lib/js"/>
-								</copy>
-								<copy todir="${project.build.outputDirectory}/test">
-									<fileset dir="${basedir}/src/test"/>
-								</copy>
-								<copy todir="${project.build.outputDirectory}">
-									<fileset dir="${basedir}/src/main/xslt"/>
-								</copy>
+								<exec executable="make">
+									<arg value="-f"/>
+									<arg value="${basedir}/Makefile"/>
+									<arg value="scion"/>
+								</exec>
 							</tasks>
 						</configuration>
 						<goals>
@@ -88,24 +84,6 @@
 					</execution>
 				</executions>
 			</plugin>
-
-			<plugin>
-				<groupId>com.voltvoodoo</groupId>
-				<artifactId>brew</artifactId>
-				<version>0.2.1</version>
-				<executions>
-					<execution>
-						<goals>
-							<goal>compile</goal>
-							<!--<goal>optimize</goal>--> <!-- TODO -->
-						</goals>
-					</execution>
-				</executions>
-				<configuration>
-					<!--<coffeeSourceDir>${basedir}/src/coffeescript</coffeeSourceDir>
-					<coffeeOutputDir>${basedir}/target/js</coffeeOutputDir>-->
-				</configuration>
-			</plugin>
 			<plugin>
 				<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
 				<artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId>
@@ -126,8 +104,8 @@
 					<arguments>
 						<argument>-debug</argument>
 						<argument>${basedir}/lib/js/r.js</argument>
-						<argument>${basedir}/src/main/javascript/runner.js</argument>
-						<argument>${basedir}</argument>
+						<argument>${basedir}/build/runner.js</argument>
+						<argument>${basedir}/build</argument>
 						<argument>scxml/test/rhino-harness</argument>
 						<!--<argument>test/basic/basic2.json</argument>-->
 						<argument>${scxmlArgs}</argument>
diff --git a/run-tests-rhino-dbg.sh b/run-tests-rhino-dbg.sh
index 0a575d81..73ba0e54 100755
--- a/run-tests-rhino-dbg.sh
+++ b/run-tests-rhino-dbg.sh
@@ -98,8 +98,8 @@ exec "$JAVACMD" $JAVA_OPTS \
   org.mozilla.javascript.tools.debugger.Main \
 	-debug \
 	${root}/lib/js/r.js \
-	${root}/src/main/javascript/runner.js \
-	${root} \
+	${root}/build/runner.js \
+	${root}/build \
 	scxml/test/rhino-harness \
 	"$*"
 
diff --git a/run-tests-rhino-mvn.sh b/run-tests-rhino-mvn.sh
index 01b4129c..4a3dd474 100755
--- a/run-tests-rhino-mvn.sh
+++ b/run-tests-rhino-mvn.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 dn=`dirname $0`
 abspath=`cd $dn; pwd`
-mvn -q -o -f $abspath/pom.xml exec:java -DscxmlArgs="$*"
+mvn -o -f $abspath/pom.xml exec:java -DscxmlArgs="$*"
diff --git a/run-tests-rhino.sh b/run-tests-rhino.sh
index b4c73472..20d92120 100755
--- a/run-tests-rhino.sh
+++ b/run-tests-rhino.sh
@@ -98,8 +98,8 @@ exec "$JAVACMD" $JAVA_OPTS \
   org.mozilla.javascript.tools.shell.Main \
 	-debug \
 	${root}/lib/js/r.js \
-	${root}/src/main/javascript/runner.js \
-	${root} \
+	${root}/build/runner.js \
+	${root}/build \
 	scxml/test/rhino-harness \
 	"$*"
 
diff --git a/src/main/javascript/runner.js b/src/main/javascript/runner.js
index a493f2a9..07e9883b 100644
--- a/src/main/javascript/runner.js
+++ b/src/main/javascript/runner.js
@@ -34,12 +34,12 @@ this.console = {
 			preparedArguments = preparedArguments[0].replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '').split(/ +/); 
 		}
 
-		var absoluteScriptDir = args[1];
+		var basedir = args[1];
 		var mainFunction = args[2]; 
 
 		//bootstrap require.js
 		require({
-				baseUrl : absoluteScriptDir + "/target/classes/",	//FIXME: this should also be passed in as an argument
+				baseUrl : basedir,
 				paths : {
 					text : "lib/text"
 				}