Great experience report: thank you! Wanted to point out that the Pants project has been focusing on widening that happy path recently (...by narrowing its focus to Python-only in the short term), and is ramping up to ship a 2.0.
This page covers some of the differences between v1 and v2 of the engine, and particularly its impact on Python: https://pants.readme.io/docs/pants-v1-vs-v2 ... We're using Rust and haven't bootstrapped yet, so we also appreciate Cargo and think that there is a lot to learn there.
We'd love feedback (via any of these channels: https://pants.readme.io/docs/community) on how to make it even better. Thanks!