diff --git a/.grunt/tasks/gherkinlint.js b/.grunt/tasks/gherkinlint.js
index cc269a5c47f..658c752928c 100644
--- a/.grunt/tasks/gherkinlint.js
+++ b/.grunt/tasks/gherkinlint.js
@@ -85,5 +85,8 @@ module.exports = grunt => {
         },
     });
 
+    // Add the 'gherkinlint' task as a startup task.
+    grunt.moodleEnv.startupTasks.push('gherkinlint');
+
     return handler;
 };
diff --git a/.grunt/tasks/javascript.js b/.grunt/tasks/javascript.js
index b2d36a57bee..5761f9206fd 100644
--- a/.grunt/tasks/javascript.js
+++ b/.grunt/tasks/javascript.js
@@ -126,6 +126,9 @@ module.exports = grunt => {
         },
     });
 
+    // Add the 'js' task as a startup task.
+    grunt.moodleEnv.startupTasks.push('js');
+
     // On watch, we dynamically modify config to build only affected files. This
     // method is slightly complicated to deal with multiple changed files at once (copied
     // from the grunt-contrib-watch readme).
diff --git a/.grunt/tasks/startup.js b/.grunt/tasks/startup.js
index b532852a235..202a29240ab 100644
--- a/.grunt/tasks/startup.js
+++ b/.grunt/tasks/startup.js
@@ -34,10 +34,8 @@ module.exports = grunt => {
         } else if (grunt.moodleEnv.inAMD) {
             grunt.task.run('amd');
         } else {
-            // Run them all!.
-            grunt.task.run('css');
-            grunt.task.run('js');
-            grunt.task.run('gherkinlint');
+            // Run all of the requested startup tasks.
+            grunt.moodleEnv.startupTasks.forEach(taskName => grunt.task.run(taskName));
         }
     };
 
diff --git a/.grunt/tasks/style.js b/.grunt/tasks/style.js
index e468d6d801d..92d4e691add 100644
--- a/.grunt/tasks/style.js
+++ b/.grunt/tasks/style.js
@@ -29,4 +29,7 @@ module.exports = grunt => {
 
     // Load the SASS tasks.
     require('./sass')(grunt);
+
+    // Add the 'css' task as a startup task.
+    grunt.moodleEnv.startupTasks.push('css');
 };
diff --git a/Gruntfile.js b/Gruntfile.js
index 89836af0e4f..fc0f5debded 100644
--- a/Gruntfile.js
+++ b/Gruntfile.js
@@ -246,6 +246,8 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
         require(path.resolve(`./.grunt/tasks/${name}.js`))(grunt);
     };
 
+    // Startup tasks.
+    grunt.moodleEnv.startupTasks = [];
 
     // Add Moodle task configuration.
     addTask('gherkinlint', grunt);