Gulpfile

A Gulpfile is a JavaScript file used by the Gulp task runner. Gulp is a build system that automates repetitive development tasks like minification, compilation, unit testing, and linting. The Gulpfile, typically named gulpfile.js or gulpfile.babel.js, lives in the root directory of a project. It defines a set of tasks that Gulp can execute.

Tasks in a Gulpfile are defined using JavaScript functions. These functions often utilize Node.js streams to process files. The core concept in Gulp is the stream, which represents a sequence of data. Tasks can pipe these streams through various plugins to perform operations. For example, a task might read files from a source directory, pipe them through a minification plugin, and then write the processed files to a destination directory.

Common plugins used in Gulpfiles include gulp-uglify for JavaScript minification, gulp-sass for compiling SASS to CSS, and gulp-eslint for code linting. A Gulpfile can also define dependencies between tasks, allowing one task to run only after another has completed. The default task is often defined to run a common set of operations when Gulp is executed without specifying a task. Gulp provides a command-line interface (CLI) to interact with the Gulpfile and execute its defined tasks.