gulp

Gulp is an open-source task runner and build system for automating repetitive development tasks in the web ecosystem. It runs on Node.js and emphasizes a streaming approach in which file data passes through a sequence of plugins via a pipe interface, reducing disk I/O and speeding up builds.

Files are read with gulp.src, transformed by plugins via .pipe, and written with gulp.dest. This create-and-transform pipeline is at the core of how Gulp processes assets and sources.

In Gulp 4, tasks are represented by JavaScript functions and composed with gulp.series and gulp.parallel to control sequencing and concurrency. This enables developers to define exact task order and parallel execution without heavy configuration.

Plugins perform operations such as transpilation (Babel, TypeScript), CSS preprocessing (Sass/Less), minification, concatenation, sourcemaps, image optimization, linting, and testing. The ecosystem is distributed via npm and only limited by plugin compatibility.

Gulp is commonly used to set up development workflows, including file watching and live reloading with browsersync or similar tools; typical usage includes installing gulp and plugins, creating a gulpfile.js to export tasks, and running gulp from the command line. It is often integrated into broader front-end workflows to automate repetitive steps in the build and deployment process.

History and overview: Gulp was introduced as a faster, code-based alternative to task runners that relied on configuration-heavy setups. Its emphasis on streaming pipelines and small, composable plugins has contributed to its adoption in many JavaScript-based projects, though other toolchains remain common for module bundling and large-scale builds.