GRUNT
Grunt is a task runner for automating front-end development. It works with Node.js and its package manager NPM, and simplifies the tasks of compressing CSS, Javascript, and HTML files, as well as compiling Sass and Less.
The main purpose of Grunt is to help front-end developers with routine tasks. In particular, CSS compression and JavaScript minification, as well as image optimization. This should be done to reduce the weight of the site and speed up its loading, and Grunt already has ready-made plugins for these tasks. In addition to them, you can find or write modules from scratch that will monitor the state of files. Such plugins monitor changes in selected files and folders, and when a given condition is met, they perform the corresponding tasks. This can be used, for example, when updating Sass so that every change is automatically sent to CSS. By the way, if you also use LiveReload at the same time, you won't even need to refresh your browser to see the changes.
Grunt is a versatile tool that combines modules to perform common tasks. Each of them can be solved separately with other tools, but a general manager that automatically launches and is available to the entire project team is much more convenient. Moreover, it already has thousands of ready-made plugins for different situations. Using the manager significantly speeds up routine tasks, leaving time for truly creative and non-standard ones. All your developers need to do is spend a little time creating tasks and configuration files for them, which will then be called by a single team.
Even a novice coder can use Grunt already installed and configured. To work with Grunt, a front-end developer does not need to know Node.js and study the features of the interface. It is enough to write the necessary word on the command line. And even this can be automated even further. For example, you can set up automatic launch of the necessary tasks according to the rules if the JavaScript code changes, images are added, and so on. By the way, for those who don't like working through the command line, there is Gulp, which is literally the same task manager, only tasks are described not as configuration files, but in JavaScript, which is more familiar to front-end developers.
Grunt's capabilities are not limited to the above functions. The manager can be used to merge files, for example, the same JavaScript. It is great for writing unit tests and finding errors in the code, as well as dozens of other tasks. Just check out the Grunt page on GitHub and look for a solution for your project there.
Grunt is one of the optional but very useful add-ons for the JavaScript runtime. If you don't compress CSS files, Javascript and HTML, as well as images, your site will be very heavy and slow. This can be done manually, but the time savings, including finding errors, compared to working without a manager, is huge.
Grunt makes front-end development easier for everyone involved in the project and the entire team, and the result is more predictable and stable.